In 1969, funding from the New York State Council on the Arts made possible the founding of MUSEUM: A Project of Living Artists—an artist-run 24-hour multimedia gallery at 729 Broadway[11] in Manhattan.

Producing visual art under the name Alan Suicide, Bermowitz graduated from painting to light sculptures,[note 1] many of which were constructed of electronic debris.

[13] In 1971, the group dropped Paul Liebgott; for a time it included Rev's wife, Mari Reverby, on drums (although she didn't play at their live performances).

The album originally was set to be produced by Ric Ocasek as a follow-up to the critically acclaimed Saturn Strip (1983), but production switched over to Chris Lord-Alge and Vega ran into several difficulties during the recording sessions.

Shortly thereafter, Vega met future wife and music partner Elizabeth Lamere while piecing together sound experiments that would evolve into his fifth solo album, Deuce Avenue (1990).

Deuce Avenue marked his return to minimalist electronic music, similar to his work with Suicide, in which he combined drum machines and effects with free-form prose.

In 2002, art dealer Jeffrey Deitch tracked down Vega after a couple of his young gallery employees "gushed" over a Suicide gig at the NYC Knitting Factory.

[16] As a result, Vega made a return to visual art, constructing Collision Drive, an exhibition of sculptures combining light with found objects and crucifixes.

[16] In 2016, Vega contributed vocals to the song "Tangerine" on French pop veteran singer Christophe's album Les Vestiges du Chaos.

The album was produced by Alan Vega, Liz Lamere, Perkin Barnes, and Jared Artaud of New York City band The Vacant Lots.