New York City Rising: Protests, Rallies, & Police Riots, 2020-2021 is a collection of images shot by Ruvan Wijesooriya from May 2020 to May 2021 during the police riots and protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. The chronological story begins with the police riots in Chinatown and Barclay’s Center on May 29th and ends with the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. It offers a foreground, a middle, and a background for the breadth of the movement, and reveals a sincere fascination with and dedication to defining the city—his home for two decades—as he captures a transformation.
With contributions from @nupol_justice@qween_jean@restaurantprojects@handlebar_batey@enos_nyamor
Author portrait: @ryanmcginleystudios
Book Design: @deryckvonnlee
Publisher: @hatandbeardpress
Launch at @mocada_museum with @aaartsalliance Tuesday Sept. 26, 7pm. Music by @princelanguage
Links in bio…
Huuuge 🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽to the 500+ (!!!) people who came to my opening last week. Incredible feeling to share the work with you all- I couldn’t do this without your support!!! The show is open from 12-6pm on weekdays until Nov 16th. I’ll be at 31 Perry Street from 2pm today, 2pm tomorrow, 2-8pm on Friday, then from noon-8 on Saturday. There are private VR meditation sessions which you can sign up for if you want to escape reality for 30 minutes and/or hang out with me in the gallery. I collaborated with Gabe @druzzi_ on a sound installation made to give each artwork a voice - if you are into ambient sound, this is for you. We’ll be tweaking the sound installation on Saturday, time to be confirmed. These are free events, bring your ID for mezcal tastings with @ilegalmezcal and @rosebar_nyc . Link in my bio. #ArtThatDelivers #expansionOfSpace #35mm #rippedPrint
Last chance to buy a signed, limited, LCD Soundystem photographic print by the band’s official, unofficial photographer @byruvan 🪩
James Murphy: “All of Ruvan’s pictures remind me of that feeling: that your life could be saved if you could get there right then. That you’re geographically fucked, and it’s all happening right now, somewhere else, without you. There’s an enormous amount of intimacy in them, and promise, and intrusion, that got me thinking a lot about why I live here, why I do what I do, why I love this place even though I want to strangle people every day, and why I still believe in New York City.”
All photos printed on matte 300gsm 100% cotton paper, signed and dated by Ruvan.
Our print sale ends midnight (UK time) on Monday March 2nd.
Buy now from Disco Pogo’s online store (link in bio).
A big thanks to everyone who came to our exhibition / book launch / talk / party @thesociallondon last Friday especially @byruvan who flew in from New York especially, the DJs @louhayter_@franktope and @tomsharkett who were all, unsurprisingly, excellent and not forgetting our editor @write4luck for the onstage interview. It ended up being quite a night!
The exhibition runs until February 4th in The Social bar and is free to view, and the signed, limited prints are still for sale from the Disco Pogo store (use code DISCO25 for 25% off until Feb 2nd).
The book ‘A Disco Pogo Tribute To LCD Soundsystem’ is also available to buy from our store (use code DISCO25 for 25% off until Feb 2nd) or from the best independent book, record and magazine shops in the UK and around the world 🌎
All photos @byruvan except for the less good ones by @paulbenney .
Who’s coming to our @lcdsoundsystem book launch party this Friday January 16th at The Social in London? 🪩
The event features a photo exhibition in the bar by Ruvan Wijesooriya, whose photos are used throughout the book, plus an onstage interview with Ruvan by our very own @write4luck . Ruvan worked very closely with the band in the early days and has plenty of stories to tell!
We also have W.H. Lung’s @tomsharkett DJing (whose recent edit of LCD’s ‘Home’ is totally brilliant), plus another excellent artist and producer, @louhayter_ and the DJs’ DJ @franktope .
They will all be playing their fave LCD songs, DFA remixes and LCD adjacent music.
Tickets are very limited as @thesociallondon is a small venue and it’s a partly seated event.
What else are you going to do in January?
Grab a ticket via the link in our bio.
Disco Pogo is proud to be hosting an exclusive print sale and soon-to-be-announced exhibition of Ruvan Wijesooriya’s LCD photos after we used one of his portraits of James Murphy on the cover of ‘A Disco Pogo Tribute to LCD Soundsystem’ alongside many more of Ruvan’s images in the book.
The print sale includes nine, exclusive, signed, limited edition prints, that have never before been on sale to the public.
This is what James had to say about LCD Soundsystem’s official, unofficial photographer:
“All of Ruvan’s pictures remind me of that feeling: that your life could be saved if you could get there right then. That you’re geographically fucked, and it’s all happening right now, somewhere else, without you. There’s an enormous amount of intimacy in them, and promise, and intrusion, that got me thinking a lot about why I live here, why I do what I do, why I love this place even though I want to strangle people every day, and why I still believe in New York City.”
Browse and buy the prints via the link in Disco Pogo’s bio 🪩
Studio Sale! Cleaning out the studio: everything is priced to make it as easy as possible for these pieces to find good homes. Link in bio for sale page.
When I met veteran sculptural lighting designer @bec_brittain collaboration was destined to happen - an insatiable eye looking for the secrets of light and a philosopher artist sculpting around it. Between the glass and metal was an opportunity for me to get lost in materials, form and color.
Bec’s exhibition, IN/Organic opens on Tuesday June 17 from 6-9pm at @colonydesign in NYC at 196 West Broadway. Feel welcome to stop by - the show is up for a month.
This is a drop in the bucket - check ruvan.com for more pictures.
Also, Happy Birthday, Bec!!!
I met @azizansari in NYC, 2003, when he was on Human Giant. He claims it was his first real photoshoot. Buried in the archive from the same shoot is a pic where he literally dove into a dumpster. We have collaborated at least 20 times since then - several album covers, tons of shows, some tv sets and perhaps my favorite of the lot: the cover of the book, Modern Romance.
Been lucky enough to follow this guy along his journey.
He’s got a new show tonight in NYC. The practice runs I photographed a few months ago were excellently hilarious.
1: Human Giant era 2003
2: Modern Romance outtake 2015
3: MSG show outtake 2015
4, 5: Right Now era 2019
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A City of Drinks. Welcome to our Spring Issue.
On the Cover:
Christina &
Amanda &
Nick &
James
The team behind @fourhorsemenbk , the Williamsburg wine bar turned international food destination, opened up to @jortved about their new restaurant, @icavallinibk , built after the passing of their partner and natural wine champion, Justin Chearno.
Few openings, or second acts, have been as anticipated. The team’s goal with their new restaurant is as exciting as it is relieving: create a neighborhood Italian joint where their friends, and you, and I, can just stop in and get a seat, and a bowl of pasta. And a glass of wine.
Photography by @byruvan
