Clayton Patterson
Encyclopedia
Clayton Patterson is a Canadian-born artist, photographer, videographer, and folk historian. Since moving to New York City in 1979, his work has focused almost exclusively on documenting the art, life and times of the Lower East Side
in Manhattan.
, University of Alberta
(Edmonton) and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University
He taught printmaking at University of Alberta, etching at NSCAD, and high school art at Memorial Composite High School
in Stony Plain, Alberta
. He also worked for other artists as a freelance
lithographer and print maker.
In 1972 he began living and collaborating with artist Elsa Rensaa. Though never married, they have remained life long partners. Elsa was born in Norway and raised in Edmonton, Canada.
Seeking a more experimental and avant garde art scene, Patterson and Rensaa left Canada and took up residence in lower Manhattan.
NO!art
Since 1999 Patterson beside Dietmar Kirves
(FRONT EAST) is leader of the NO!art
, leading headquarter FRONT WEST.
The NO!Art movement was founded by Boris Lurie
(deceased), Stanley Fisher (deceased), and Sam Goodman (deceased) at March gallery New York in 1960.
Members are Rocco Armento, Isser Aronovici (†), Enrico Baj
(†), Paolo Baratella, Herb Brown, Ronaldo Brunet, Guenter Brus, Al D'Arcangelo (†), Aleksey Dayen(†), Frank-Kirk Ehm-Marks, Erro (Ferro), Klaus Fabricius, Charles Gatewood, Paul Georges (†), Jochen Gerz, Dorothie Gillespie, Esther Morgenstern Gilman (†), Amikam Goldman, Leon Golub
(t), Blalla W. Hallmann (t), Harry Hass, Allan Kaprow
(†), Kommissar Hjuler
(Detlev Hjuler) and Mama Baer
(Andrea Katharina Ingeborg Hjuler), Yayoi Kusama
, Konstantin K. Kuzminsky, Jean-Jacques Lebel
, Suzanne Long (Harriet Wood), LST, Enzo Mastrangelo, Stu Mead
, Peter Meseck, Lil Picard (†), Leonid Pinchevsky, Bernard Rancillac, Francis Salles, Naomi Tereza Salmon, Reinhard Scheibner, Bruno Schleinstein (†), Dominik Stahlberg, Michelle Stuart
, Aldo Tambellini, Seth Tobocman
, Jean Toche, Toyo Tsuchiya
, Wolf Vostell
(†), Friedrich Wall, Mathilda Wolf, Natalia E. Woytasik, Miron Zownir.
.
Though technically trained as an artist, Patterson's sculpture style is more akin to so-called outsider
or folk art
, often incorporating found objects, vibrantly painted and collaged in elaborate vitrines and decorated frames.
His painting and drawing is heavily informed and influenced by tattoo
and graffiti
culture. Some of his large scale murals have appeared throughout the Lower East Side.
From 1980-1982, Patterson's work was shown in a number of downtown galleries. As Patterson grew disenchanted with the SoHo
art world, he distanced himself from the traditional gallery scene and moved deeper into the underground scene of Lower East Side.
Clayton Cap store. From 1986 to 2003, they showcased a variety of New York artists, writers, neighborhood personalities including Quentin Crisp
, Dash Snow
, Angel "LA2" Ortiz, Boris Lurie
, tattoo artist Spider Webb, Genesis P-Orridge
, Peter Missing, Mary Beach, Taylor Mead
, Agathe Snow
, Manwoman, Swoon
, Herbert Huncke
and Elsa Rensaa.
Clayton designs on the front and on the sides of the cap. Thus the birth
of the Clayton cap- the first designer branded baseball cap. The Clayton
cap was the first baseball cap to have the embroidery all around the
cap, and had the first signature and label on the outside of the cap. An
embroidered signature on a repeated design,
and a hand signed label for the custom one-of-a-kind designed caps.
As Booksinger gradually retired from manufacturing, Patterson and Rensaa took up the business of embroidering their own designs on hand made hats with a 100-year old Bonis embroidery machine.
The hats, designed by Patterson and made by Rensaa, were immediately popular with artists and were picked up by Elle
and GQ. The GQ article by Richard Merkin
, named Clayton Hats as one of the two best baseball hats made in America.
Some of Clayton Hats' notable customers included artists Jim Dine
and David Hockney
, actor Matt Dillon
, directors Gus Van Sant
and Rob Reiner
, the Pet Shop Boys
, and Mick Jagger
, for whom they designed a custom jacket back piece.
. From the start, Patterson was as hired as an organizer and manager. For the first 10 years of the convention, Rensaa designed and printed the invitation cards and posters. She has also tattooed at 161 Essex since 1986, but is now retired.
In 1985 , Patterson began photographing kids from the neighborhood in front of his front door. Over the years, he has taken hundreds of photos, and displaying them on his "Hall of Fame" in his storefront window. As more photographs appeared in the window, more kids demanded their photo be taken in front the graffiti covered door. Says Patterson, "The window was active 24 hours a day. You could hear tapping on the window and excited voices, 'Mira! Mira! Mira!' The majority of the Front Door people were Hispanics. Anglos, for the most part, just did not get the concept, but the locals sure did." He adds, "I was out to make everyone who wanted fame famous in the hood. And famous they became." The photos were later collected in "Clayton Patterson's Front Door Book." (2009, O.H.W.O.W. Press, Miami)
"People who talk about photography as stealing souls are elitist. My Question for them is, "Why is it that only the kings get memorialized?" I cannot tell you how many times I have been the only one in possession a picture of a family member. Life on the Lowa Deck could be treacherous and I have more than once witnessed families who lost everything for one reason or another. And often one of the first things to go would be the family picture. So my answer to the knuckleheads who say taking pictures is stealing souls is, go back to your middle or upper class existence and stay out of my life. Since much of my time is spent on the street I would probably say it less politely. Another way I look at the photographs is that we are one-we are the LES. I am them and they are me. And nobody is going to steal my soul."
On August 6 and 7, 1988, police clashed with the young anarchist squatter population in Tompkins Square Park
in the Lower East Side causing a massive riot.
Patterson had initially gone out to video tape a performance at the Pyramid Club
, but noticed a lot of activity around the park as well as a sizable police presence. The restless, anarchistic, politically active, squatter population was gathering in protest over the newly enforced 1am curfew. When the riot broke out, Patterson began taping the incident in full detail. His footage from the night's events (some 3+ hours) became instrumental in exposing police brutality
in New York City that was often reported but never videotaped. As a result, New York District
Attorney Robert Morgenthau
ordered Patterson to surrender his
tapes and camera. Patterson refused the order and was sentenced to 90
days in jail. After a 10 day hunger strike, Patterson's lawyers William
Kunstler, Lyn Stewart, and Ron Kuby negotiated a deal that would allow the city to get a copy of the tape while allowing Patterson the right to keep the original.
from the streets of New York City including brand stamped glassine
heroin bags, protest banners and fliers, graffiti stickers and art.
In addition to the hours of Tompkins Square Park footage, the video archive contains a large number of interviews, concerts, and street protests (including the ACT UP AIDS protest).
Patterson's documentation of the NYC hardcore punk
scene of the 1980s and early 1990s includes footage of Bad Brains
, Murphy's Law
, Sick of it All
, Side by Side
, Reagan Youth
, Sheer Terror
, and G.G. Allin.
His videos interviews with artists Richard Kern
, Nick Zedd
, Joe Coleman
, Annie Sprinkle
, H.R. Giger, Kembra Pfahler
(of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black), Ira Cohen
, Pyramid Club
dancers Phoebe Legere
, Dee Finley, folk historian and ethnomusicologist Harry Smith
and numerous tattoo artists, colorful characters and NYC community leaders comprise an extensive historical document of the city.
was the executive producer. The New York noise-rock band A.R.E. Weapons
contributed original music to the film.
Wildstyle: History of a New Idea. Clayton Patterson and Jochen Auer, editors. (2003, Unique Publications, New York).
Captured: A Film/Video History of the Lower East Side. Clayton Patterson, Paul Bartlett, Urania Mylonas, editors. (2005, Seven Stories Press, New York) ISBN 1583226745
Resistance: A Radical Social and Political History of the Lower East Side. Clayton Patterson, editor. (2007, Seven Stories Press, New York). ISBN 1583227458
Clayton Patterson's Front Door Book. Clayton Patterson with Angel "LA2" Ortiz, Marco Hellraiser & Triby L.E.S. Monica Uszerowicz, editor. (2009, O.H.W.O.W. Press, Miami)
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
in Manhattan.
Early life
Before moving to New York City in 1979, Clayton Patterson studied art at Alberta College of Art, University of CalgaryUniversity of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
, University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
(Edmonton) and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University
NSCAD University also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, is a post-secondary art school located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada....
He taught printmaking at University of Alberta, etching at NSCAD, and high school art at Memorial Composite High School
Memorial Composite High School
Memorial Composite High School is located in Stony Plain, Alberta and is part of the Parkland School Division . Serving grades 10-12, it teaches approximately 1200 students, of that, 100 of them are enrolled in the school's large outreach program...
in Stony Plain, Alberta
Stony Plain, Alberta
Stony Plain is a large town in rural Alberta, Canada, just west of Edmonton.Stony Plain is a rapidly growing town with strong historical roots. It is located west of Spruce Grove and surrounded by Parkland County. The town is governed by one mayor and six councillors. The region is dominated by...
. He also worked for other artists as a freelance
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
lithographer and print maker.
In 1972 he began living and collaborating with artist Elsa Rensaa. Though never married, they have remained life long partners. Elsa was born in Norway and raised in Edmonton, Canada.
Seeking a more experimental and avant garde art scene, Patterson and Rensaa left Canada and took up residence in lower Manhattan.
NO!artNO!ArtNO!art is a radical avant-garde anti-art movement started in New York in 1959. Its founders sought to deliver a shock to the complacent consumerist society around them....
Movement
Since 1999 Patterson beside Dietmar KirvesDietmar Kirves
- Early work :Since 1964 he works in the field of mixed media works with film, photos, music, sculptures and environments.In 1970 he created the mediacontact agency in Düsseldorf in collaboration with Jochen Gerz and Terry Fox...
(FRONT EAST) is leader of the NO!art
NO!Art
NO!art is a radical avant-garde anti-art movement started in New York in 1959. Its founders sought to deliver a shock to the complacent consumerist society around them....
, leading headquarter FRONT WEST.
The NO!Art movement was founded by Boris Lurie
Boris Lurie
Boris Lurie was an American artist and writer. He co-founded the NO!Art movement which calls for art leading to social action...
(deceased), Stanley Fisher (deceased), and Sam Goodman (deceased) at March gallery New York in 1960.
Members are Rocco Armento, Isser Aronovici (†), Enrico Baj
Enrico Baj
Enrico Baj was an Italian artist and writer on art. Many of his works show an obsession with nuclear war. He created prints, sculptures but especially collage. He was close to the surrealist and dada movements, and was later associatied with CoBrA. As an author he has been described as a leading...
(†), Paolo Baratella, Herb Brown, Ronaldo Brunet, Guenter Brus, Al D'Arcangelo (†), Aleksey Dayen(†), Frank-Kirk Ehm-Marks, Erro (Ferro), Klaus Fabricius, Charles Gatewood, Paul Georges (†), Jochen Gerz, Dorothie Gillespie, Esther Morgenstern Gilman (†), Amikam Goldman, Leon Golub
Leon Golub
Leon Golub was an American painter. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he also studied, receiving his BA at the University of Chicago in 1942, his BFA and MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1949 and 1950, respectively.He was married to and collaborated with the artist Nancy Spero...
(t), Blalla W. Hallmann (t), Harry Hass, Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. His Happenings - some 200 of them - evolved over the years...
(†), Kommissar Hjuler
Kommissar Hjuler
Kommissar Hjuler works as a sound recordist in the field of Noise and Post-industrial music, visual artist and film maker at Flensburg, a town on the German border with Denmark. He often works together with his wife Mama Baer as Kommissar Hjuler und Frau. As self-taught artist he began making...
(Detlev Hjuler) and Mama Baer
Mama Baer
Mama Baer works as a sound recordist in the field of Noise and Post-industrial music, visual artist and film maker at Flensburg, a town on the German border with Denmark. She often works together with her husband Kommissar Hjuler as Kommissar Hjuler und Frau...
(Andrea Katharina Ingeborg Hjuler), Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama
is a Japanese artist whose paintings, collages, soft sculptures, performance art and environmental installations all share an obsession with repetition, pattern, and accumulation...
, Konstantin K. Kuzminsky, Jean-Jacques Lebel
Jean-Jacques Lebel
Jean-Jacques Lebel is a French artist, poet, poetry publisher, political activist and scholar born in Paris in 1936. He is known primarily for his work with Happenings, and as an art theory writer and art curator. He is the son of Robert Lebel, art critic and friend of Marcel Duchamp.-Life and...
, Suzanne Long (Harriet Wood), LST, Enzo Mastrangelo, Stu Mead
Stu Mead
Stu Mead is an American painter living in Germany. He is primarily-known for girl art incorporating strong elements of sexual fantasy and taboo themes, including adolescent sexuality and bestiality...
, Peter Meseck, Lil Picard (†), Leonid Pinchevsky, Bernard Rancillac, Francis Salles, Naomi Tereza Salmon, Reinhard Scheibner, Bruno Schleinstein (†), Dominik Stahlberg, Michelle Stuart
Michelle Stuart
Michelle Stuart through her art has created complex, multifaceted investigations of the relationship between nature and culture for over four decades,. Her artworks range in scale from monumental earthworks to intimate talismanic sculptures...
, Aldo Tambellini, Seth Tobocman
Seth Tobocman
Seth Tobocman is a radical comic book artist who has been living in Manhattan's Lower East Side since 1978. Tobocman is best known for his creation of the political comic book World War 3 Illustrated, which he started in 1979 with fellow artist Peter Kuper...
, Jean Toche, Toyo Tsuchiya
Toyo Tsuchiya
Toyo Tsuchiya is a Japanese born artist and photographer and one of the early artists involved in the Rivington School art movement of the East Village art scene of New York City of the 1980s.Toyo Tsuchiya moved from Japan to New York in 1980...
, Wolf Vostell
Wolf Vostell
Wolf Vostell was a German painter, sculptor, noise music maker and Happening artist of the second half of the 20th century. Wolf Vostell is considered one of the pioneers of video art, environment-sculptures, Happenings and the Fluxus Movement...
(†), Friedrich Wall, Mathilda Wolf, Natalia E. Woytasik, Miron Zownir.
Art
Patterson has worked in a variety of mediums including etching, drawing, sculpture, lithography, and photogravurePhotogravure
Photogravure is an intaglio printmaking or photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality intaglio print that can reproduce the detail and continuous tones of a...
.
Though technically trained as an artist, Patterson's sculpture style is more akin to so-called outsider
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
or folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
, often incorporating found objects, vibrantly painted and collaged in elaborate vitrines and decorated frames.
His painting and drawing is heavily informed and influenced by tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
and graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
culture. Some of his large scale murals have appeared throughout the Lower East Side.
From 1980-1982, Patterson's work was shown in a number of downtown galleries. As Patterson grew disenchanted with the SoHo
SoHo
SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores...
art world, he distanced himself from the traditional gallery scene and moved deeper into the underground scene of Lower East Side.
Clayton Gallery
In 1983, Patterson and Rensaa bought a two-story former sewing factory and storefront at 161 Essex Street. The bottom floor paid the mortgage, and in 1986 he converted the small storefront into an art gallery andClayton Cap store. From 1986 to 2003, they showcased a variety of New York artists, writers, neighborhood personalities including Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp , was an English writer and raconteur. He became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant.- Early life :...
, Dash Snow
Dash Snow
Dashiel "Dash" Snow was an American artist, based in New York.-Life:Dashiel A. Snow was born in 1981, the son of Taya Thurman and Christopher Snow...
, Angel "LA2" Ortiz, Boris Lurie
Boris Lurie
Boris Lurie was an American artist and writer. He co-founded the NO!Art movement which calls for art leading to social action...
, tattoo artist Spider Webb, Genesis P-Orridge
Genesis P-Orridge
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is an English singer-songwriter, musician, writer and artist. P-Orridge's early confrontational performance work in COUM Transmissions in the late 1960s and early 1970s along with the industrial band Throbbing Gristle, which dealt with subjects such as prostitution,...
, Peter Missing, Mary Beach, Taylor Mead
Taylor Mead
Taylor Mead is an American writer, actor, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained.....
, Agathe Snow
Agathe Snow
Agathe Snow is an artist based in New York.Snow was born in Corsica. She works in a variety of media and has collaborated with artists including Alex Arcadia, Rita Ackermann, Michael Portnoy and Emily Sunblad...
, Manwoman, Swoon
Swoon (artist)
Swoon is a street artist born in New London, Connecticut, and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida. She moved to New York City at age nineteen, and specializes in life-size wheatpaste prints and paper cutouts of figures...
, Herbert Huncke
Herbert Huncke
Herbert Edwin Huncke was a writer and poet, and active participant in a number of emerging cultural, social and aesthetic movements of the 20th century in America...
and Elsa Rensaa.
Clayton Hats
In 1986, Patterson and Rensaa began designing and fabricating custom baseball hats which they sold in the storefront at 161 Essex which they branded as Clayton Hats. The idea to make custom hats came from Clayton instructing Ben Booksinger, a cap maker on Avenue A, to embroider around the cap - off the peak. Clayton realized Ben could make a drawing on his old fashioned embroidery machine when he saw Ben make a copy of a Savage Skull Patch and duplicated it as an embroidered patch. Clayton got Booksinger to embroiderClayton designs on the front and on the sides of the cap. Thus the birth
of the Clayton cap- the first designer branded baseball cap. The Clayton
cap was the first baseball cap to have the embroidery all around the
cap, and had the first signature and label on the outside of the cap. An
embroidered signature on a repeated design,
and a hand signed label for the custom one-of-a-kind designed caps.
As Booksinger gradually retired from manufacturing, Patterson and Rensaa took up the business of embroidering their own designs on hand made hats with a 100-year old Bonis embroidery machine.
The hats, designed by Patterson and made by Rensaa, were immediately popular with artists and were picked up by Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
and GQ. The GQ article by Richard Merkin
Richard Merkin
Richard Merkin was an American painter and illustrator.Merkin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1938, and held degrees from Syracuse University and the Rhode Island School of Design...
, named Clayton Hats as one of the two best baseball hats made in America.
Some of Clayton Hats' notable customers included artists Jim Dine
Jim Dine
Jim Dine is an American pop artist. He is sometimes considered to be a part of the Neo-Dada movement. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended Walnut Hills High School, the University of Cincinnati, and received a BFA from Ohio University in 1957. He first earned respect in the art world with...
and David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
, actor Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
, directors Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
and Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
, the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
, and Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
, for whom they designed a custom jacket back piece.
Tattoo
In 1986 Patterson and Ari Roussimoff created the Tattoo Society of New York with the assistance of Elsa Rensaa. Roussimoff left the Society in 1989 but it was carried on by Patterson and Rensaa. In 1997, Wes Wood, L.E.S. City Councilwoman Kathryn Freed, and Patterson worked successfully to make tattooing once again legal in NYC,. After tattooing was made legal in 1997, Steve Bonge, Wes Wood, Butch Garcia, became the owners and creators of the NYC International Tattoo Convention held in the historic Roseland BallroomRoseland Ballroom
The Roseland Ballroom is a multi-purpose hall, in a converted ice skating rink, with a colorful ballroom dancing pedigree, in New York City's theatre district, on West 52nd Street....
. From the start, Patterson was as hired as an organizer and manager. For the first 10 years of the convention, Rensaa designed and printed the invitation cards and posters. She has also tattooed at 161 Essex since 1986, but is now retired.
Photography
In 1972, Rensaa gave Patterson his first camera and in 1980 he began photographing life in the Lower East Side of New York City.In 1985 , Patterson began photographing kids from the neighborhood in front of his front door. Over the years, he has taken hundreds of photos, and displaying them on his "Hall of Fame" in his storefront window. As more photographs appeared in the window, more kids demanded their photo be taken in front the graffiti covered door. Says Patterson, "The window was active 24 hours a day. You could hear tapping on the window and excited voices, 'Mira! Mira! Mira!' The majority of the Front Door people were Hispanics. Anglos, for the most part, just did not get the concept, but the locals sure did." He adds, "I was out to make everyone who wanted fame famous in the hood. And famous they became." The photos were later collected in "Clayton Patterson's Front Door Book." (2009, O.H.W.O.W. Press, Miami)
"People who talk about photography as stealing souls are elitist. My Question for them is, "Why is it that only the kings get memorialized?" I cannot tell you how many times I have been the only one in possession a picture of a family member. Life on the Lowa Deck could be treacherous and I have more than once witnessed families who lost everything for one reason or another. And often one of the first things to go would be the family picture. So my answer to the knuckleheads who say taking pictures is stealing souls is, go back to your middle or upper class existence and stay out of my life. Since much of my time is spent on the street I would probably say it less politely. Another way I look at the photographs is that we are one-we are the LES. I am them and they are me. And nobody is going to steal my soul."
Tompkins Square Park Police Riot
See Tompkins Square Park Police RiotTompkins Square Park Police Riot
The Tompkins Square Park Riot occurred on August 6–August 7, 1988 in New York City's Tompkins Square Park. Groups of "drug pushers, homeless people and young people known as 'skinheads'" had largely taken over the East Village park, but the neighborhood was divided about what, if anything,...
On August 6 and 7, 1988, police clashed with the young anarchist squatter population in Tompkins Square Park
Tompkins Square Park
Tompkins Square Park is a 10.5 acre public park in the Alphabet City section of the East Village neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is square in shape, and is bounded on the north by East 10th Street, on the east by Avenue B, on the south by East 7th Street, and on the...
in the Lower East Side causing a massive riot.
Patterson had initially gone out to video tape a performance at the Pyramid Club
Pyramid Club
__notoc__The Pyramid Club is a nightclub in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. After opening in 1979, the Pyramid helped define the East Village drag and gay scenes of the 1980s...
, but noticed a lot of activity around the park as well as a sizable police presence. The restless, anarchistic, politically active, squatter population was gathering in protest over the newly enforced 1am curfew. When the riot broke out, Patterson began taping the incident in full detail. His footage from the night's events (some 3+ hours) became instrumental in exposing police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
in New York City that was often reported but never videotaped. As a result, New York District
Attorney Robert Morgenthau
Robert M. Morgenthau
Robert Morris Morgenthau is an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County, the borough of Manhattan.-Early life:...
ordered Patterson to surrender his
tapes and camera. Patterson refused the order and was sentenced to 90
days in jail. After a 10 day hunger strike, Patterson's lawyers William
Kunstler, Lyn Stewart, and Ron Kuby negotiated a deal that would allow the city to get a copy of the tape while allowing Patterson the right to keep the original.
Clayton Archive
Patterson's collection of photography, video, art, press clippings, and books comprise a vast archive of Lower East Side history. The collection includes approximately half a million print photos, hundreds of thousands of digital photos, thousands of hours of video tape in multiple formats and numerous artworks by Patterson and Rensaa as well as other New York artists. The archive also consists of various ephemeraEphemera
Ephemera are transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters,...
from the streets of New York City including brand stamped glassine
Glassine
Glassine is a very thin and smooth paper that is air and water resistant. It is translucent unless dyes are added to color it or make it opaque...
heroin bags, protest banners and fliers, graffiti stickers and art.
In addition to the hours of Tompkins Square Park footage, the video archive contains a large number of interviews, concerts, and street protests (including the ACT UP AIDS protest).
Patterson's documentation of the NYC hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
scene of the 1980s and early 1990s includes footage of Bad Brains
Bad Brains
Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...
, Murphy's Law
Murphy's Law (band)
Murphy's Law is an American hardcore band from New York City, New York, formed in 1982. While vocalist Jimmy Gestapo remains the only founding member of the band, the line-up has consisted of former members of bands such as Skinnerbox, Danzig, The Bouncing Souls, Mucky Pup, Dog Eat Dog, Hanoi...
, Sick of it All
Sick of It All
Sick of It All is an American hardcore punk band from Queens, New York. Formed in 1986, the band consisted of brothers Lou Koller on vocals and Pete Koller on lead guitar, Rich Cipriano on bass, and Armand Majidi on drums. There have been only two member changes since their inception, with Max...
, Side by Side
Side By Side (band)
Side By Side was an American hardcore punk band on Revelation Records. They were a band from NY of youth crew persuasion. Recorded output was limited to a single 7", You're Only Young Once... Their 7" was the fifth record released by Revelation Records....
, Reagan Youth
Reagan Youth
Reagan Youth is an American punk rock band formed by singer Dave Rubinstein and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens, New York in early 1980. They are known for introducing the style of hardcore punk to the East Coast punk scene, but were also a part of the peace punk movement...
, Sheer Terror
Sheer Terror
Sheer Terror was an American hardcore punk band from New York City. The band was one of the first to combine elements of heavy metal with a hardcore punk base, pioneering a heavier style of hardcore that would become popular in the following decades. Formed in late 1984, the band, stayed together...
, and G.G. Allin.
His videos interviews with artists Richard Kern
Richard Kern
Richard Kern is a New York underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to underground prominence as part of the underground cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films featuring underground personalities of the time...
, Nick Zedd
Nick Zedd
Nick Zedd is an American filmmaker and author based in New York City. He coined the term Cinema of Transgression in 1985 to describe a loose-knit group of like-minded filmmakers and artists using shock value and black humor in their work...
, Joe Coleman
Joe Coleman
Joe Coleman may refer to:*Joe Coleman , American Major League Baseball pitcher*Joe Coleman , American Major League Baseball pitcher...
, Annie Sprinkle
Annie Sprinkle
Annie M. Sprinkle is an American former prostitute, stripper, pornographic actress, cable television host, porn magazine editor, writer and sex film producer...
, H.R. Giger, Kembra Pfahler
Kembra Pfahler
Kembra Pfahler is an American performance artist, rock musician and actress. As a performance artist she has been recognized on every "Top 10 List" published during the past quarter century. Her graphic depictions of the horror, repetition, degradation, and have been recognized as insightfully...
(of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black), Ira Cohen
Ira Cohen
Ira Cohen was an American poet, publisher, photographer and filmmaker.Cohen lived in Morocco and in New York City in the 1960s, he was in Kathmandu in the 1970s and traveled the world in the 1980s, before returning to New York, where he spent the rest of his life...
, Pyramid Club
Pyramid Club
__notoc__The Pyramid Club is a nightclub in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. After opening in 1979, the Pyramid helped define the East Village drag and gay scenes of the 1980s...
dancers Phoebe Legere
Phoebe Legere
Phoebe Hemenway Legere is a Multi-Format Artist: she is a composer, soprano, pianist and accordionist; a painter, a poet, and a film maker.Legere has recorded for Mercury Records in England and Epic, Island, Funtone, ESP Disk and Einstein records in the United States. Legere has released ten CDs...
, Dee Finley, folk historian and ethnomusicologist Harry Smith
Harry Everett Smith
Harry Everett Smith was an American archivist, ethnomusicologist, student of anthropology, record collector, experimental filmmaker, artist, bohemian and mystic...
and numerous tattoo artists, colorful characters and NYC community leaders comprise an extensive historical document of the city.
Captured (Film)
In 2008, Clayton Patterson's life and work were the subject of the documentary film Captured. The film was directed by Ben Solomon and Daniel Levin and produced by Jenner Furst. Marc LevinMarc Levin
Marc Levin is an independent film producer and director. He is best known for his Brick City TV series, which won the 2010 Peabody award and was nominated for an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking and his dramatic feature film, SLAM, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance...
was the executive producer. The New York noise-rock band A.R.E. Weapons
A.R.E. Weapons
A.R.E. Weapons is a noise-rock band from New York City. Formed in 1999 by Matthew McAuley, Brian F. McPeck, and Ryan Noel, A.R.E. Weapons has been described as hardcore electro-rock. Their live shows are noted for their aggressiveness and confrontational style. Rough Trade was encouraged to sign...
contributed original music to the film.
Publications
Inside Out: The Art World of the Squats. Clayton Patterson, Alan Moore, Laura Zelasnic, editors. (1994, Printed Matter, New York.)Wildstyle: History of a New Idea. Clayton Patterson and Jochen Auer, editors. (2003, Unique Publications, New York).
Captured: A Film/Video History of the Lower East Side. Clayton Patterson, Paul Bartlett, Urania Mylonas, editors. (2005, Seven Stories Press, New York) ISBN 1583226745
Resistance: A Radical Social and Political History of the Lower East Side. Clayton Patterson, editor. (2007, Seven Stories Press, New York). ISBN 1583227458
Clayton Patterson's Front Door Book. Clayton Patterson with Angel "LA2" Ortiz, Marco Hellraiser & Triby L.E.S. Monica Uszerowicz, editor. (2009, O.H.W.O.W. Press, Miami)
External links
- No!art Movement, Clayton Patterson page http://patterson.no-art.info/memo-en.html
- New York Times: The Lower East Side, Before it Boomed http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/arts/design/25patterson.html
- New York Times: The Lower East Side, Up Close and Personal http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/arts/design/25patt.html
- Captured film http://www.capturedmovie.com/site.html
- Captured blog http://capturedles.com/
- Home page: http://claytonpattersonles.com/