The diversity of New York City's people, cultures, religions, and backgrounds make it the indicator of American sexuality. It is black, white, gay, straight, rich, poor, rough, and tender all at once. From Margaret Sanger's dissemination of birth control to the Stonewall riot of 1969, New York City has repeatedly seen its sexual dynamics changed and American and international culture follow suit. Published to coincide with the much-anticipated opening of the Museum of Sex in New York, NYC Sex features conversations between major cultural figures and historians on sexual topics, including Grady T. Turner on "Sodom on the Hudson"; Martin Duberman and Joan Nestle on queers; Timothy J. Gilfoyle, Xaviera Hollander, and Tracy Quan on whores; Karen Finley, Luc Sante, Gene Simmons, and Art Spiegelman on the underground; and Vanessa del Rio, Legs McNeil, and Annie Sprinkle on porn. And what's a book about sex without pictures? In between the steamy conversation, NYC Sex posts photographs by Mapplethorpe, Ferrato and Gatewood; 19th-century drawings and photographs; film stills; posters; magazine pin-ups; and images of sex symbols past and present. It's a treat the whole family can enjoy. NYC Sex is the official book of the inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Sex, which will open in New York in September. 
"Well before New York was regarded as a center for high art, the Bowery was already the capital for popular and fringe culture...the Bowery was an open valve that functioned as a release in New York City. Anything might go on in the Bowery, and be marginally tolerated as long as it was sufficiently concealed." --Luc Sante 
Essay by Grady T. Turner. Conversations with Martin Duberman, Joan Nestle, Timothy J. Gilfoyle, Xaviera Hollander, Tracy Quan, Karen Finley, Luc Sante, Gene Simmons, Art Spiegelman, Vanessa del Rio, Legs McNeil and Annie Sprinkle. 
Paperback, 8.25 x 10 in., 224 pages, 150 color 
Publisher: Scala Publishers

NYC Sex: How New York Transformed Sex in America

Nestle, Joan

DUBERMAN, Martin

Turner, Grady T.

Arts & Photography

Scala Pub

A second-generation Chinese-American artist, Teresa Chen often works with private photographs taken by her family. Here we're introduced to the obsessive hobby of her remarkable parents, who, since their retirement, have fully dedicated themselves to polka dancing, traveling to festivals and contests across the United States, and documenting their passion all the while. Essay by Martin Jaeggi. Hardcover, 7 x 8.5 in., 60 color and 10 b&w images, 80 pages.

Teresa Chen: Welcome to Polkamotion with Ma and Pa Chen

Martin Jaeggi

Teresa Chen

Individual Artists

Australian artist Bill Henson is a passionate and visionary explorer of twilight zones, of the ambiguous spaces that exist between day and night, nature and civilization, youth and adulthood, male and female. His photographs of landscapes at dusk, of the industrial no-man's land that lies on the outskirts of our cities, and of androgynous girls and boys adrift in the nocturnal turmoil of adolescence are painterly tableaux that continue the tradition of romantic literature and painting in our post-industrial age. The rich chiaroscuro, the oscillating light, and the masterful composition of his photographs map enigmatic states that escape rationalism's iron grip, providing a much-needed antidote to a culture that increasingly looses itself in a numbing vortex of blinking screens and glittering surfaces. 
Were it not for Henson's primary, almost devotional need to elicit empathy for his troubled human subjects, there's a feeling that nothing would prevent the black in his photographs from completely absorbing his attention and extinguishing his work. --Dennis Cooper 
Hardcover, 16.5 x 12 inches, 192 pages, 125 color images.

Bill Henson: Lux et Nox

Cooper, Dennis

Henson, Bill

One of the most important painters of today, Cy Twombly's epic yet intimate combinations of gestural abstraction, drawing, and writing have been moving viewers since the mid-1950s. This book presents a diverse array of short essays by leading art critics as they explore the many aspects of Twombly's work. Heiner Bastian considers the relation of Mallarmé's poetry to Twombly's visual language. John Berger meditates on language and words as they appear on the artist's canvases. Yve-Alain Bois muses on the scatological impulse. Philip Fisher dissects Twombly's zany neo-classicist storytelling. Robert Pincus-Witten tells us a few things about Twombly's relationship to Italy and the United States. And Harald Szeemann wonders about Twombly's very own brand of history painting. A rich and stimulating collection of writings, complemented by lavish plates showing many early works, Cy Twombly, produced in collaboration with the Daros Collection, is indispensable for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of the artist's work. 
Essays by Heiner Bastian, John Berger, Yve-Alain Bois, Philip Fisher, Eva Keller, Ruth Langenberg, Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Robert Pincus-Witten, Katharina Schmidt,Harald Szeeman and Beat Wismer. 
Clothbound, 162 pages, 39 color and 10 b&amp;w

Audible Silence: Cy Twombly at Daros

TWOMBLY, Cy

History & Criticism

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