“Market Hotel” by Adam Krause
A photographer’s final look at the rock culture and loft-style living at Brooklyn’s alternative-arts venue
Photographer Adam Krause has lived in Brooklyn since 2007 and is well-versed in the young artist lifestyle that the borough so often invites. Growing up in the punk rock scene himself, his new series on Bushwick’s Market Hotel is the perfect addition to his self-identification-inspired photography. This project looks at a venue established in 2008, which hosted punk rock shows and offered communal, loft-style living.
The Market Hotel was best known for the chaotic spirit of its concerts, but both the music and living there had gone on without proper licensing. The manager finally decided to get the building up to code—temporarily displacing the music and, perhaps permanently, its inhabitants. Because this style of living is becoming less and less common in Brooklyn and Queens as a result of gentrification (although neighboring venue Silent Barn recently resurfaced), Krause’s photos are among the last glimpses we’ll get of this charmingly disheveled lifestyle that’s been essential to artists in the area for so long.
In “Market Hotel,” Krause captured portraits of the venue’s musically inclined inhabitants and created collages of their homes before they were stripped and renovated. The enduring character of the venue and the magnetism of the people there are almost tangible in each of Krause’s photos. He says that his interest in capturing an individual’s quest for comfort and self-identification—the prevailing theme throughout his work—is especially authentic when the subjects stray from the safety of cultural norms. Besides his familiarity with the Market Hotel as a music venue, he was able to gain access to the loft through a friend who lived in one of the communal spaces. Nonetheless, Krause still gives most of the credit to his camera: “I liken it to how a three-year-old kid can stare at someone, but as adults, that’s not cool. The camera gives me permission to really look at someone.”
Take a look at the whole “Market Hotel” series—full of brooding energy brightened up by endearing idiosyncrasies—and the rest of Adam Krause’s photos on his website. Also keep a look out for a special “Market Hotel” edition of his handmade photo books to be distributed in boutique book stores around New York City.
Images courtesy of Adam Krause
