In 1978, photographer Fernando Natalici, the creative mind behind the graphic design for iconic venues like CBGB and the Mudd Club, spent four hours shooting the seedy scenery of Times Square and 42nd Street. The resulting body of work is currently on display at gallery Lot 180 in Little Italy, and while the candid images capture a grimier slice of the city, they also "immortalize it as a wildly beautiful place of wonder and contemplation." From the exhibition catalogue: "Natalici's original shots candidly recalls a Times Square of flashing marquee lights, electric sexual energy and wild lawlessness. His photographs resuscitate a New York of yesteryear in all of its chiaroscuro, with it all of the dark tenets of urban life that are today masked beneath a glossy veil of uniformity."
Natalici's photographs are being display alongside images from Robert Herman's 1980s street portrait series "The New Yorkers," and images from the same era by Alex Harsley. The exhibition runs through September 1.
· Lot 180 [official]
· A Seedier Times Square, Captured As 90s Demolition Loomed [Curbed]
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