Slava Mogutin captures the spirit of a scene under fire in his new monograph, NYC Go-Go. The irreverent artist speaks to Garrett Bithell. 

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“I’ve been living in New York for the past 13 years, and I’ve seen the gay scene become increasingly conservative and slowly disappearing. When I met my boyfriend Brian, he was making his living as a go-go dancer. Through him, I got to meet many dancers and some of them became our friends and the subjects of this book. It’s a visual diary of the battered New York gay scene; it’s about the here and now.”

So says Slava Mogutin, the notorious Russian dissident-turned-artist who documents the ever-shrinking New York City downtown gay scene in his new monograph, NYC Go-Go, released this month.

Taking us inside remaining joints like the Cock, Boysroom and Mr Black, Mogutin exposes the decaying but defiantly hedonistic underworld of hustlers and go-go boys. Some are ‘rough trade’ – thugs with a criminal past, busted for prostitution, drugs or armed assault – while others are ‘gay for pay’, married with kids and hustling for their families. Most are Mogutin’s friends.

“I’ve always felt like an outsider and one of my main inspirations is exploring different marginal, underground scenes and subcultures,” he tells AXN.

“The go-go underworld is such a New York phenomenon and it’s a great metaphor for the western model of capitalism.

“I was very happy to meet these boys and get to know their stories, fantasies and fetishes. I remain friends with most of my subjects; it’s interesting for me to see how they change as they grow older.”

By the time Mogutin arrived in New York in the mid-1990s, Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s controversial ‘Quality of Life’ campaign had eaten away much of the city’s once-bustling club scene. Downtown venues were paying the ultimate price – owners were branded community pariahs and paid crippling fines for alleged disruptiveness, while others were prosecuted for criminal acts. Many legendary nightspots were wiped off the map altogether.

“Many places were shut down under Giuliani’s homophobic police regime,” Mogutin says. “The downtown gay scene has been reduced to a handful of tiny bars in the East Village and Chelsea. It’s really shocking and sad to see how conservative and corporate New York has become in recent years, especially after 9-11.

“Sex is a threat to corporate society, just like people having fun and enjoying themselves without being monitored by authorities. That’s why I think of my book as a political statement.

Indeed Mogutin’s work has always challenged moral clichés. He was exiled from Russia at 21 for his queer writings and activism, and was granted political asylum in the US with the support of Amnesty International and PEN American Center.

“The boys in my book are more happy and free than those who want to judge them,” Mogutin asserts. “In my opinion, a corporate career on Wall Street is sad and undignified.”

For more information on Slava Mogutin, visit slavemogutin.com or slavamogutin.blogspot.com . NYC GoGo is published by powerHouse Books (powerhousebooks.com ).