Ken Schles: Invisible City

Ken Schles: Invisible City

MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2024

For a decade, Ken Schles watched the passing of time from his Lower East Side neighborhood. His camera fixed the instances of his observations, and these moments became the foundation of his “invisible city.” Friends and architecture come under the scrutiny of his lens and, when sorted and viewed in the pages of this book, a remarkable achievement of personal vision emerges. Twenty-five years later, Invisible City still has the ability to transfix the viewer. A penetrating and intimate portrayal of a world few had entrance to–or means of egress from–Invisible City stands alongside Brassai’s Paris de Nuit and van der Elsken’s Love On The Left Bank as one of the twentieth century’s great depictions of nocturnal bohemian experience. Documenting his life in New York City’s East Village during its heyday in the tumultuous 1980s, Schles captured its look and attitude in delirious and dark honesty. Long out of print, this “missing link” in the history of the photographic book is now once again made available. Using scans from the original negatives and Steidl’s five-plate technique to bring out nuance and detail never seen before, this new edition transcends the original of this underground cult classic.

Ken Schles
Invisible City

Hardcover: 80 pages
Publisher: Steidl (2015)
ISBN-13: 978-3869306919

Order the book directly: www.kenschles.com
Order the book: www.amazon.com

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© Ken Schles: Invisible City

Boy on East 5th Street (4th of July), 1984.

Boy on East 5th Street (4th of July), 1984. © Ken Schles: Invisible City

Melanie at Veselka, 1986.

© Ken Schles: Invisible City

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© Ken Schles: Invisible City

Suzie Streetwalker at Limelight, 1983.

Suzie Streetwalker at Limelight, 1983. © Ken Schles: Invisible City

Couple Dancing at the Palladium, 1985.

Couple Dancing at the Palladium, 1985. © Ken Schles: Invisible City

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© Ken Schles: Invisible City

Tenement Air Shaft, Lower East Side

© Ken Schles: Invisible City

Audrey on couch. East Village, NY. January 1984

Audrey on couch. East Village, NY. January 1984 © Ken Schles: Invisible City

Lower East Side, July 1983

Lower East Side, July 1983 © Ken Schles: Invisible City

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© Ken Schles: Invisible City


MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2024