Walt Cassidy: New York - Club Kids

(Hardback)

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Description

New York: Club Kids is a high impact visual diary of New York City in the 1990s, seen through the eyes of Waltpaper, a central figure within the Club Kids. The Club Kids comprised an artistic and fashion-conscious youth movement that crossed over into the public consciousness through appearances on daytime talk shows, magazine editorials, fashion campaigns, and music videos, planting the seeds for popular cultural trends such as reality television, self-branding, influencers, and the gender revolution. Known for their outrageous looks, legendary parties, and sometimes-illicit antics, The Club Kids were the hallmarks of Generation X and would prove to be the last definitive subculture group of the analog world. The '90s, whose 30th anniversary is quickly approaching, has come to be known as the last discernible and cohesive decade, cherished by those who experienced it and romanticized by those who missed it. The first comprehensive visual document of '90s nightlife and street culture, New York Club Kids grants special access to a dormant world, curated and narrated by someone who participated in the experience. Featuring rare photographs and ephemera, the book culls from the personal archives of various photographers and artists whose recognition is long overdue.

Reviews

Multimedia artist and designer Walt Cassidy, a.k.a. Waltpaper, takes the reader through the '90s underground club scene in New York City...in this "high-impact" visual diary filled with rare and previously unseen photographs, magazine clippings, and other media.-- "New York Magazine: Strategist"
A corrective to the default association of the Club Kids with the 1996 murder of Andre "Angel" Melendez by Michael Alig, Cassidy weaves a far more optimistic narrative where a bunch of misfits made a wonderland by being themselves.--Christopher Bollen "Interview"
Emerging at a moment of plentiful digital photography but little internet access, their colorful personalities had to be experienced in real time, in real communities, and now, finally, in a photobook whose snapshots ooze with that ever-elusive quality: authenticity.--Andrew Pasquier "Artforum"
New York: Club Kids charts the history of the last underground subculture of the analogue age [...] when a new group of upstarts transgressed boundaries with singular aplomb, deconstructing the realms of fashion, music, drugs, gender, pop culture, and media to recreate themselves anew every week.--Sara Rosen "AnOther Man"
New York: Club Kids is a brilliant I-was-there chronicle of the glorious, gaudy, and gorgeous creatures who stalked the New York nights of the '90s, an oddly touching and affecting remembrance of both youthful knowingness and innocence.--Mark Holgate "Vogue"
The photos featured in the book depict a rich, layered story with New York City as the setting: the bold fashion, the memorable makeup details, the promotional fare-like flyers and posters, and the celebrities.--Sabrina Cooper "Dazed"
The Club Kids, a rag-tag band of misfits with oversized, personally crafted personas and outrageous looks...represented a seminal moment in culture.--Mikelle Street "OUT"
The Club Kidsnamed thus by New York Magazine in 1988were an artistic, fashion-conscious youth movement that crossed over into the public consciousness through appearances on daytime talk shows, magazine editorials, fashion campaigns and music videos, planting the seeds for popular cultural trends such as reality television, self-branding, "influencers" and the gender revolution.--Editor "TENz"

Author Bio

Walt Cassidy (b. 1972) is a multimedia artist and designer based in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout the 1990s, as Waltpaper, he was at the center of the New York City Club Kids movement. In 2014, Walt Cassidy Studio was established as a jewelry brand and has expanded to include interiors-based murals. Cassidy's explorative and allegorical work incorporates photography, drawing, sculpture, painting, and jewelry, and has been exhibited at MASS MOCA, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Deitch Projects, 303 Gallery, Torrance Art Museum, Watermill Center, Miami Basel Art Fair, Leslie- Lohman Museum, and Invisible Exports. Publications include Vogue, Elle, Artforum, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and others.