Alvin Baltrop: The Piers
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Photography & Video
Alvin Baltrop: The Piers Details
Review [Alvin Baltrop] captured gay culture on the outskirts in 70s Manhattan and his work is finally receiving the attention it deserves. (Nadja Sayej Guardian)The Bronx-born photographer never achieved the success of Mapplethorpe or Hujar, but his images from Manhattan's West Side Piers illuminate a forgotten era. (Miss Rosen Document Journal)Baltrop did more than document the world envisioned at the piers; he helped build it.... Black, queer, and unwilling to play the games necessary for success in the art world, Baltrop and his work - explicit but unabashedly romantic depictions of New York's gay and trans underground - never left the margins during his lifetime….Alvin Baltrop's emergence from obscurity should inspire more than nostalgia; rather, it reminds us that resistance - the insistence on the right to life - often remains unseen. (Grace Dunham Village Voice)The images, while sometimes loose and grainy, contain unsettling, powerful scenes... (James Reid OUT) Read more
Reviews
Al's work was infrequently shown while he was alive, and few books document even a portion of the scenes Al did. He didn't take the best care of his negatives, so the quality of the photos needed work to have been improved as they are in this collection. He also wasn't willing to play the games white art dealers wanted, so that a book is out now is special. Definitely a must-have for those interested in NYC gay public sex environments since this may be the only edition printed. Get it now before the price hikes. The photos aren't all equally amazing as images necessarily, but their marvel is more in their documentation, especially being captured by a man of African descent when the canon of gay erotic imagery from the era was photographed by white men, many with racist tendencies.
