WHAAM! is pleased to present Alain Levitt NYC 2000-2005, running through April 18 to May 25, 2024 at WHAAM! 15 Elizabeth Street.

Photography is more about time than light. The instantaneous click of the shutter, where light imprints an echo of a moment onto film that, with emulsion, becomes a tangible trace of a time that the viewer will never see again. Even digitally, it’s the same idea: we look into the past when we look at photography. So what kind of past do we see in Alain Levitt’s photographs? First, they are shot on film, so we see a time before digital cameras and social media sped up the time from the shot to the audience. This matters. Alain’s photos record a past time, perhaps the last time, that one posed for photos they may not ever see. This may explain the naked innocence that reads as vulnerable bluster or decadent swagger depending on the subject. Some subjects hoped they’d end up a Do, while secretly feeling like a Don’t. Alain tenderly captured that indeterminacy.  

At the turn of the millennium, hipster fashion drew from the seventies and eighties because the future was unimaginably bleak. Do’s and Don’t’s were about humor and horror: facing the ruins of a forfeited future, how else could one react but with sneering laughter? Surrounded by death with no job security, social currency and cultural capital mattered most. Levitt preserved in film’s incandescent flicker the last gasp of a fugitive, underground nightlife. Behavior wasn’t yet proscribed by clout. Photographic time was still produced in emulsion not gigabytes. Pinched between the glorious afterglow of New York’s subcultural heyday and the dawn of a life lived through a screen, Alain shot his friends as they stumbled through the flux at 4am. The images are  timeless because his subject was between epochs, out of step with the rest of the world. Now two decades later, these don’t stand so much as record of a bygone era, but a blueprint for what being young New York City has become: a provisional gig-economy city driven by social spectacle. That fleeting moment in time has been preserved for all time.

- Ted Barrow

About Alain Levitt

Alain Levitt (b.1974, Santa Monica, California) Alain grew up free range on the west side of Los Angeles. Skateboarding, Graffiti, Raving- the trifecta of 90’s subcultures-helped inform his world view and gave him a home amongst the outcasts. The same world he would focus his lense on after moving to New York in 2000. Not yet a photographer, Alain picked up a camera out of necessity. His first job in NY was shooting street fashion for his sister’s, Danielle Levitt, Sunday style column in the New York Post- a job that required carrying a camera 24/7. Alainrecalls showing up to Max Fish and being gently made fun of for his oversized Paparazzi rig. His second job, at the infamous gay bar The Cock, gave him a front row seat to a wild NY that was quickly being choked out by Mayor Giuliani and provided enough income for this budding photographer to only work two evenings a week. More time to run the streets. Alain quickly found his community on the Lower East Side. Alife by day, Max Fish at night. And after starting a bi weekly party, with Spencer Sweeny, at The Hole, Alain planted his seed in the downtown scene.

WHAAM! is pleased to present Just Say You’re Busy II, the second installment to Just Say Your Busy from 2023, by New York-based artist Patrick Quinn, running through April 12 to May 11, 2024 at WHAAM! 15 Elizabeth Street.

Showcasing five meticulously crafted paintings, the exhibition features four depictions of oyster arrangements all made with airbrush and oil on canvas. Quinn continues to expand his imaginary world in this new body of work, all created in 2024,  with motifs such as the oyster, kittens, and pop culture references that are recurring fragments in memory. 

Each painting Quinn makes informs the next one. Throughout the varying set of images, Quinn’s process is evident, depicting these motifs in unusual settings, a simple premise that communicates no hidden agenda. He continues to expand off his last show at WHAAM!, Just Say You’re Busy, avoiding making imagery with too clear of a narrative. Quinn’s emphasis on “post-cringe” combined with his use elegant simplicity showcases a fresh perspective on his previous work.

About Patrick Quinn

Patrick Quinn (b. 1988) is an artist who specializes in painting and focuses on the exploration of iconography. Originally from Woodbridge, Virginia, Quinn obtained  a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Quinn then relocated to New York for six months before moving to Detroit and co-founded artist collective Hamtramck Cermack with his background in ceramics. In 2018, Quinn moved back to New York City and currently lives and works in Brooklyn.