By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol and other notorious New York "Bad Boys" will make an appearance on the Upper East Side for the New York Design Festival Thursday.
The celebrities will be featured as part of photographer Marcia Resnik's exhibit Bad Boys: Punks, Poets and Provocateurs for the Association of International Photography Art Dealers show, an offshoot of the annual festival held at the Park Avenue Armory.
As suggested by the title, the exhibit at Deborah Bell Photographs flaunts images of New York icons during reckless escapades in the 1970s and 80s. One image shows a sweaty John Beluschi fidgeting during a 5 a.m. shoot after partying at an after-hours club; in another, Studio 54 owner Steve Rubell leans against lawyer Roy Cohn at the Mudd Club in 1980.
Other figures include the famous drag queen Divine, Johnny Thunders, The Kipper Kids, and William Burroughs.
As part of the showcase, Resnik provides literary, as well as photographic, documentation, in the forms of personal essay-captions.
"Photographed here in 1978, German born Klaus Nomi, originally Klaus Sperber, was a pastry chef who was about to re-invent himself as a new wave opera singer," one caption reads below the photograph of Nomi.
"With his angular features exaggerated by theatrical make-up, his outer- space-like attire and his distinctly coiffed hair, complete with receding hairline, he awed audiences," she continued in the caption. "He employed his stellar countertenor voice in explosive performances, using synthesizers to create unique renditions of both arias and pop songs. He died of AIDS in 1983."
The vintage silver gelatin print portraits ultimately aim to show the chaos of New York's nightlife, essayist Victor Bockris said.
"'Bad Boys' probes the ways power and maleness manifested themselves in New York when it was the vibrant cultural capital of the world yet at the same time torn apart by poverty, chaos, hard-drug dealing and extreme violence against women," Bockris wrote.
The photographs will be among hundreds that hail from New York-based photographers at the show this year. Other works from the Keith de Lellis Gallery also feature New York as a major subject through landscape photography.
Aerial views of the Empire State Building and a 1930s Navy Blimp are some images that appear in the gallery. Other works will be featured by New York-based galleries Bonni Benrubi Gallery, Inc., June Bateman Fine Art, and several others.
Throughout the week, the New York Design Festival will also feature exhibits from the New York chapter of the Architectural Digest Home Design Show and the Artist Project New York, among others.
One reason that New York themes are such frequent subjects in design and artwork is that creative people naturally flock to the city for its unique and inviting atmosphere, curator Deborah Bell said.
"It's always changing and so many creative people tend to come here," she said. "You can be a little bit crazy or just be yourself, and find like-minded people."
For a complete list of events at the New York Design Festival, please click here.
