JAMES T. MURRAY / KARLA L. MURRAY
James and Karla Murrays classic tome from their ongoing Store Front series is now available for the first time in its covetable mini format.The Murrays have been capturing impeccable photographs from the streets of New York City since the 1990s. With Store Front II they've continued their documentation of an important cross-section of New York's "Mom and Pop" economy. The Murray's penetrating photographs are only half the story though. Their copious background texts, gleaned largely from interviews with the stores' owners and employees, bring wonderful color and nuance to the importance of these unique one-off establishments. The Murrays have rendered the out of the way bodegas, candy shops and record stores just as faithfully as the historically important institutions and well known restaurants, bars and cafes. From the Stonewall Inn to the Brownsville Bike Shop and The Pink Pussycat to Smith and Wolensky, the Murrays reveal how New York's long-standing businesses stand in sharp contrast to the city's rapidly evolving corporate facade. The authors' landmark 2008 book, Store Front, was recently cited in Bookforum's 20th Anniversary issue as having "demonstrated the paradoxical power of digital photo editing to alter actual views in order for us to see more clearly what is really there." James and Karla Murray live in New York City and were awarded the New York Society Library's prestigious New York City book award in 2012 for their last book, New York Nights.
