Have you seen the film Kids? If not, and you’re over eighteen, that might be the place to start. The mid-90s indie hit starred Leo Fitzpatrick as Telly, the main character, and was also the first film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark. Around that same time, Bobby Puleo was coming up skating in New York and his native New Jersey, making a name for himself. Larry Clark was on the scene at the historic early 90s Brookly Banks contest and many more skate spots. Check out Bobby and Leo as they walk through Larry’s show this past winter in New York, dissecting everything about the photos and that golden era of skateboarding. This is great skate nerd stuff!
“Join skateboarder, artist, anthropologist and collector, Bobby Puleo, as he joins fellow skateboarder, actor, artist, galleries and curator Leo Fitzpatrick, for a walkthrough of the show Fitzpatrick curated of Larry Clark’s iconic photographs shot between 1992 and 1995 at well known skateboard spots like the Brooklyn Banks and Washington Square Park.
It’s been 30 years since Leo Fitzpatrick graced the screen in Kids as Telly, a skateboarder stalking the streets of New York City in search of girls to have sex with. Directed by American photographer Larry Clark and written by a young Harmony Korine. As well as launching the career of a young, doe-eyed Chloë Sevigny, the film thrust Fitzpatrick – then a 16-year-old skateboarder from New Jersey – unwittingly into the spotlight. “I think Larry thought I was a very real, genuine teenager, not a Hollywood version of a teenager.” Kids changed the young skateboarder’s life in more ways than one; meeting Clark also meant an induction into the world of art, something Fitzpatrick would then dedicate his life to as an artist and gallerist on the downtown scene.
As an homage to his artistic mentor, Fitzpatrick curated a show at New York’s Ruttkowski;68 gallery of Clark’s photographs of the vibrant skateboarding scene in early 90s New York. Taken at the city’s popular skateboarding spots in Brooklyn Banks, Astor Place and Washington Square Park, Clark’s photos capture a young Fitzpatrick and his friends pre-Kids fame, chugging beers and dwarfed in XL T-shirts and baggy jeans, offering a rare snapshot into Manhattan’s hedonistic – and now-Fitzpatrick. “So I wanted to do a show with the guy who was responsible for getting me into art in the first place. This show is for the teenage skateboarders in New York City who aren’t comfortable going to galleries. Text from https://www.anothermag.com/art-photog… :
Leo Fitzpatrick / lousyleo Bobby Puleo / timandvicstagram
Filmed & Edited by Jack Palmiotti / jackpalmiotti
Produced by same old / same0ld“
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