Posts from the “Dazed” Category

Larry Fink on Andy Warhol

Posted on April 20, 2017

Photo: Fashion Shoot, New York, 1966 © Larry Fink

In the early 1960s, the shadow of the post-war boom cast a dark shadow upon streets across the United States as the illusion of The American Dream was shattered by the truth of how it came to be.

Amid the fight for human rights, Andy Warhol emerged with a body of work that celebrated the most superficial mythologies of the time. By appropriating images of famous people and products, Warhol positioned himself as the champion of all that was American, fully embracing its anti-intellectual bent. With the establishment of The Factory, his quasi-bohemian Manhattan studio filled with self-titled Superstars, Warhol created an alternate universe to rival Hollywood while simultaneously infiltrating the posh art world.

In 1965, Warhol announced his retirement from painting in order to focus on filmmaking. With a coterie that included Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, Ingrid Superstar, Susanna Campbell, and Gerard Malanga, the media could not get enough of these apolitical characters driven by a lust for fame and wealth.

At the same time, photographer Larry Fink was honing his skills, making pictures that embraced the proletariat and rebuked the haute-bourgeoisie. A self-described “revolutionary communist,” Fink worked as a journalist, creating images for the cause. In 1966, his friend Khadeja Mccall, who sold African prints on St. Mark’s Place, invited Fink to photograph a fashion shoot she was styling for a new publication titled The Eastside Review. The kicker was: the models were Warhol and his Superstars.

Fink took the assignment, adding his own twist. He brought Warhol and his coterie down to the streets of the Lower East Side, a working-class neighborhood infused with poverty – the very antithesis of Warhol’s Pop Art fantasies. The Eastside Review folded before the issue was published, and the photographs were shelved for fifty years, no further thought given to the work…until now.

Read the Full Story at Dazed Digital

Photo: Fashion Shoot, New York, 1966 © Larry Fink

Categories: 1960s, Art, Books, Dazed, Manhattan, Photography

Steve Parke: Picturing Prince

Posted on April 7, 2017

Photo: Copyright Steve Parke

Photo: Copyright Steve Parke

When Prince died on April 21, 2016, the world would never be the same. More than an artist, Prince was the living embodiment of the American Dream. One part innovator, one part iconoclast, Prince took pleasure in subverting expectations and trouncing them with a mastery that belied a singular genius and an incomparable soul.

In 1988, Steve Parke joined the team at Paisley Park after he seized hold of an opportunity and ran with it – for 13 years! Parke collaborated with Prince, helping to create the look of the man whose style and sound was ever-evolving. As art director, Parke was responsible for designing everything from album covers and set design to music videos and merchandise.

In a world where nothing was impossible, Parke found himself in the unexpected position of in-house photographer. In late 1997, as digital photography came to the fore, Parke taught himself everything he needed to know in order to meet the high standards for which Prince was known.

Over the next four years, they produced a stunning body of work, most of it never seen until now, with the publication of Picturing Prince (published by Octopus). Accompanying the images is a series of 50 remarkable vignettes written by Parke that pull back the curtain to reveal Prince: the man, the artist, the legend. Parke gives Dazed Digital a look at life inside the fabled halls of Paisley Park.\

Read the Story at Dazed Digital

Categories: 1990s, Art, Books, Dazed, Music, Photography

Richard Renaldi: Manhattan Sunday

Posted on March 30, 2017

Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Benrubi Gallery. © Richard Renaldi

In the wee hours of Sunday when the night breaks into morning, a curious cast of characters can be found on Manhattan’s streets and sidewalks. From nightclubbers, circuit bots, and prostitutes to garbage collectors, custodians, and drunks, the sun’s early light shines down upon a diverse array of personalities going about their business.

Intrigued by the possibilities of what he could find in the ever-changing fabric of New York, photographer Richard Renaldi began to set his alarm for 3 or 4 am, dragging himself out of bed while it was still dark, in order to take portraits of perfect strangers with an 8×10 camera.

The result is Manhattan Sunday, a collection of portraits, streetscapes, and still lifes that capture the witching hour in perfect black and white. The work, first collected for a book by Aperture, is currently on view at the Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, now through June 11, 2017. Renaldi speaks with Dazed about a New York that few know well.

Read the Story at Dazed Digital

Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Benrubi Gallery. © Richard Renaldi

Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Benrubi Gallery. © Richard Renaldi

Categories: Art, Dazed, Exhibitions, Photography

Ricky Flores: The South Bronx c. 1980

Posted on March 9, 2017

Photo: © Ricky Flores

Photo: © Ricky Flores

The South Bronx became infamous during Game 2 of the 1977 World Series, when newscaster Howard Cosell noticed a nearby abandoned school engulfed in flames and not a fire truck in sight, uttering his legendary phrase, “There it is, ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning.”

The Bronx had been burning throughout the 70s, in a massive series of fires set by arsonists working on behalf of landlords who knew they could collect more money from insurance fraud than they could from rent. From 1970 to 1980, more than 97 per cent of seven census tracts in the South Bronx had been lost to fire and abandonment, turning the once majestic neighborhood into blocks of rubble resembling a war zone. Yet, through it all, the people of the Bronx persevered.

The era was ruled by the do-it-yourself ethos, because under a governmental policy of “benign neglect” (systemic racism that denied basic services to Black and Latinx neighborhoods), it was understood if you didn’t do it, no one would. Hip hop was born out of the fires, the poverty, and the despair, as a new generation of youth invented a brand new art form using nothing but pure ingenuity.

South Bronx native Ricky Flores began taking photographs as a high school senior in high school in 1980, shooting pictures of his friends and his neighborhood. His photographs capture the South Bronx as it was, a place filled with beauty amidst the rubble. He began studying with Mel Rosenthal, one of the most renowned photographers of the South Bronx, and realized he had a responsibility to document his community as an insider.

While outsiders, working for the mainstream media or Hollywood, would come in and create an image of the Bronx as the worst borough in New York City, Flores photographed the community as he knew them to be: a warm, creative, dynamic, resilient, and strong. Flores gives Dazed an inside look at growing up in the South Bronx.

Read the Full Story at Dazed Digital

Photo: © Ricky Flores

Photo: © Ricky Flores

Categories: 1980s, Art, Bronx, Dazed, Music, Photography

Flint Gennari: The Faces Behind New York Graffiti in the 70s

Posted on March 3, 2017

Photo: Courtesy of Flint Gennari

Picture it: Brooklyn, 1965. Dyslexic and hard-of-hearing, young Roberto Gennari didn’t fit in anywhere and performed poorly at school. A sensitive child, he began to withdraw into his own world, finding pleasure in photography. But it was a fourth-grade social studies class that changed his fate. During a lesson about World War II, the teacher began talking about “Kilroy Was Here,” the doodle made famous by American soldiers that started popping up around the world for years.

Gennari was hooked. He likened the idea of writing his name on the walls to advertising. He cites Madison Avenue logos and slogans as his primary reference, as well as the work of artist Peter Max, who made his name the centrepieces of his public artworks for the New York City transit system.

Inspired by the world around him, Gennari began writing cheeky phrases like For Those Who Dare, For Ladies Only, Bad but Not Evil, and The Time Will Come then signing them as “FLINT.” A decade later, his exploits would inspire his high-school classmate Al Diaz, who went on to create SAMO© with Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1977, after FLINT was out of the game.

In 1970, Gennari borrowed his father’s camera and began photographing New York’s graffiti scene, capturing a culture (destined to take over the world) in its infancy. Gennari, whose photographs span 1970–77, speaks with Dazed about growing up in the first generation of New York City’s graffiti scene.

Read the Full Story at Dazed Digital

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, Art, Brooklyn, Dazed, Graffiti, Photography

Sean Maung: All Knowing

Posted on February 22, 2017

Los Angeles native and photographer Sean Maung is releasing his eleventh zine, All Knowing, a love letter to the people of his hometown. From block parties in Venice to alleys on Skid Row and Paisa bars in East Hollywood, Maung celebrates the skaters, sex workers, gangsters, hippies, and working class folks that give the city its flavor.

For All Knowing, Maung set up a makeshift photo studio on the corners of major intersections at Crenshaw & Slauson, Normandy & Beverly, and Santa Monica & Western. He invited anyone who caught his eye to pose for a portrait, his way of showing love for the people who inspire his quest for the perfect shot.

In addition to the street portraits and snapshots of daily life, Maung hooked up with local personalities like rapper Vince Staples, Spanto, founder of Born x Raised, IG personality Isabella Ferrada, and hustlers like Casanova, who is trying to make it in the world of R&B. No matter where he goes, Maung easily connects with people form all walks of life as his day job teaching substance abuse classes to parolees keeps him on point. Ahead of the zine release, we speak to Maung about his love for LA’s live side.

Read the Interview at Dazed Digital

Categories: Art, Dazed, Photography

Jim Jocoy: Order of Appearance

Posted on February 20, 2017

Photo: Jim Jocoy, Woman Reclining on Car, 1977, courtesy of Casemore Kirkby Gallery, San Francisco.

When punk hit San Francisco in the late 70s, it spawned a vibrant underground movement that embraced the Do-It-Yourself ethos of the era. Local bands like the Mutants, the Avengers, the Germs, the Sleepers, and the Cramps made their way on the scene alongside bigger bands from New York, London, and Los Angeles, attracting a fresh crop of rebels, artists, and creatures of the night.

Jim Jocoy was a student at UC Santa Cruz when punk came to town. He dropped out of school, got a job at a copy store, and hit the clubs at night with camera in hand. From 1977 to 1980, he created a body of work that was only shown twice at the time: once at San Francisco State University and later at William S. Burroughs’s 70th birthday party. His photos were kept in deep storage for decades until Thurston Moore brought the work to the public eye with the publication of We’re Desperate (powerHouse Books, 2002), a celebration of the style of the times.

Fifteen years later, Jocoy returns with his second book, Order of Appearance (TBW Books), a sumptuous monograph featuring 44 never-before-seen photos. The book unfolds as a film would, with kids getting ready then heading out, hitting the sweat-drenched clubs and stumbling through after hours until they’re back on the street and the sun comes up.

Ahead of the book release, we speak to Jocoy about his memories of the scene.

Read the Interview at Dazed Digital

Photo: Jim Jocoy, Guy Passed Out, 1979, courtesy of Casemore Kirkby Gallery, San Francisco.

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, Art, Books, Dazed, Photography