|
|
|
|
The Photographs Of
Meryl Meisler
Meryl Meisler
Is Represented By
Clamp Art Gallery
Purchase SASSY '70s from Brooklyn Museum or Amazon 256 pages, Hardcover- $45
Amazon
Clamp Art
Brooklyn Museum
http://www.merylmeisler.com/
Meryl Meisler
Meryl Meisler
Is Represented By
Clamp Art Gallery
Purchase SASSY '70s from Brooklyn Museum or Amazon 256 pages, Hardcover- $45
Amazon
Clamp Art
Brooklyn Museum
http://www.merylmeisler.com/
Self-Portrait The Girl Scout Oath North Massapequa, NY January 1975
The Meisler, Forkash & Cash Clan, Massapequa, NY Rosh Hashanah 1974
Paradise & Purgatory: SASSY ’70s Suburbia & The City juxtaposes intimate images of home life on Long Island alongside NYC street and night life – the likes of which have never been seen. Quirky, nostalgic and a bit naughty, it’s a genuine cultural capsule of a decade that captivates today’s generation. The photos and stories illustrate Meryl’s coming of age:
The South Bronx, suburbia, The Mystery Club, dance lessons, Girl Scouts, the Rockette's, the circus, school, mitzvahs, proms, weddings, gay Fire Island, the Hamptons, feminists, happy hookers, CBGB, Punks, Disco, After Hours and Go-Go Bars, Jewish and LGBT Pride, street life, home theatrics, holidays, friendship, family and love. She had to photograph it to make sense of it all, to hold onto the time, to release and now finally share it. The ’70s were sassy, but also sweet, and so was Meryl.
Meryl’s introduction to purgatory and the importance of being open-minded, not pre-judging people, began with a 1957 childhood incident, being told “You can never go to heaven, the best you can do is purgatory” because she was Jewish. That’s when Meryl learned about purgatory, and the importance of being open minded and not pre-judging people. Meryl moved to NYC in 1975, with her first paycheck she bought an antique edition of Dante’s Purgatory and Paradise illustrated by Gustave Doré. She needed to “own it” and take back the power.
Carrying her medium format camera everywhere with great delight – Meryl photographed the world she knew on Long Island– donning childhood uniforms and costumes for self-portraits, comedic insider views of family and friends homes, the hilarity of her parents’ Mystery Club circle. “Not in mine eyes alone is Paradise,” declares Dante in Paradiso. Many viewed ‘70s NYC as hell, purgatory at best. With an open mind and heart, Meryl found paradise photographing the streets and nightlife of The City, many so wild she never dared to show them until now.
Paradise & Purgatory: SASSY ’70s Suburbia & The City is available for purchase:
The Strand (Strand is the Amazon Dealer)
The South Bronx, suburbia, The Mystery Club, dance lessons, Girl Scouts, the Rockette's, the circus, school, mitzvahs, proms, weddings, gay Fire Island, the Hamptons, feminists, happy hookers, CBGB, Punks, Disco, After Hours and Go-Go Bars, Jewish and LGBT Pride, street life, home theatrics, holidays, friendship, family and love. She had to photograph it to make sense of it all, to hold onto the time, to release and now finally share it. The ’70s were sassy, but also sweet, and so was Meryl.
Meryl’s introduction to purgatory and the importance of being open-minded, not pre-judging people, began with a 1957 childhood incident, being told “You can never go to heaven, the best you can do is purgatory” because she was Jewish. That’s when Meryl learned about purgatory, and the importance of being open minded and not pre-judging people. Meryl moved to NYC in 1975, with her first paycheck she bought an antique edition of Dante’s Purgatory and Paradise illustrated by Gustave Doré. She needed to “own it” and take back the power.
Carrying her medium format camera everywhere with great delight – Meryl photographed the world she knew on Long Island– donning childhood uniforms and costumes for self-portraits, comedic insider views of family and friends homes, the hilarity of her parents’ Mystery Club circle. “Not in mine eyes alone is Paradise,” declares Dante in Paradiso. Many viewed ‘70s NYC as hell, purgatory at best. With an open mind and heart, Meryl found paradise photographing the streets and nightlife of The City, many so wild she never dared to show them until now.
Paradise & Purgatory: SASSY ’70s Suburbia & The City is available for purchase:
The Strand (Strand is the Amazon Dealer)
A Flower Outside CBGB OMFUG NY, NY April 1977
023_coyote_hookers_ball_wingspan1600
A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick
Rejected From Studio 54 No No Studio 54 – NY, NY, October 1978
Boyz To Men – Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY, October 1982
Studio 54, NY, NY, July 25, 1979
Meryl Meisler was born 1951 in the South Bronx and raised in North Massapequa, Long Island, NY. Inspired by Diane Arbus, Jacques Henri Lartigue as well as her dad Jack and grandfather Murray Meisler, Meryl began photographing herself, family, and friends while enrolled in a photography class taught by Cavalliere Ketchum at The University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1975, Meryl returned to New York City and studied with Lisette Model, continuing to photograph her hometown and the city around her.
After working as a freelance illustrator by day, Meryl frequented and photographed the infamous New York Discos. As a 1978 CETA Artist grant recipient, Meryl created a portfolio of photographs which explored her Jewish Identity for the American Jewish Congress.
After CETA, Meryl began a 3 decade career as a NYC Public School Art Teacher. Meisler has received fellowships, grants and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Light Work, YADDO, VCCA, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Leonian Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, Time Warner, Artists Space, C.E.T.A., the China Institute and the Japan Society. Her work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society, Dia Art Foundation, MASS MoCA, Islip Art Museum, Annenberg Space for Photography, the New Museum for Contemporary Art, New-York Historical Society, Steven Kasher Gallery, The Whitney Museum of American Art and in public spaces including Grand Central Terminal, South Street Seaport, Photoville and throughout the NYC subway system.
Her work is in the permanent collections of the American Jewish Congress, ARTPPOOL Budapest, AT&T, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Brooklyn Historical Society, Book Art Museum- Poland, Columbia University, Emory University, Islip Art Museum, the Library of Congress, Musée de la Poste Paris, New York Transit Museum, Smithsonian Institute, University of Iowa, The Waskomium and can be found in the artist book collections of Carnegie Melon, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Chrysler Museum, the Museum of Modern Art NYC, Metronome Library,, and Whitney Museum of American Art. Upon retiring from the NYC public schools, Meisler began releasing large bodies of previously unseen work. Meryl’s first monograph A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick (Bizarre, 2014), received international acclaim. The book juxtaposes her zenith of disco photos with images of the burned out yet beautiful neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in the 1980s.
Her second book, Purgatory & Paradise SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City (Bizarre, 2015), contrasts intimate images of home life on Long Island alongside NYC street and night life. She is happily back working in the darkroom, making gelatin silver prints of contemporary images and never seen photos from her enormous archive. Meryl is currently working on two more books in her series about the 1970s & ’80s. New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco will be released in Spring 2020. New York PARADISE LOST will be bigger, badder, bolder and make her first books seem like fairytales. Meryl lives and works in New York City and Woodstock, NY, continuing the photographic memoir she began in 1973 – a uniquely American story, sweet and sassy with a pinch of mystery. Her work is represented by ClampArt.
Above – Test Strip Queen (Self Portrait) 2019 Home Page Banner Portraits of Meryl Meisler
Left- by Meryl Meisler 2020
Middle – by Meryl Meisler 1978
Right – by Ken Frest 2019 Download Bio CV.pdf
The Photographs Of
Meryl Meisler
Meryl Meisler
Is Represented By
Clamp Art Gallery
Purchase SASSY '70s from Brooklyn Museum or Amazon 256 pages, Hardcover- $45
Amazon
Clamp Art
Brooklyn Museum
http://www.merylmeisler.com/
Meryl Meisler
Meryl Meisler
Is Represented By
Clamp Art Gallery
Purchase SASSY '70s from Brooklyn Museum or Amazon 256 pages, Hardcover- $45
Amazon
Clamp Art
Brooklyn Museum
http://www.merylmeisler.com/