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NANCY ARLEN (1942-2006)

Sad news, via Artnet. Nancy Arlen, 64, sculptor who showed her cast-polyester abstractions at Robert Steffanotti Gallery and the New Museum in the 1970s, died following heart surgery on Sept. 17, 2006. Arlen made a series of glass works in 1983 and then more-or-less retired as an artist. She was also the drummer for Mars, one of the "No Wave" bands featured on the 1978 NO NEW YORK record album produced by Brian Eno. Mitchell Algus Gallery exhibited some of her works in 1998, and is working with the estate.

(This obituary is also available in the comments section of my Mars studio recordings review which is where I retrieved it 'cuz such news would benefit more people if posted in the here and now. Anyway, the passing of Arlen is is something I'm sure fans of the seventies underground would certainly want to know about, and naturally such an occasion as this is one for deep reflection and perhaps even the shedding of a tear or two [though I didn't know she was so old... I guess these New York punkers were doing the best they could to keep their ages mum, eh???].)