The People’s Choice (Arroz con Mango), Group Material, NY, 10 January – 1 February, 1981.
Still a student at The Cooper Union, Ashford was part of the audience for this exhibition, the fourth since the group opened its space on 13th street in the Lower East Side. It was built by members with neighborhood children going door to door and asking residents to loan things they valued from their homes to be exhibited in the space. Artists and friends also brought works and together a portrait of the community, the time and and the place was assembled. Some years later, at a conference organized by Artists Space, Bobby G (aka Robert Goldman) remarked: “this was the most important show of the 1980’s even if you never saw it.”
Letter distributed to residents of 13th St _(link)
