New York Bars at Dawn | Daniel Root
Wallse ©Daniel Root
Written by Belle McIntyre
“If these walls could talk……” would not be a bad subtitle for Daniel Roots’s soulful and affectionate exploration of the netherworld of New York bars caught in the act of being naked. A habitual early riser, (long before sunrise) walking alone or with his dog on the dark streets, mostly empty of cars and people. As he meandered for years he became more aware of the uniqueness of his East Village and Lower East Side surroundings in predawn darkness. Then he began bringing his camera and taking pictures. As his practice continued he developed shooting techniques and processes to get enough light into the camera to record detail, often from awkward focal points and through dirty windows. This gives his images a stealthy stolen moment quality. He’s been prowling these streets for years, finding gems to photograph.
Le Cou Cou ©Daniel Root
He has managed to reveal mood and atmosphere from a totally new point of view in images of interior spaces designed to be inviting for people to gather, drink, enjoy, escape, seduce, relax or get into trouble. That is their whole reason to exist. Bereft of humanity, the walls themselves seem to be repositories of accumulated remnants of those who have left their invisible marks behind. Some of them feel melancholic and sad like much of Edward Hopper’s work; wallflowers waiting to be asked to dance. Others are exposed like over-the-top, overdressed floozies wearing flounces and ruffles which reveal their artifice in the absence of revelers. Others theatrically emulate another place or period.
White Horse Tavern ©Daniel Root
The garishness of the colors is a product of the extra long exposures and lends an otherworldly, sometimes fantastical feeling. The boisterousness of some of these establishments is captured and retained as mementos from years of ad hoc accumulations of significance which has become the permanent stuff in the décor.
Coney Island Baby ©Daniel Root
Compositions are perfectly framed containing multiple textures and shapes often oddly juxtaposed, with stacks of chairs, or bar stools upside down with their legs facing up in rhythmic staccato rows. The competing shadows which often appear from the artificial interior neon and the external from streetlights create a contrapuntal layering over the images.
Balthazar ©Daniel Root
There are some which reflect the cult of personality of the owner or the patronage of the establishment whether louche like Club Cumming with its marvelous murals of bodies entangled in erotic poses, or luxe like Le Coucou with its elegant French furniture and delicate murals, Julius’s gritty, gay-themed paraphernalia, and Balthazar with it’s proto French bistro ambience. Dan has given them all equal weight from the down and dirty dive bar to the most aspirational; he finds something to love and elevates them with his gimlet eye for detail and his skill with the camera.
Julius ©Daniel Root
This body of work feels sublimely authentic and respectful of its subjects as they are; significant, iconic and ubiquitous elements of the city. As well as their inherent aesthetic qualities, there is a liminal aspect to their ambience as spaces which have only recently been vacated or waiting to be occupied, to come alive. Many will be tempted to visit some of them. Others will possibly develop an enhanced mindfulness of their surroundings. This is a massive and richly fascinating ode to Manhattan nightlife in all its iterations. Long may he wander and continue to photograph in his own inimitable fashion.
