Thursday, Sep 11, 2025 - Sunday, Sep 14, 2025

On the occasion of Printed Matter's 2025 edition of the New York Art Book Fair, Boo-Hooray is proud to present an archival exhibition of ephemera from Les Petites Bon Bons, a “a queer collective of revolutionary guerrillas” whose wide range of artistic activities spanned queer liberation activism, Hollywood glam rock, drag, mail art, and more, leaving an indelible mark on twentieth-century counterculture and LBGTQ+ history.

Originating in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 1970s, Les Petites Bon Bons was a performance art group and conceptual glam rock band dedicated to queer visibility. In addition to street drag performances, situationist pranks, and other public shenanigans, the Bon Bons were known for employing subversive media manipulation to advance their artistic and political agendas. They produced glittery, hand-crafted mail art which they sent to artists, writers, and public figures they admired, and eventually formed part of a larger mail art network that included members of the New York Correspondence School and ASCO. Their aesthetic was a campy and confrontational alternative to the mainstream queer liberation movement, favoring humor and decadence over conventional masculinity and respectability.
 
In the course of their work they inspired, befriended, amused, or merely confused many of the stars of their time, including David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Divine, and Jayne County, among others. At the peak of their fame and notoriety, there were few who did not know—or think they knew—Les Petites Bon Bons, but as early as the 1980s, their legacy began to fade. This exhibition reaffirms the Bon Bons’ place within the rich history of activist art and their important role in shaping an openly and defiantly queer cultural vanguard.

For more information, please visit https://nyabf2025.printedmatterartbookfairs.org/