Pat Place (born 1953) is an American artist, photographer, and musician noted for her work as a founding member and guitarist of

no wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

bands

James Chance and the Contortions James Chance and the Contortions (initially known simply as Contortions, a spin-off group is called James White and the Blacks) was a musical group led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, formed in 1977. They were a central act of New York ...

and Bush Tetras.

Art

Place grew up in Chicago. She studied art in college, graduating with a BFA in painting and sculpture, attending

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

and

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,700 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...

. She came to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1975 to pursue a career as a visual artist. Place’s photography work was displayed in 2008 at the "No Wave, Post Punk, Underground New York 1976-80" exhibition curated by

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

and

Byron Coley Byron Coley is an American music critic who wrote prominently for '' Forced Exposure'' magazine in the 1980s, from the fifth issue until the magazine ceased publication in 1993. Prior to ''Forced Exposure'', he wrote for '' New York Rocker'', '' ...

at KS Art, and at the group exhibition "Happy Vacation" at Thrust Projects, both in New York City. She was also involved in the no wave cinema scene, appearing in some of

Vivienne Dick Vivienne Dick (born 1950) is an Irish feminist experimental and documentary filmmaker. Her early films helped define the No Wave scene. According to ''The Irish Times'', Dick is "one of the most important film-makers Ireland has produced". ...

's movies co-starring with

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

and other musicians from New York's late 1970s and early 1980s

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

community.

Music

Place was the original guitarist and one of the founding members of

the Contortions James Chance and the Contortions (initially known simply as Contortions, a spin-off group is called James White and the Blacks) was a musical group led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, formed in 1977. They were a central act of New York ...

, one of the central bands in the New York no wave music scene. She then formed the Bush Tetras. Place and vocalist Cynthia Sley produced the most distinctive aspects of the Tetras sound. Place's guitar lines were rhythmic and distortion-filled.Masters, Marc. ''No Wave''. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007, pp. 175-178 From the 1990s until present, Place has been performing with Bush Tetras and various

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...

bands in New York City and Europe. She participated in

Maggie Estep Margaret Ann "Maggie" Estep (March 20, 1963 – February 12, 2014) was an American writer and poet, best known for coming to prominence during the height of the spoken word and poetry slam performance rage. She published seven books and rel ...

's song and video for ''Hey Baby'', from her 1994 album ''No More Mister Nice Girl''.

Notes

References

* Carlo McCormick, ''The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984'', Princeton University Press, 2006 *Masters, Marc. ''No Wave'', London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007, pp. 175–178 {{DEFAULTSORT:Place, Pat 1953 births Living people Musicians from Chicago Northern Illinois University alumni American postmodern artists Artists from New York (state) American experimental musicians American noise musicians James Chance and the Contortions members Women in punk