Catalan photographer and photojournalist Manel Armengol is an icon in the field of social reporting of the late 1970s. His latest NY exhibition presents an unpublished black & white and colored photograph collection of New York.
Armengol arrived to New York short before the cold winter of 1977-78. He was sent there as a photo corresponded by a Spanish weekly newspaper. During the year, he took multiple photographs in Bronx, Washington Square, Downtown, Village, Soho and Chinatown.
He captured images of the festive crowds of artists, musicians and students. He took photos of graphics painted on the walls, scenes of local costumes in the snow, eccentric characters at the legendary underground music club CBGB. In his photos you can find Divine acting in a theater, Andy Warhol at a party at Studio 54, young people smoking and singing under the full moon at St. Mark’s Place. With his camera he also took photos of people living in extreme loneliness and degradation in Bowery’s relief centers. The collection includes street photographs of large American cars in different models and colors.
The photographs in his NY collection are handcrafted copies made in the author’s analog laboratory. The printing runs on the legendary Cibachrome support, made a few years back in Paris by Roland Dufau, a master and teacher in this special type of printing. Only few color samples of Cibachrome remains, because its production closed in 2012.
The exhibition Manel Armengol – NY is free to enter and running Monday to Friday from 11am to 7 pm, until 13 July, at AMP_Bcn (Isaac Peral 7 ‘Hospitalet 08902, Barcelona).