The embodiment of Generation X, the Club Kids were the last subculture of the analog world
New York: Club Kids is a high-impact visual diary of New York City in the 1990s, seen through the eyes of Walt Cassidy, known as Waltpaper, a central figure within the Club Kids. The Club Kids—named thus by New York Magazine in 1988—were an artistic, fashion-conscious youth movement that crossed over into the public consciousness through appearances on daytime talk shows, magazine editorials, fashion campaigns and music videos, planting the seeds for popular cultural trends such as reality television, self-branding, “influencers” and the gender revolution.
Known for their outrageous looks, legendary parties and sometimes illicit antics, the Club Kids were the embodiment of Generation X and would prove to be the last definitive subculture group of the analog world. The ’90s have come to be known as the last discernible and cohesive decade, cherished by those who experienced it and romanticized by those who missed it.
The first comprehensive visual document of ’90s nightlife and street culture, New York: Club Kids grants special access to an underground world, providing exclusive insight into the lifestyle of this celebrated and notorious clique. Featuring rare and previously unseen photographs along with magazine editorials and ephemera, the book culls from the personal archives of various photographers and artists—some celebrated, and many others whose recognition is long overdue.
Walt Cassidy (born 1972) is a multimedia artist and designer based in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout the 1990s, as Waltpaper, he was at the center of the New York City Club Kids movement. In 2014, Walt Cassidy Studio was established as a jewelry brand and has expanded to include interiors-based murals. Cassidy’s explorative and allegorical work incorporates photography, drawing, sculpture, painting and jewelry, and has been exhibited at MASS MOCA, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Deitch Projects, 303 Gallery, Torrance Art Museum, Watermill Center, Miami Basel Art Fair, Leslie-Lohman Museum and Invisible Exports.
Featured image is reproduced from 'New York: Club Kids.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Interview
Christopher Bollen
A corrective to the default association of the Club Kids with the 1996 murder of Andre “Angel” Melendez by Michael Alig, Cassidy weaves a far more optimistic narrative where a bunch of misfits made a wonderland by being themselves.
AnOther Man
Sara Rosen
New York: Club Kids charts the history of the last underground subculture of the analogue age [...] when a new group of upstarts transgressed boundaries with singular aplomb, deconstructing the realms of fashion, music, drugs, gender, pop culture, and media to recreate themselves anew every week.
Dazed
Sabrina Cooper
The photos featured in the book depict a rich, layered story with New York City as the setting: the bold fashion, the memorable makeup details, the promotional fare-like flyers and posters, and the celebrities.
OUT
Mikelle Street
The Club Kids, a rag-tag band of misfits with oversized, personally crafted personas and outrageous looks...represented a seminal moment in culture.
Vogue
Mark Holgate
New York: Club Kids is a brilliant I-was-there chronicle of the glorious, gaudy, and gorgeous creatures who stalked the New York nights of the ’90s, an oddly touching and affecting remembrance of both youthful knowingness and innocence.
New York Magazine:Strategist
Multimedia artist and designer Walt Cassidy, a.k.a. Waltpaper, takes the reader through the ’90s underground club scene in New York City...in this “high-impact” visual diary filled with rare and previously unseen photographs, magazine clippings, and other media.
Artforum
Andrew Pasquier
Emerging at a moment of plentiful digital photography but little internet access, their colorful personalities had to be experienced in real time, in real communities, and now, finally, in a photobook whose snapshots ooze with that ever-elusive quality: authenticity.
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Saturday, November 16 from 7–9 PM, Opening Ceremony presents the official launch of New York: Club Kids by Waltpaper. Join author Walt Cassidy (aka Waltpaper) at 7PM for a panel discussion with original club kids Desi Santiago (Desi Monster), Jenny Dembrow (Jennytalia), Sidney Prawatyotin and Zaldy Goco, followed by a book signing. Live portraits by Skid. continue to blog
"When I arrived in the city as a teenager, I pledged to myself that I was going to live a life that would be worthy of a great book or movie someday. I was following in the footsteps of a long line of prestigious creatives who had already made their mark. I knew that if I was going to do it, I had better do it well. I knew that the territories into which I was entering and the tools that I was using were dangerous and even life-threatening. I knew there would be casualties and that I could be one of them. I was lucky to find protective shelter within a group of tightly knit friends, each of whom was beautiful, intelligent, and vastly creative… It was divinely ordered, and we collectively rode the volcanic surge of energy until it landed us onto our own individual paths in life. Some of those paths remain in purgatory, and some ended in darkness and tragedy… I hope that this book will honor those unique personalities and their creativity, as well as the photographers who captured and shared in our experience. We used our lives and our identities to create a special brand of fiction, and it has now become a part of history." — Walt Cassidy, condensed from the Introduction to New York: Club Kids continue to blog
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FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 11 in. / 376 pgs / 315 color / 85 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $55.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $75 ISBN: 9788862086578 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 11/26/2019 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Damiani. By Walt Cassidy. Foreword by Mark Holgate.
The embodiment of Generation X, the Club Kids were the last subculture of the analog world
New York: Club Kids is a high-impact visual diary of New York City in the 1990s, seen through the eyes of Walt Cassidy, known as Waltpaper, a central figure within the Club Kids. The Club Kids—named thus by New York Magazine in 1988—were an artistic, fashion-conscious youth movement that crossed over into the public consciousness through appearances on daytime talk shows, magazine editorials, fashion campaigns and music videos, planting the seeds for popular cultural trends such as reality television, self-branding, “influencers” and the gender revolution.
Known for their outrageous looks, legendary parties and sometimes illicit antics, the Club Kids were the embodiment of Generation X and would prove to be the last definitive subculture group of the analog world. The ’90s have come to be known as the last discernible and cohesive decade, cherished by those who experienced it and romanticized by those who missed it.
The first comprehensive visual document of ’90s nightlife and street culture, New York: Club Kids grants special access to an underground world, providing exclusive insight into the lifestyle of this celebrated and notorious clique. Featuring rare and previously unseen photographs along with magazine editorials and ephemera, the book culls from the personal archives of various photographers and artists—some celebrated, and many others whose recognition is long overdue.
Walt Cassidy (born 1972) is a multimedia artist and designer based in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout the 1990s, as Waltpaper, he was at the center of the New York City Club Kids movement. In 2014, Walt Cassidy Studio was established as a jewelry brand and has expanded to include interiors-based murals. Cassidy’s explorative and allegorical work incorporates photography, drawing, sculpture, painting and jewelry, and has been exhibited at MASS MOCA, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Deitch Projects, 303 Gallery, Torrance Art Museum, Watermill Center, Miami Basel Art Fair, Leslie-Lohman Museum and Invisible Exports.
