Posts by Miss Rosen

Charlie Ahearn: The Wild Style 35th Anniversary

Posted on March 16, 2018

Wild Style mural, 1981. © Charlie Ahearn.

In 1983, Wild Style debuted in Times Square and Tokyo, introducing the world to what would soon be called hip hop like the rush of an oncoming subway. Breakdancing, graffiti, and rap—this was the youth culture of the Bronx captured in a semi-scripted feature by a Manhattan filmmaker named Charlie Ahearn.

Wild Style introduced Fab Five Freddy, the Cold Crush Brothers, and graffiti legends like Lee Quinones. It went on to become a sacred text for graffiti writers and aspiring DJs, inspiring art and music from Banksy and the Beastie Boys to Nas and Missy Elliott. “As soon as I began to work with Fred on the film,” Ahearn says, “I felt certain that it was going to go out around the world to represent this new culture.”

On the film’s 35th Anniversary, an occasion marked by a screening at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., we talked to the director about the movie that put hip hop on the map.

Read the Full Story at Ceros Originals

DJ Lovebug Starski, Busy Bee, and Grandmaster Caz at the Celebrity Club, 1980. © Charlie Ahearn.

Categories: 1980s, Art, Bronx, Graffiti, Music

Duncan Hannah: Twentieth Century Boy

Posted on March 15, 2018

Duncan Hannah with his painting My Funny Valentine, 1981

When Duncan Hannah arrived in New York in 1971, he could have walked out of the pages of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. With big eyes and high cheekbones, Hannah’s androgynous beauty attracted the attention of the city’s prominent women and gay men, who didn’t let his resolute heterosexuality get in the way of their relentless pursuit.

As an aspiring artist coming of age during a mythical time when glam rock, punk, and new wave transformed the underground, Hannah found himself at the center of it all, feeding an insatiable appetite for the finer things in life: sex, drugs, alcohol, parties, and art. Whether partying with Television at CBGB, starring in Amos Poe’s underground film Unmade Beds, or serving as a muse to Patti Smith, Hannah was always in the mix.

Throughout it all, he kept a series of handwritten journals filled with cameos by everyone from David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Richard Hell, and Debbie Harry to Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Nico, and Lou Reed. Their pages, filled with gritty, evocative memories from the 70s, were collected and edited into Hannah’s new book, Twentieth Century Boy: Notebooks of the 1970s (Knopf, March 13).

VICE asked Hannah to take us on a tour of New York through its most debauched decade—an era when punk became a catalyst for cultural revolution.

Read the Full Story at Vice

The Talking Heads, Andy Warhol, and Duncan Hannah (second from right) at The Factory. Photographed by Lance Loud, 1976

Categories: 1970s, Art, Books, Manhattan, Vice

Huck Magazine Cover Story: The Journeys Issue

Posted on March 14, 2018

I could not be more thrilled to discover my feature on Ryan Weideman’s vintage taxi cab photos made in the 80s and 90s has been selected for the cover of the new issue of Huck Magazine.

Ryan took me back to the nights when the “Speed Deman” cruised the streets of New York. His stories had me holding on to the edge of my seat, and when it was all said and done he imparted a classic bit of taxi cab wisdom that concludes our wild ride.

Read the Announcement at Huck

Categories: 1980s, 1990s, Huck, Photography

Nicola Brandt: The Earth Inside

Posted on March 14, 2018

Guardian I, Namib Desert (2017). © Nicola Brandt

The Shape of Memory, Wlotzkasbaken, Namibia (2012). © Nicola Brandt

The Herero Wars of 1904–1908 are considered by many to be the first genocide of the 20th century. During the “Scramble of Africa,” imperialist powers in Germany descended upon present-day Namibia in southwest Africa in 1884. Two decades later, when the Herero people rose in revolt, General Lothar von Trotha issued an extermination order to kill every man and drive women and children into the desert.

At the end of 1904, the Germans divided up survivors, sending some to concentration camps and others to work slave labour for German businesses. Within four years, up to 110,000 Herero had been killed – yet it would be nearly a century before the government of Germany publicly acknowledged and apologized for the acts of genocide, as reported in The Guardian in 2004.

As a woman of German descent born in Namibia, photographer Nicola Brandt feels a profound connection to its legacy, creating The Earth Inside, a body of photographs and Indifference, a video, that examine the landscape where these European atrocities took place. “As an artist sensitive to the histories and memories contained in the landscapes and structures that relate to our past, it is difficult not to engage with our colonial inheritance and its effects,” she explains.

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Next to the Graves, Swakopmund, Namibia (2012). © Nicola Brandt

Categories: Art, Huck, Photography

Jack Pierson: Tomorrow’s Man

Posted on March 13, 2018

Courtesy of Tomorrow’s Man

Back in the 80s and 90s, long after the sun went down, peddlers would set up an impromptu flea market with old possessions displayed on blankets set down on the sidewalks of Second Avenue in New York’s East Village. It was here, amid Puma tracksuits and fake Chanel jewels, that American artist Jack Pierson discovered Tomorrow’s Man – a men’s magazine from the 50s and 60s dedicated to bodybuilding.

A self-described “short-attention-span collector,” Pierson was instantly intrigued and headed over to Physique Memorabilia – a purveyor of vintage male erotica that required patrons to buzz the door for entrance and have a specific reason for their visit. No casual browsers were allowed.

“Between those two places I made a little collection of my own,” Pierson recalls. “They had resurfaced on my desk around the time that Robert Bywater asked me to do a book for him. His intention was for me to do a little book of my new photographs but at that moment I was feeling this kind of ephemera and magazine work I had been doing myself. I was also more interested in other artists than I was in myself.”

Inspired, Pierson proposed an idea: a brand new version of Tomorrow’s Man that combined clips from vintage physique magazines with work from contemporary artists with cutting edge design. Images were cropped, collaged, and juxtaposed in an innovative way that suggested the unexpected and evocative associations one makes when perusing a thrift shop.

Read the Full Story at AnOther Man

Categories: 1960s, AnOther Man, Art

Joel Meyerowitz: Where I Find Myself

Posted on March 9, 2018

New York City, 1974. © Joel Meyerowitz

At 80 years old, American photographer Joel Meyerowitz is still going strong, forging a singular path that has taken him around the globe several times over. Hailing from East Bronx, Meyerowitz began his career as a street photographer, capturing the curious, quirky moments that reveal themselves as quickly as they disappear.

Today, Meyerowitz now finds himself living on a farm in Tuscany, amassing an archive of 50,000 photographs in just about every genre imaginable. “How come I found myself here, living in Italy and making still lifes when I am a street photographer Jew form New York City? What am I doing here?” Meyerowitz laughs.

He set out to answer this question in Where I Find Myself (Laurence King), a career retrospective presented in reverse chronological order. Here, Meyerowitz takes us on a magical journey from the present into the past, guiding us through the many chapters of his well-lived life.

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Elias, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1981. © Joel Meyerowit

New York City, 1963. © Joel Meyerowit

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Huck, Photography

The Best Photography Stories of February 2018

Posted on March 8, 2018

American Gods, 2017. Photography John Edmonds

I am delighted to have three of my features selected by Dazed as the best photography stories of February 2018, including:

JOHN EDMONDS’ PHOTOS CELEBRATE THE FAMILY WE CREATE, NOT THE ONE WE GET

John Edmonds photographs have won him critical acclaim and now landed him alongside Carrie Mae Weems and Gordon Parks in a current exhibition. Pushing the boundaries of what black masculinity means, alongside his own experiences as a queer black man, his images explore the necessity of finding a support system that truly supports you.

“Untitled (Nathan Shapiro)”, (1984). Image: © Estate of Mark Morrisroe (Ringier Collection) at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Untitled (Nathan Shapiro), 1984, Vintage chromogenic print (negative sandwich) retouched with ink, Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City

THE ARTIST THAT NAN GOLDIN CALLED BOSTON’S FIRST PUNK

Mark Morrisroe was a contemporary of Nan Goldin and the unofficial leader of the famous The Boston School of artists. Tragically, he passed away from complications due to Aids at just 30 (in 1989), but he left behind him an incredible oeuvre of polaroids and images that cemented his legacy in the art world. With a show currently on at ClampArt, New York, running until the end of March, we spoke to gallerist Brian Clamp to help us shine a light on the enigmatic artist.

Photography Dani Lessnau

THIS ARTIST PUTS A CAMERA INSIDE HER VAGINA AND TAKES PHOTOS OF HER LOVERS

Dani Lessnau makes tiny pinhole cameras and places them inside her vagina in order to take (consenting) photographs of her lovers. In an interview with Dazed Digital, the artist explored her impetus for the project alongside her influences.

See the Full Selection at Dazed

Categories: Art, Dazed, Exhibitions, Photography

A Portrait of Ming Smith, Pioneer Photographer & Model

Posted on March 6, 2018

Pioneers are often so far ahead of the curve that few know who they are and what they accomplished though we may all benefit from their work. Many simply live their destiny, leading quiet, humble lives, bearing the stripes and scars of the struggle while their legacy allows generations to succeed because they refused to fail.

In 1973, Ming Smith moved to New York. A recent graduate of Howard University, Smith took up modelling to support herself, working alongside Grace Jones, Bethann Hardison, Toukie Smith, Sherry Bronfman, and Barbara Smith – the first generation of African-American women to break through the colour barrier which had kept them out of the fashion and beauty industries.

Living in a studio apartment on Carmine Street in the West Village long before gentrification had set in, Smith invested all of her earnings into her true passion: photography. She carried her camera wherever she went, taking photographs while working in Paris and on assignment in Africa. Photography was a means to survive the challenges of daily life, providing a space where she could integrate with her authentic self, combining the profound power of the black experience with the universal beauty of humanity.

A woman of principle, poetry, and poise, Smith is a true pioneer in every sense of the word. The first woman member of Kamoinge, the African-American photography collective established in 1963, Smith is the first black woman to have work included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art – the very establishment that championed the transformation of photography from a vernacular activity into a fine art.

Despite her historic achievements, Smith never pushed herself into the public eye. It is only in 2017 that the world is catching up with her. Smith kicked things off with a solo exhibition at Steven Kasher Gallery, New York; is featured in the landmark exhibitions We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85; Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power; and Arthur Jafa’s recent show at Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London; and is wrapping things up with a big bow, as Karl Lagerfeld personally selected her photograph of Sun Ra for Paris Photo (Steidl).

Below, Smith shares her journey as an artist and model, reflecting on the challenges of breaking boundaries in fashion and art, and the importance of staying true to yourself while navigating this thing called life.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Africa, Art, Dazed, Photography

Landon Nordeman: Prom in Flint

Posted on March 6, 2018

FLINT, MI – MAY 21: Antonio Nelson, 18, looks inside his friend’s car on the way to his high school prom on Saturday, May 21, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. (Photo by Landon Nordeman)

FLINT, MI – MAY 21: A student’s shoes and socks match his ride on the way to the Northwestern High School Prom on Saturday, May 21, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. (Photo by Landon Nordeman)

Flint, Michigan, first made headlines in 2014 when state officials changed water sources and failed to apply corrosion inhibitors, creating a public health crisis that continues to this very day. With 10 people dead, and some 12,000 children exposed to lead-infested drinking water, the predominantly African-American city has been forced to drink, cook, clean, and bathe with bottled or filtered water for the past four years.

Despite these horrific circumstances, the people of Flint endure – and even thrive. In 2016, Zack Canepari invited New York-based photographer Landon Nordeman to spend 24 hours in Flint, documenting the annual Northwestern High School prom as part of Canepari’s larger project Flint is a Place.

“Zack had been to one the previous year and reached out to me,” Nordeman explains. Nordeman, who shoots for The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine, was invited to photograph the scene for a body of work titled Prom in Flint that captures the senior class celebrating in their flyest finery and enjoying a classic American rite of passage.

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

FLINT, MI – MAY 21: Unidentified students dance during their high school prom on Saturday, May 21, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. (Photo by Landon Nordeman)

Categories: Art, Fashion, Huck, Photography

Matthew Rolston: Hollywood Royale

Posted on March 1, 2018

The magical grandeur of Hollywood glamour first came into vogue when Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich fled their native Germany in the 1930s and brought the aesthetics of the Weimar Republic stateside. Together they made six films at Paramount Studios, and introduced an innovative look using the spotlight on the face to create a luminous mask that stood in sharp contrast to the dark shadows it cast, emulating the aesthetic of 1920s Berlin.

By the early 1960s, the look had run its course and faded away, until Andy Warhol and Helmut Newton resurrected it in the late 1970s. Los Angeles native Matthew Rolston got his start at this time, shooting for Interview before rising to the heights of celebrity photography as a new Golden Age of Hollywood photography took shape. Working for Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Esquire, Rolston embraced the aesthetics of George Hurrell and Irving Penn, creating timeless portraits of the era’s greatest icons from Prince, Michael Jackson, and Madonna to Christian Lacroix, Yohji Yamamoto, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

In celebration, Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles opens tomorrow at Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, in conjunction with the recent publication of a magnificent monograph by the same name from teNeues featuring works made between 1977 and 1993. Here, Rolston speaks with us about the timeless allure of the glamour photo.

Read the Full Story at AnOther Online

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, AnOther, Art, Books, Exhibitions, Photography

Arlene Gottfried: A Lifetime of Wandering

Posted on February 28, 2018

Couple with Glasses. (Arlene Gottfried / Courtesy of Daniel Cooney Fine Art)

American artist Arlene Gottfried was a quiet storm of power, beauty and strength. She traversed the streets of her native New York, photographing the heart and soul of the people who have made the city a wholly original place.

Over her 50-year career, Gottfried saw New York through its ups and downs. Hailing from Brooklyn, she moved to the West Village in her early 20s, hitting the nightclubs during the era of Studio 54 and Plato’s Retreat, hanging out on New York’s Lower East Side and singing in an African American gospel choir. Whether photographing seminal figures like activist Marsha P. Johnson and poet Miguel Piñero or three generations of women in her Ashkenazi Jewish family, Gottfried had the empathetic eye, imbuing understanding, warmth, and humor into every picture she made.

After a long battle with breast cancer, Gottfried died in August, and in celebration of her life and work, Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York is opening “A Lifetime of Wandering” (Feb. 28 to April 28, 2018). The exhibition features a selection of work made throughout her career, including never-before-seen black and white, color, and Polaroid photographs made on the streets, the beaches and in the parks of her beloved New York.

Read the Full Story at The Lily

Woman on Subway. (Arlene Gottfried / Courtesy of Daniel Cooney Fine Art)

Marsha P. Johnson (Arlene Gottfried / Courtesy of Daniel Cooney Fine Art)

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Exhibitions, Photography, The Lily