It’s a period in New York City’s history that often evokes wistful nostalgia: artists’ lofts in Soho, CBGB’s on the Bowery, and a gritty urban landscape.
Punks, Poets & Provocateurs: New York City Bad Boys 1977-1982 is a book that captures an eclectic group of New York luminaries such as Andy Warhol, Klaus Nomi, and John Waters in never-before-seen photographs. The book is a collection of portraits by artist Marcia Resnick, who captured her friends and colleagues on film and chronicled her many engagements with the downtown art and music scenes.
It also includes an afterword by artnet contributor Anthony Haden-Guest, along with text by director John Waters, musician Richard Hell, writer Gary Indiana and Interview magazine legend Liz Derringer, among others. “The people from the extraordinary New York milieu amongst whom I was living and working had no way of knowing that the years between 1977 and 1982 were enchanted, endangered, and unrepeatable,” Resnick writes in a statement.
See below for more pictures of the era’s major players on the arts scene.