SMOOTH HOTEL has closed after all
No sooner did we officially extend the show through August, than the space at 69 Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District of New York was closed. Charlie the manager was distraught, as was most of the staff.
A tearful Countess Mara, neighborhood celebrity and one of the stars of the show, expressed her gratitude to “the multitude of people who have stopped by to see the show and offered such wonderful support,” and to the staff at the famed diner for their enthusiasm in making whole experience so much fun for everyone.
The show will go on however. Season Two of the acclaimed SMOOTH HOTEL fashion/art soap opera photo series begins shooting this fall with an expanded cast of actors, models and wonderful clothes from Tom and Linda Platt.
SMOOTH HOTEL show held over for the summer
The show will now run through August 22, at 69 Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, NYC.
Actually we never got around to taking it down. Charlie, the manager says he likes having the work on the walls and the customers seem to be enjoying the show, so we’re officially holding it over.
Countess Mara, who appears in many of the shots, has become a neighborhood celebrity. She was recently asked to pose next to the print of her and her bodyguard for snapshots with a bunch of Saks Fifth Avenue execs. They were apparently participating in a scavenger hunt.
The Chatroulette shot of Superbabe Supermodel Shannon was the favorite of the waitresses, but unfortunately it got censored when somebody complained about all the blood. I’ve replaced it with a bloodless version.
And as a final piece of big news – we were featured recently on a Korean reality tv show talking about the show and explaining to the viewers what tater tots are.
SMOOTH HOTEL SHOW – opening night
What a great night – the models were beautiful, the music was smooth,
the Belinis were delicious, and the Tater Tots were to die for!
Me with my models in front of Gansevoort 69 Cafe in the Meatpacking District, NYC
From left to right – Mara McCauley-Clemenza, Nayland Blake, Ken W, Me, Shannon Pallay
Laura C-Zaporojan, Austin Horne
The installation, view 1
The installation, view 2
The installation, view 3
All photos courtesy of Pawel Kaminski
SMOOTH HOTEL photo show
I’m all excited about my new show, and hope you’ll come by and take a look!
SMOOTH HOTEL – New fashion photos by Barbara Nitke
Clothes by Tom and Linda Platt
at Gansevoort 69
69 Gansevoort Street
New York City
May 4 – 30, 2010
Gallery hours 24/7
Artists reception Monday May 3, 2010 6:00-8:00 pm
SMOOTH HOTEL, a fashion/art show in New York’s Meatpacking District, will feature Barbara Nitke’s provocative photographs of chic people misbehaving in anonymous hotel settings. The series is in collaboration with New York fashion designers Tom and Linda Platt.
Opening night will feature smooth drinks and Nitke’s models, overdressed at the bar in their photo wardrobe.
Well known and highly regarded in the sexual underground for her behind-the-scenes documentation of hardcore porn sets and her intensely intimate images of sadomasochists, Nitke begins a new career chapter as a fashion photographer.
Her choice of a launch pad in the formerly dangerous Meatpacking District was deliberate. Gansevoort 69 is in the same location where the landmark diner, Florent, once reigned 24/7 as the favorite neighborhood place to go before or after a kinky night out.
“I absolutely adored this neighborhood back in the ‘90’s. I loved Hellfire, the Lure, the Vault – the transvestite hookers on the streets – it was a fantastic place.” Nitke says nostalgically, “After it changed, I boycotted the whole area. But recently I’ve realized that I’ve made the same mainstream transition myself. So now I’m embracing the change by having my new show here.”
TOM AND LINDA PLATT are known for dressing the famous and the infamous. Their timeless clothes have graced the pages of international publications as well as the bodies of well-heeled women from the White House to Wigstock. The Platt’s simple, modern pieces are a perfect counterpoint to Nitke’s images of people caught up in complicated love stories.
Another Christmas is upon us!
I swore I was going to post loads of interesting stuff to this blog, and have to say I’m amazed at how fast the year went by, and how little I posted….
But this coming year will be vastly different. I have cool stuff planned starting around Valentine’s Day – hopeless romantic that I am. Please come back and visit then. In the meantime HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone!
Much love, Barbara
Latex Day at the Gershwin Hotel
This was a fun shoot!
The idea for this shoot came from my friend and advisor Suzanne Sease. We’re leaving interpretation of the image to the viewer, although another friend has suggested that this might be the perfect way to quit smoking.
I was a bit nervous about how Shannon would do wearing the latex hood since she didn’t have previous experience. I know some people find hoods terribly claustrophobic, but she was a total trooper. I love her spirit.
At the end of the day, we asked artist and impresario Neke Carson to stop by for a drink.
Very special thanks to our stylist Tanya Seeman for the amazing job of getting Shannon into and out of the latex, to her friend John for moral support and cigarette wrangling, to the Gershwin Hotel for the fabulous back lobby location, and to The Baroness, elegant latex fashion designer and hostess of fabulous parties, for lending us the catsuit.
Thanks to David Menkes
David Samuel Menkes is well known for his fabulous creations for leathermen, and for his signature leather straightjacket. But he also makes amazing clothes for women. I adore this birdcage skirt, and so did Sigail. We had a blast with it. Thanks, David!
Sully’s Bed
My friend, Sully Walsh, invited me out to his loft-to-die-for in Brooklyn a couple of weeks ago, and I spent a day taking pictures of the lovely Sigail Currie for my fashion portfolio.
The centerpiece of the shoot was Sully’s hand-built metal bed, which is an amazing piece of functional artwork. First, it’s an ingenious bondage bed because you can use it to tie somebody up a million different ways. But it’s also a very elegant piece of sculpture, and I’m sure a lot of people would be happy just to live with it and sleep in it every night.
Sully makes all kinds of custom metal furniture, and also little specialty items. He happened to have a pair of small hand-tooled custom handcuffs on hand and let us use them too. I thought they made wonderful accessories to one of the evening gowns that our stylist Tanya had pulled for the day.
Gentleman that he is, Sully even sacrificed a piece out of his tee shirt collection so Tanya could make a feather hat out of it.
Of course, most of the credit for the overall beauty of the shoot goes to our amazing glam team – from left to right, Andrea Wilson genius hair stylist, Khush Singh brilliant makeup artist, our model Sigail, and Tanya Seeman stylist to the stars!
Fish Hook Shoot
I met the fabulous D, aka Missy Po, through Vivian at the Sex Carnival. She lives in Washington DC and has been incredibly gracious about taking the Chinatown bus up to New York for my Polysexual photo shoots. She’s a dream to photograph – sexy and beautiful in a totally non-standard way. She has become one of my official muses, and actually as I write this I realize we’re due for another shoot. I miss her!
For one of our adventures, she brought her new gold fish hook and asked me to do a pinup style shot of her wearing it through her lip. I don’t usually do pinup style pictures because I’ve more than been there, but this one was a blast.
Her friend Sam asked to use it for the 2009 CD sampler of his Projekt record label. I loved the way he manipulated my image and turned it into something magic! The music is fabulous also, and you can buy the CD practically for free here.
Merry Christmas
Do you hear what I hear?
My Friend Mara and I have been creating a Christmas card together for many years. We collaborate on the theme, and Mara acts it out for me to photograph. Usually the ideas bubble up out of Mara’s highly entertaining unconscious, but this year we got our inspiration from a popular political figure - guess who!
Unfortunately we can’t divulge the identity of the dead body, although many people have expressed their theories as to who it might be.
