Reviewing Thurston Moore's memoir Sonic Life for Punktuation last year, I argued that the book is particularly notable for its vivid portrait of late-70s/early-80s New York as "dirty and dangerous, but a mecca for musicians and artists drawn by the prospect of cheap rents and plentiful opportunities, a city crackling with creative energy and experimental zeal". The ready availability of disused industrial buildings, particularly loft spaces, helped to birth and fuel the various exciting scenes that sprang up.
Four decades on, and New York is a very different place indeed. But some artists' lofts still remain, protected by a 1982 law and holding firm against the forces of gentrification. Photographer Joshua Charow's images, gathered together in a book and exhibition, offer a glimpse of these unique working/living spaces.
And there's a connection of sorts back to Moore, with one of Charow's featured loft-dwellers being JG Thirlwell, who in the early 80s moved in the same circles as Sonic Youth, working with Lydia Lunch, Swans, Nick Cave and Richard Kern.
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