The opening night of Clayton Patterson’s show of Lower East Side photographs at Kinz/Tillou + Feigen gallery, 529 W. 20th St., on Sept. 10 was jampacked. A hip crowd — many of them wearing Patterson’s signature Clayton caps — took in the exhibit of more than 50 photos, culled from a selection of 2,000, just a fraction of Patterson’s voluminous archives. The images show the Lower East Side in the 1980s when it resembled a post-apocalyptic war zone. In one photo, a homeless man sleeps on plastic milk crates next to benches stripped bare of their wooden slats, with a fire barrel nearby to keep him warm. In another, Cochise, a masked gang leader, holds out a gun and drugs he had just demanded a man hand over to him — which he then would take and toss in the East River. Although his Satan’s Sinners studded jean jacket is in the exhibit, Cochise is currently in jail, serving a 15-year sentence for a stabbing. The show also contains Patterson’s collection of heroin bags scavenged from neighborhood streets and sidewalks, two of his sculptures of found objects and a video featuring excerpts of Patterson’s famous 1988 film of the Tompkins Square Park riot and individuals commenting on the significance of his documentary work. The show runs through Oct. 27. The after-party was at Billy Leroy’s antiques tent on E. Houston St. On Sept. 20, a new film about Patterson by Dan Levin will have an “underground showing” at the Pioneer Theater on Avenue A in preparation for pitching it to film festivals.
