Tony Notarberardino, Donny Vomit and Heather Holliday - September 3, 2010 12:45am © Tony Notarberardino
When the photographer Tony Notarberardino was handed the keys to his room at New York’s Chelsea Hotel in 1994, he expected to stay for one night. He went on to live there for the next three decades, becoming the unofficial documentarian for a bohemian refuge that attracted artists, misfits and vagabonds from around the world. Originally conceived as an experiment in communal living, it soon evolved into the center of the city’s counterculture. With his large format black-and-white film camera, Notarberardino photographed the cast of characters who passed through the hotel’s historic doors, taking over 1,500 portraits of subjects ranging from famous drag queens and nightlife legends to artists, activists and filmmakers. “I fell in love with the place for its people. Photographing them was how I met everyone and became a part of the hotel,” recalls Notarberardino, who lives there to this day. “I used to call it ‘going fishing’: When I had nothing to do at night, I’d go sit in the lobby until two or three in the morning and wait for someone amazing to walk through the door, whether that was Grace Jones or Sam the garbage man.” Photographs of his subjects, including the singer Debbie Harry and the model Shalom Harlow, will be displayed at Manhattan’s ACA Galleries for the first time as part of his series “Chelsea Hotel Portraits,” providing an intimate glimpse at an era of creativity that would inspire generations of artists to come. “Chelsea Hotel Portraits” will be on view at New York’s ACA Galleries from March 9 through April 13.
Mar 6, 2024
