CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 2/15/2020

'New York: Club Kids' Los Angeles Launch & Signing at The Standard

Saturday, February 15 from 7–9 PM, Damiani Books, Bryan Rabin and Adam Bravin’s Giorgio’s and The Standard, Hollywood, present the official Los Angeles launch of New York: Club Kids by Waltpaper (aka Walt Cassidy). Cassidy will join James St. James in a conversation at mmhmmm in The Standard, Hollywood. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

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.

James St. James (born 1966) is a television personality, award-winning author, and former Club Kid. St. James currently works at World of Wonder where he is the editor of The WOW Report, host of a WOW radio show on Radio Andy SiriusXM, and star of his YouTube makeup tutorial series “Transformations.” His debut book, Disco Bloodbath (1999), was the basis for the feature film Party Monster (2003). He is also the author of the YA novel Freak Show (2007), which was turned into a feature film produced by Bryan Rabin.

James St. James & Walt Cassidy on New York: Club Kids
Saturday, February 15: 7–9 PM
mmhmmm, The Standard, Hollywood
8300 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles