BANDE À PART (band of outsiders)

Bande à part is an exhibition of photographs of the New York underground scene from the 60ˆs, 70ˆs and 80ˆs by the photographers who lived it: Billy Name, Danny Fields, Leee Black Childers, Anton Perich, Roberta Bayley, Godlis, Marcia Resnick, Bobby Grossman, et al. Curated by Roberta Bayley, Maripol and Fabrice Couillerot, people who were immersed in the scene, Bande à part documents many people of New York once considered outsiders: Andy Warhol, Richard Hell, Allen Ginsberg, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Divine and the Velvet Underground, to name but a few. Since its premiere in Paris at Galerie du jour agnès b., this exhibition has traveled to London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Hollywood and now, Portland. Bande à part is an insiderˆs look at a time of explosive creativity when anything seemed possible. It is an insiderˆs look at a place that doesnˆt really exist any longer. These people, these artists - many of them amateur photographers - documented what was happening, not out of professional requirements but rather out of a genuine love of participating in their environment.
They were the environment:

Roberta Bayley was the first door-person at C.B.G.B's and went on tour with Blondie as their photographer. She was also photography editor for PUNK Magazine.
Billy Name was, in the words of Glenn OˆBrien, "the gatekeeper, the major domo and the most brilliant witness of the cultural miracle that was [Andy Warholˆs] Factory." It was he that "silvered" the factory, covering it in tin foil.
Anton Perich was a contributing photographer for Warholˆs Interview Magazine and whose regular hangout was Maxˆs Kansas City.
Marcia Resnick, an arts educator and photographer whose work is in major museum collections today, had a confrontational style and was drawn to rock and roll, fashion, fame, aggression and sexuality that both the period and its people possessed.
Danny Fields managed The Ramones, The Doors and Iggy Pop.
Bobby Grossman was the punk kid who lived at the Chelsea and was able to get inside the crowd and make friends with anyone, and whose work was featured in such publications as Rolling Stone, Interview, and The New York Times among others.
Leee Black Childers was involved with David Bowieˆs MainMan Company and was also Andy Warholˆs assistant at The Factory.
Godlisˆs early photographs of the Punk pioneers at C.B.G.B.ˆs and the Bowery are prominently featured in documentaries about this era. He has gone on to exhibit nationally and internationally, as have many of these photographers.

The book/catalogue, Bande à part: New York Underground 60's 70's 80's, with a forward by Interview Magazineˆs editorial director Glenn OˆBrien has just been published in the U.S. and will be available for purchase soon. Interview Magazine in July 2008 also pays homage to Andy Warhol, the founder of the magazine, with a special edition dedicated to Andy.