"The Ramrod, Big Top Lounge, Unicorn, The Crazy Horse, Chez Elle and Hombre...
Maricevic captures a glistening array of excitement. It's the dancers job not to hide, after all. Instead, buoyant smiles couple with warping writhing bodies, or even just charming back-stage leisure. The palpably stern tension of the customers explode with each man on stage. In fact it's through the dancers that we're able to glean any type of yearning from the crowd at all. Albeit in a disjointed way.
We all know Times Square has been a bleached out Capitalist void for decades now. Male strip clubs are by no means extinct, but I wonder who's going to them. Are patrons making wide arcs before rushing inside? In this way Male Burlesk-Times Square 1980-1981 becomes a solitary gem to this side of New York's erotic lineage. A history that I would absolutely stand in line to witness. "
--Zach Grear
"It is sad to contemplate that few of the young men pictured in this volume are still alive. This book stands as a memorial to a group of people seldom given much regard. It is also a fascinating testimonial to a culture, a time, a place, all now lost but for this collection of Vivienne Maricevic's poignant images."
--Charles William Leslie
--Rob Hugh Rosen
Vivienne Maricevic embarked on her photographic journey during the 1970s, delving into the concealed facets of New York. From captivating glimpses of gay male burlesque shows to the clandestine world of live sex performances in Times Square theaters, she achieved a remarkable feat—persuading individuals to grant her unprecedented access, capturing the unseen through the lens of her camera.
"I was always attracted to people, places and things that were different. That was the beginning of my photography. This was the mid seventies. It was a very shady and dangerous time. The news was full of stories about a guy who was running around the city with a knife killing people, and I remember hearing sirens all the time. I'd be there in the dark, all hours of the day and night. I was in my early twenties. I was so naïve, but I never felt scared."
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