Charlie Ahearn

Debbie Harry Rapture 1981 photograph by Charlie Ahearn (Fab 5 Lee Quinones)

printed later

Grand Master Flash, Debbie Harry, Fab 5 Freddy, Chris Stein, & Tracy Wormworth captured by Charlie Ahearn of Wild Style; New York, NY 1981: A seminal late 1970s/early 1980s art/music scene photograph included as part of the exhibition: 'New York, New Music 1980-86': Museum of the City of New York (2021). Medium: Archival Inkjet Print. Overall dimensions: 16 x 22 inches (Image size: 13 x 20 inches). Hand signed & numbered on the verso, from a limited edition of 10. Excellent overall condition. Obtained directly from artist. Artist Bio: Charlie Ahearn, best known as the director of the classic hip-hop film Wild Style (1982), arrived in New York in 1973 to attend the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Later he was joined by his twin brother, John Ahearn, and they became part of the artists' group Colab (aka Collaborative Projects, Inc). Ahearn showed his early films in an abandoned Time Square massage parlour that Colab had taken over on the corner of 7th Avenue and 41st Street (where Ahearn also lived from 1981 to 1993). Colab's 1981 art...

'Jean Michel Basquiat Dancing at The Mudd Club', New York City, 1979: This rare Basquiat photograph was taken from Nicholas Taylor’s well-documented portfolio exploring his friendship with Jean-Michel Basquiat - a friendship which began when both collaborated on the historic New York No Wave band, “GRAY” in the late 1970s; before the two briefly lived together in the East Village. Selections from Taylor's portfolio were most notably exhibited as part of the Basquiat retrospective at London's Barbican in 2017 and have been featured in numerous noteworthy publications on Basquiat. Archival inkjet print. 18 x 24 inches (including borders). Hand signed & numbered from an edition of 10. Provenance: Nick Taylor. Shipped flat using protective materials. Sold unframed. Lot 180 gallery is an authorized dealer rep of Nick Taylor. Taylor’s insightful photographs of a young Basquiat have been featured in numerous world renown publications, exhibits and documentaries surrounding Basquiat, among these: "How Music Powered Basquiat," The New York Times, 9/22/17 Sotheby's "Untitled, 1982;" catalog, May, 2017 Artnet, 9/18/17: Debunking Basquiat’s Myths The Mudd Club: Richard Boch, 2017 Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1981, The Studio of the Street; Diego Cortez King for a Decade: Jean Michel Basquiat; Taka Kawachi Recent Exhibitions featuring Taylor's work: Basquiat: Boom For Real, The Barbican, London, 2017/2018. New York, New Music 1980-86: Museum of the City of New York (2021). Nicholas Taylor: Further Background: Nicholas Taylor (American, b. 1953) is a renowned photographer and musician. Taylor moved to New York in 1977 to pursue a career as a photographer and it was through the vibrant New York art scene that he came to know the young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat. It was, in fact, his intimate portfolio of photographs documenting his friendship with Basquiat that rocketed Taylor to fame. The two would collaborate in the No Wave band “Gray” before Taylor launched a successful career as a DJ famous for track-looping. His track “Suicide Mode” would later be used in the soundtrack for Julian Schnabel’s 1996 film “Basquiat." Circa 1981, Basquiat payed homage to Taylor by incorporating "Nick Taylor" and "DJ High Priest" (a title anointed him by Basquiat) into two separate drawings. While everyone else in the downtown tries to take credit, it was in fact Taylor who first introduced Jean-Michel to Madonna - at the Mudd Club - the very place this one of a kind image was captured. More on The Mudd Club: In the 1970s New York City, uptown had the glitz of Studio 54 and downtown had the Mudd Club: a legendary, downtown art scene venue known for pushing the boundaries of nightlife. The space became a natural collision of fashion, art, music, and literature. And the list of guests who walked through the front door reflected that scene: musicians like Grace Jones, Madonna, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Debbie Harry, Fab Five Freddy, Marianne Faithfull, The Ramones, The Talking Heads, and Nico; fashion luminaries such as, Anna Sui, Betsey Johnson, and Gia Carangi...