Before he opened the epic Fashion Moda, which connected the culture of the South Bronx to the art world, Stefan Eins ran the downtown alternative art space The Mercer Street Store in the late 70s, in an old street level storefront space. The space was part of the early popularization of Soho, which had rents way cheaper than the gallery scene on 57th Street and the Upper East Side. Eins ran the space that specialized in “low-cost art, no painting, no sculpture, only found objects, performance and collage”- which embodied the bohemian ideals of the downtown art scene. Eins went on to become an integral part of the introduction of graffiti into the art world. I saw him speak once, and I’m sort of obsessed with him.

True nerds can buy ephemera from The Mercer Street Store on Gallery 98.

Who: Stefan Eins

What: The Mercer Street Store

Where: 3 Mercer Street