New York/Lower East Side

East 3rd Street — © Brian Rose

Inauguration day (and Martin Luther King day) 2013. Just a scary reminder of what could have been had things turned out differently four years ago. The poster above, of course, is Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin, the former vice presidential candidate, now sliding, it would seem, into general dissipation in the mid-winter gloom of Alaska.

I posted a similar picture last year taken with my digital camera. This is a scan of a 4×5 negative.

New York/WTC

Hudson River Greenway — © Brian Rose

This is an image made a number of months ago with the 4×5 camera that I’ve just gotten around to scanning. WTC 1 had reached it’s full height–even now the glass is not all the way to the top.

New York/Frank Christian

Adding to a post from a few days ago:

In 1982 I was asked by Frank Christian to take photographs for his forthcoming album “Somebody’s got to do it.” I went to Frank’s skylighted studio apartment on the top floor of a Greenwich Village townhouse, and we sat around chatting, drinking coffee, snapping pictures. The two images used for the cover were from that session–back when albums were 12×12 inch LPs.

I didn’t do a lot of photos of musicians in those days–largely because I wanted to be one of the songwriters, not just a witness to the scene. In retrospect I wish I had taken more pictures. I did, however, do a number of album covers for songwriter friends, and sadly, most of them–Frank, Richard Meyer, Tom Intondi, and Jack Hardy have died, way too soon.

Not many people made their own albums in those days, and Frank took his cue from Jack Hardy who was recording and releasing his own. That’s Jack’s Great Divide label on the lower right. Not a real company, but a certain imprimatur, nevertheless. I think that’s where the title comes from, somebody’s got to do it, and Frank would say it ironically with a sly grin.

New York/Upcoming Show

A very nice piece written by Eric Walstedt about my upcoming show at the Dillon Gallery. Eric, the director of the gallery, lived on the Lower East Side in 1980 when I began photographing the neighborhood with Ed Fausty.

The exhibition will feature about 25 images from Time and Space on the Lower East Side with half of them printed five feet across. The images, which were made with a 4×5 view camera, are stunning at that size. The show will open on March 7, so save the date. More details soon.

New York/Williamsburg

Williamsburg, Brooklyn — © Brian Rose

Without comment.

New York/2013!

Brooklyn Bridge 1980 — © Brian Rose/Edward Fausty

Time and Space on the Lower East Side came out near the end of May 2012. Deciding to do the book with a small independent publisher–after several rejections by established companies–was a big step. Raising money via Kickstarter was also a major undertaking, but in the end it not only helped financially, but created a core constituency for the book. Above all, I am thankful to Bill Diodato, who created Golden Section Publishers to do books like mine that, otherwise, might not find a way out into the world. Let’s face it, getting one’s work before the public is an essential part of being an artist. And in that regard I have not always been successful.

My songwriter friend Jack Hardy, used to criticize, if not belittle, those who strove for a larger audience or worked to build commercial standing–he would say that the work was all that mattered, and everything else would take care of itself. Or not, as I have discovered after years of doing what amounts to a lot of work. Part of the problem was that I never had enough money to shift the starting line forward, which is how many people seemingly got off the blocks early. I’ve had to work slowly, deliberately, sometimes in smaller bites, building projects that by accretion became almost epic in scale like the Lower East Side project or my photographs of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. Ultimately, maybe Jack was right. The work is the thing. I just had to get out and get the ball rolling.

So, I’m not here to complain as we enter 2013. Time and Space has been a success. There are now fewer than 500 books left of the 1,100 printed. I’m already beginning to plan a follow-up, a book about the World Trade Center with pictures from 1978 to the present. And I’m pleased to announce that Time and Space on the Lower East Side will be given a major exhibition at the Dillon Gallery located in the Chelsea art district of New York. The opening is set for March 7, more details to follow soon.

Happy New Year!

New York/Frank Christian

Frank Christian, Somebody’s got to do it — cover photo © Brian Rose

Frank Christian, songwriter and guitarist died on December 24, 2012. One of the mainstays of the Greenwich Village folk scene, Frank was the epitome of cool sophistication and wit. I made this photograph for his first album back in the 1980s. The back cover shows him in his apartment in the Village, and I’ll get that up once I have a chance to scan it.

With Jack Hardy and Frank gone, two of the leading figures of the music scene I was immersed in have left us much too young. Frank was 60. He will be sorely missed by all of us.

New York/Long Island City

Long Island City — © Brian Rose

Without comment.

New York/Around Town

Union Square subway platform — © Brian Rose

My cat’s paws, or rather foot gloves, on the move around town during the holidays.

New York/Meatpacking District

Washington Street — © Brian Rose

It was the winter of 1985, and I was casting about for something new to photograph. I had completed projects on the Lower East Side and Central Park, and later that summer I would begin shooting the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall, a project that would continue to occupy me up to the present. For reasons I cannot recall, I walked over to the west side with my camera and spent several days photographing the meatpacking district. I began from the West Village, the scene above relatively unchanged today. The yellow and black sign warning illegal parkers that the air will be let out of their tires remains attached to the wall of the building almost 28 years later. In 1985, David Dinkins was running for Borough President–he would later become mayor.

Washington and Gansevoort Street — © Brian Rose

In the morning the meat packing district was a vast open air scene of carnage. Sides of beef were hung from hooks that slid along overhead conveyors. Men in bloodied white coveralls grappled with the carcasses. By mid morning the hubbub of the city’s meat market subsided and the cobblestone streets took on a look of abandonment, astonishing in the heart of such a great metropolis. As evening approached another kind of meat market took over–this one human trade–as prostitutes prowled the empty streets, many of them transvestites, overly tall females tottering about on high heels, while men in black leather sought the anonymous doors of sex clubs.

Gansevoort Street — © Brian Rose

In 1985 a restaurant called Florent opened on Gansevoort Street. For years it was a late night destination for the downtown social set, gay and straight alike. It was hard to find, and took a certain fortitude to navigate the urban hell/paradise surrounding it. It was not expensive, but for me, blowing all my money on 4×5 film, on a whole other plane of existence. You can see it on the left, the glowing neon florent in the window. A website with the sign still glows on the Internet here. A recent article about the former owner Florent Morellet is here.

Washington and Little West 12th Street — © Brian Rose

If you look up some of the business names, you see that many still exist, like J.A.W.D. above, operating out of the Hunt’s Point market in the Bronx. That’s where most of the distribution of meat, fish, and produce is handled for New York in modern refrigerated facilities. The red door to the left of the truck was the entrance to the Mineshaft, probably the most infamous of the men’s sex clubs that dotted the meatpacking district. It was closed later in the fall of 1985 at the height of the AIDS crisis.

Washington Street — © Brian Rose

The entrance to the Mineshaft in the winter of 1985.

Little West 12th Street — © Brian Rose

In 1985 the high line was a nameless unused rail viaduct that ran down the west side of Manhattan all the way into the West Village. It cast ominous shadows over streets and vacant lots. The elevated rail line once served the docks and factories lining the Hudson River. It replaced the tracks that ran down the middle of Tenth Avenue–Death Avenue it was called back then. The picture above was taken where the beer garden of the Standard Hotel now is.

Washington and West 13 Street — © Brian Rose

The desolation of the meatpacking district by day was profound, but many parts of lower Manhattan were also quite empty. Things were changing, however, and the Soho gallery scene was already well established, and Tribeca was beginning to take off. Nevertheless, in the winter of 1985, the meatpacking district slumbered undisturbed through the daylight hours.

Washington and West 13th Street — © Brian Rose

Just as in the loft neighborhoods further downtown, there were artists living and working above the meat market below. A telltale sign were the gas heating units that looked similar to window air conditioners. If you didn’t have much money you only ran these for part of the day, and I remember visiting some pretty cold lofts in those days. The other thing that made the meatpacking district less attractive for living was the stench of the meat businesses–it permeated everything.

West 14th, Hudson, and Ninth Avenue — © Brian Rose

Ninth Avenue — © Brian Rose

The parking lot above is the present location of the Hotel Gansevoort.

West 14th Street — © Brian Rose

The “apple” store on 14th Street.

West Street and Tenth Avenue — © Brian Rose

The Liberty Inn shared its odd shaped building with the Anvil, another of the neighborhoods sex clubs. The Anvil is long gone, but the Liberty lives on as a rent-by-the hour hotel.

Tenth Avenue and West 17th Street — © Brian Rose

So much has changed in the meatpacking district and the adjoining gallery area of Chelsea that I hesitate saying anything at all. What was once urban desolation is now the epicenter of fashion and art in the western hemisphere. The High Line is no longer a rusting hulk, but… I’ll let you fill in the blank. I love it–it’s a perfect conjuncture of preservation and contemporary architecture. I hate it–it’s too crowded much of the time to be enjoyed. But what can you do? This is New York. You cannot live here if you cannot abide change.

Even as the money sloshes through the streets of the meatpacking district, we are reminded of our fragile hold on this island as the waters of Hurricane Sandy flooded the couture shops and art galleries along the Hudson. Our ultimate fate may yet be determined by the melting ice of Greenland.

New York/Hell’s Kitchen

West 46t Street — © Brian Rose

Once again , the Christmas spirit in New York.

New York/Art Miami

Art Miami installation, the Dillon Gallery

Three of my Lower East Side photographs from 1980 (made with Ed Fausty) are being exhibited at Art Miami, one of the big art fairs presently going on in the Miami area. I am being represented by the Dillon Gallery, a New York, Chelsea gallery. I just heard that we sold a print of East 4th Street, the image on the left, above. It’s hard to tell from the snapshot, but the prints are approximately 50×62 inches, and look really terrific at that size. Very pleased, and hoping this leads to more good things.

New York/Lower East Side

Continuing my series of pictures taken under and nearby the Manhattan Bridge. Made in conjunction with my ICP class, Photographing New York: the Lower East Side.

New York/Lower East Side

Last week my ICP class went to the area around the Manhattan Bridge on the Lower East Side. We were working off an iconic photograph by Berenice Abbott of Pike Slip looking toward one of the bridge towers. At the time her photograph was made, tenements crowded around the massive stone architecture and steel engineering that began near the Bowery and soared over the city before spanning the East River. The bridge continues to exert a dominant presence in the urban landscape, though most of the tenements have been torn down, replaced by housing projects, parks and ball fields. However, a part of Chinatown still borders the bridge with its hustle and bustle, and colorfully cluttered shopping malls have been constructed beneath the supports of the bridge. At Monroe Street, a there is an elaborate skatepark hemmed between the massive stone piers of the bridge. It is a spectacular setting, a mecca for skateboarders and bmx’ers.

Yesterday, I took my 14 year old son with me for a photo walk around the bridge.

New York/Van Alen Books

Excerpts of my slide talk and discussion at Van Alen Books with Sean Corcoran, photo curator of the Museum of the City of New York.

New York/Lower East Side

Without comment.

New York/Lower East Side

Chinatown, Manhattan Bridge, One World Trade Center in the background.

New York/Lower East Side

More small camera photographs of Orchard Street made while accompanying my photo class from ICP. Pick a place as historically and visually rich as this and the possibilities are limitless.

See my other photos posted previously.