Exploring New York City in the footsteps of poet Frank O’Hara

The 16 images that form the campaign feature excerpts from Frank O’Hara’s 1964 Lunch Poems, graphically overlaid on Clément Pascal’s revealing glimpses of the New York City. Written during his lunch breaks from working at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, New York), Lunch Poems was O’Hara’s most seminal collection, described by fellow American poet John Ashbery as ‘shatter[ing] the congealed surface of academic poetry]. ‘I love the image with the reflection of a skyscraper in the back window of a cab,’ says Pascal of this image, ‘the shape of the window really gives an impression of an intensely towering figure.’

Rhapsody, excerpt from Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara. Used by permission of City Lights Books. Art direction: Amy Preston and Valentine Ammeux

Frieze head of design Amy Preston approached Pascal for the campaign, which took six months to reach fruition. The photographer quickly familiarised himself with O’Hara’s work, canvassing Midtown for his animated photographs. Pascal adds: ‘We were also in close contact with [Frank’s sister] Maureen, and so could ask her about specific locations mentioned in the poems to make sure that the work we were producing was a good reflection of the words themselves.’

Music, excerpt from Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara. Used by permission of City Lights Books. Art direction: Amy Preston and Valentine Ammeux

The poems’ rhythms echo the varying speeds of a city walk, and like such a walk, the poems encompass high culture and popular culture alike, from painting, music and dance to phone conversations and Manhattan street advertising. ‘Reading these poems,’ says Frieze senior designer Valentine Ammeux, ‘‘you really feel like you’re going on a journey – like you’re walking along with him.

A Step Away from Them, excerpt from Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara. Used by permission of City Lights Books.  Art direction: Amy Preston and Valentine Ammeux

‘I’m very much excited by anything NYC and still see everything as quite exotic here,’ says Pascal, who has been based in New York for seven-odd years. ‘Every time I drive over the Williamsburg Bridge and see Manhattan I still get a little something in my stomach.’

Five Poems, excerpt from Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara. Used by permission of City Lights Books.  Art direction: Amy Preston and Valentine Ammeux

From the yellow hood of a cab to fountains, Pascal puts a fresh spin on the city’s familiar tropes. ‘I think after those years spent here I have the ability to recognise something that feels very New York while also avoiding what is cliché,’ he explains. ‘Moreover, I tried to work in a very graphic manner. It was about NYC and specific places, but it was also a lot about colours and shape, almost in an abstract way.’

Personal Poem, excerpt from Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara. Used by permission of City Lights Books. Photography: Clément Pascal. Art direction: Amy Preston and Valentine Ammeux

A central figure in the so-called ‘New York School’, O’Hara was lauded as ‘a poet among painters’– visual arts were deeply intertwined with his life and work. Starting in 1951 when he first arrived in the city, O’Hara rose from selling postcards at MoMA to become an associate curator, working on exhibitions of Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell among others, and writing on Jackson Pollock. He also posed for painters including Alex Katz and Larry Rivers and 30 artists contributed towards MoMA’s memorial volume In Memory of My Feelings (1967), published after O’Hara’s untimely death.

A Step Away from Them, excerpt from Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara. Used by permission of City Lights Books. Photography: Clément Pascal. Art direction: Amy Preston and Valentine Ammeux

Pascal’s photographs will be displayed in the windows of 80WSE Gallery on Washington Square East, as well as appearing on posters, banners and flyers across the city.

Steps, excerpt from Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara. Used by permission of City Lights Books. Photography: Clément Pascal. Art direction: Amy Preston and Valentine Ammeux

Tickets for Frieze New York are now available to buy at frieze.com. For more information, visit Clément Pascal’s website and the Frieze website

Poem (Kruschev is coming on the right day!), excerpt from Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara. Used by permission of City Lights Books. Photography: Clément Pascal. Art direction: Amy Preston and Valentine Ammeux