NYAB Event - Alan Kleinberg and Alex Singh “Out All Night”

Alan Kleinberg and Alex Singh “Out All Night”

OUTLET

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Alan Kleinberg’s debut exhibition, “Out All Night,” presents a selection of twenty-seven black and white photographs of New York City’s downtown scene from 1973-1981. Centering on Warhol’s Factory, the Mudd Club, and the Greenwich Village restaurant One Fifth, Kleinberg’s photographs capture the energy of the period and his cherished friendships with the artists, writers, dancers, models, and musicians who made the scene. By rejecting conventional social distinctions and embracing creative collaboration, this community had a lasting impact on the contemporary art world in New York.

A native New Yorker, Kleinberg was inspired by the exuberant creativity of those like his father – a comedian – who made up the city around him. His documentary work is characterized by a delight in humanity and a respect for the people he encountered. Although his nightlife images may appear tumultuous and profane, Kleinberg’s lens reveals his curiosity in life and imbues his subjects with poetry and grace.

In addition to the framed black and white photographs, OUTLET will display a first viewing of a mock-up design for a book of Kleinberg’s work prepared by the influential New York art director Marvin Israel. OUTLET also presents Kleinberg’s first catalogue, PORTRAITS: 1976-1979, featuring twenty-one black and white medium format portraits of the writers, performers, artists and designers in Kleinberg’s circle, accompanied by an essay by Andrea Codrington Lippke.

Recent photographs by Alex Singh, which document contemporary music, art, and fashion in a cosmopolitan setting. Similar to Alan Kleinberg, Singh is an immersive, enthusiastic witness to the evolution of the global culture. Singh’s photography spans several continents and includes a global tour with the Japanese electropop band Trippple Nippples. The TRIPPPLE NIPPPLES: 2010-12 catalogue will be available at the OUTLET opening.

In a series of black and white images shot during New York Fashion Week, Singh employs cropping techniques and plays with shadows to isolate the models from the driving frenzy of the runway. Suspended in time and space, the models shed the weight of status and identity conferred by the clothes draped over their slender forms.

Sixteen color photographs document Singh’s tour with Trippple Nippples. In cavernous venues, engulfed by fans, amid costume changes or center stage, Singh explores the rock star mythos. He captures both the glamour and the monotony of the tour and the sleep-deprived memories of interchangeable airports and hotels, where the serial travel compresses time and place into repeating forms.

Singh also questions the very nature of ‘documentary,’ as the language of photography aligns itself with digital realities offer limitless possibilities of reconfiguration of the original source. His images capture the shifting creative energies that exist in a complex global consciousness.