Walt Paper

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Walt Paper (born November 21, 1972, as Walter John Cassidy III) is a visual artist and one of the original Club Kids. He is featured in the documentary Party Monster (1998), Rockstar (with Theo Kogan of Lunachicks) and appeared on The Jane Whitney Show, The Joan Rivers Show and Geraldo in the early 1990's.

Walt attended the Governor's Magnet School of the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia during his high school years, and went on to study Tribal Art at Kent State University with renowned professor Halim El-Dahb, before moving to New York City in 1991 to attend The School of Visual Arts.

At this time he began his work in nightlife as the art director for The Building, where he first was discovered by resident dj Keoki, and party promoter Michael Alig. From there he began go-go dancing and hosting at various nightclubs such as The Palladium, The Limelight, Club USA, Webster Hall, and The Tunnel.

As a Club Kid , he became one of the proponents of the Modern Primitive movement, which focused on body piercing and tattooing. He began a brief stint as a model, and was signed to a branch of Wilhelmina Models called Trouble in NY, which focused on the use of hip street kids, as opposed to conventional models, and figured into the subsequent trends of Heroin Chic and Grunge. He was befriended at this time by the yet to be discovered actress, Chloe Sevigny, while both were modeling for Jysp Johnson. His looks from this time period are often cited as being the inspiration for the rock singer Marilyn Manson.

In 1994, the rock band, Into Another, enlisted him to illustrate two album covers, as well as, appear as a vampiric character in a music video directed by Noah Bogen. He would also appear in videos directed by Stephane Sednaoui, for such artists as MC Solaar, Neneh Cherry, and Björk.

He formed the performance rock band BOOB, which performed frequently with The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, and was featured in the documentaries Freaks Glam Gods and Rockstars (2001) and Downtown Darlings (1998). The band performed for 3 years and recorded one unreleased album prior to breaking up.

In 2002 he relocated to London. He became a close associate with designer Pam Hogg and actress Anita Pallenberg, with whom he curated a show of Kenneth Anger's artwork for Stuart Shave's Modern Art gallery. For his own work, he began a series of photographs of spells, illustrated through still life, and deeply rooted in occult practices. In 2004, he returned to New York, and was first exhibited at Stay Gold Gallery in Brooklyn.

In 2005, his "spell photographs" were featured at Paul Kasmin Gallery in a show curated by Jack Pierson. These photographs were also exhibited in "The Believers" at MASS MOCA in 2006, alongside photographs of narrative abstract sculptures, titled The Inferior Orbs.

He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

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