Attending the opening celebration of “Eclectic Electric Beauties of the Glorious Nightlife,” the latest photo exhibition at Strange Loop Gallery, was the closest I felt to being back in Berlin in a long time. Walking into the small space on a rather dark and quite street of the Lower East Side I was sucked into a warm and delirious environment of 7 foot tall drag queens, rainbow color haired guys, elaborate outfits, and simply fabulous folk. I was immediately reminded of a Sunday morning at the Berlin party Homopatik. Hosted by The Bureau of General Services – Queer Division and curated and designed by Strange Loop’s very own Alesia Exum and Claire Fleury, the show consisted of 12’ x 7” disposable format photographs from 14 artists selected by artist and performer Shane Shane. Amongst the selected were DJ Trey LaTrash, designer Dusty Childers, nightlife personality Jordan Fox, and music artist M Lamar.

The Best of NYC’s Wicked and Wild Nights

Shane Shane is the darling pictured standing in the lit doorway wearing (or busting out of) a cop outfit on the exhibition’s promotion flyer. He is a dancer, a costume maker, and I once had the magical experience of watching him twerk at the House of Vans during a Nicky Da B performance. The artists he selected were given disposable cameras and send out into the nightlife. The resulting images are super honest, raw, disrobed, and overall fun. I wish I was there alongside in most of these frames, which by the way were thick, golden, gaudy, and incredibly appropriate. I don’t think there could have been a more perfect framing choice for these very special images, turning them into a collection, a continuous stream of night life joy.

Raw, but somehow elegant: A view of the “Eclectic Electric Beauties of the Glorious Night Life” at Strange Loop Gallery. Photo: Camilo Fuentealba

The stream of images are debauchery and magic. A snapshot of Amanda LePore, wild dancing, Jefferson Stop on the L Train, boas and glitter, face paint, fishnet, an array of penises flapping around and a very blatant turd. Basically a quality Friday night, or a Tuesday since Thursday is the new Sunday, etc.

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