Andrew Savulich: The City

    A bike messenger bleeds form the mouth after being punched by a cab driver. In another photo, a building doorman tackles a pickpocket on the hood of a cab. A subway passenger sits on the floor of the car, tended to by transit police after being stabbed. The other riders pay no attention. Andrew Savulich photographed the city for the Daily News since the 1980’s, mostly as a freelancer. Most of this photos from the time never got printed. The photos in this book display the sleazy, dangerous, and dirty side of New York life, most of which have never been seen before.

    One of the most controversial photos in this book from Steidl is of a woman, sitting in a crushed car, smiling. She looks like she’s nuts, given the destruction all around her. Is she drunk? On drugs? Knocked silly from the impact? Whatever the reason for her out of place levity, it’s the perfect example of the insanity of the city at the time. When I see these photos from the city’s bad old days, I can remember the combination of danger and excitement. It wasn’t a place for the dainty.

    Savulich isn’t much of a self-promoter, which is why I’d never heard of him until I saw this book. He was a Rutgers-trained architect, worked in Boston, then came to NYC to pursue a career in photography. He worked in construction while going to grad school for art, then began getting freelance assignments from tabloid papers. Nowadays the tabloids are on their way out thanks to the internet and the inability to shock people. As for Savulich’s photos, a whole lot of them had to be kept off the press because they were considered too edgy. But thanks to Steidl, we can see them in all their (dirty) glory.

    Seeing these photos takes me back 30 years, to a time when New York City was dangerous, dark, and filthy. However, under all the grime, people still went to work, ate out, came home, got their kids to school, and didn’t die. People lived here, some enjoyed the city, some hated it. The 80’s and early 90’s in New York are remembered with nostalgia, even though the city wasn’t as much fun as it is now. Then again, even in the most dangerous times, it was much more exciting than the Long Island suburbs. Perhaps that’s why I loved coming here so much? Perhaps that’s why I was dying to go to school in the city? Some people just love crowds, honking horns, shouting drivers, and the short walk to the grocery store. Those are the people you’re going to see in this book.