Clayton Patterson (2021)

Clayton Patterson – an artist, photographer and videographer known for documenting the unique character of Manhattan’s Lower East Side – was born in Canada in 1948. Patterson taught art at universities across Canada before moving to New York City in 1979 with partner and fellow artist Elsa Rensaa. In 1983, Patterson and Rensaa purchased 161 Essex St., a former dressmaker’s shop, where they still live and work.

In the mid-80s, Patterson and Rensaa’s storefront became the de-facto home of Clayton Caps. Using a 100-year-old embroidery machine, Rensaa chainstitched Patterson’s folkloric illustrations onto wide-brim baseball caps. Clayton Caps became ubiquitous throughout Lower Manhattan, and their distinctive style has since been widely adopted. 161 Essex also served as a gallery, featuring work by artists like Dash Snow, Boris Lurie, Jerry Pagane, LA2, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, local bikers and religious worshipers.

Patterson and Rensaa have amassed an immense archive of their adopted neighborhood’s social, cultural and underground histories. It includes thousands of photographs and countless hours of video footage, as well as creative detritus they’ve collected from the street. “The history of the Lower East Side is dense, multicultural and diverse. There are multiple layers within the community. You had Jews, Asians, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, avant-garde filmmakers, tattoo parlors, the gay clubs, the art scene. It takes having documented all these different circles to get how they connected,” said Patterson.

For decades, Patterson has engaged with neighbors from these cross-cultural communities. He's captured defining events (video footage of police brutality during the Tompkins Square Park Police Riot) and every-day joy (portraits of local kids posed outside his door). Patterson and Rensaa’s home and work are monuments to their neighborhood’s renegade history and spirit.