Ricky Powell’s photographs forever capture downtown New York and the Lower East Side as a dangerous, idealistic place filled with striving fame, frustration and debaucherous fun. The ‘80s and ‘90s are long gone, but Powell’s brilliant, self-taught lens has immortalized legends of those times from MCA of The Beastie Boys, to Run DMC, Cindy Crawford, Sofia Coppola, Keith Haring, the list is endless.
MEMES NYC is a clothing store/creative hub which captures the same essence of New York’s once rugged streets. The shop has been championing young designers and innovative artists since the ‘90s. Stella Bouzakis, a New York native and natural creative got together with Powell and Klughaus Gallery on 47 Monroe Street to curate a brilliant show of prints as well as exclusive T-shirts with Powell’s images.
Bouzakis planned the space perfectly with the hot crowd drinking cold Modelos as subway trains rumbled over the Manhattan Bridge above us. Powell too was in rare form, bouncing all over the gallery, a ball of raspy voiced energy he posed for photos with gallery goers and sometimes responded by raising his own camera and snapping back at them. Break dancers spilled onto the street with boom boxes and pitbulls panted from a nearby stoop.
The event resurrected a lost Lower East Side of legend, if only for an evening. “Oh No He Didn’t!” photographs by Ricky Powell will be on display at Klughaus Gallery exclusively through July 14th.
