Patrick D. Pagnano was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1947. As a second
generation Italian-American grounded in a devotion to family, honor, and
personal responsibility imparted by the Catholic Church and his working class
parents, Pagnano maintained a lifelong allegiance with underprivileged
communities, recognizing that despite their differences and ethnic backgrounds,
they shared a common struggle.
Pagnano graduated with honors from Columbia College Chicago in 1972, where
he majored in photography. After a brief visit to New York with a fellow Columbia
classmate, he fell in love with the city’s chaotic, freewheeling energy and knew
this was where he had to be in order to pursue his dream of becoming a
professional photojournalist. He and his wife Kari moved to NYC in 1974.
Over his five-decade career, Pagnano achieved success as a photojournalist and
commercial photographer, securing freelance assignments from clients such as
Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, and Business Week. Pagnano also had a
20-year relationship with CBS and worked on programs including 60 Minutes,
CBS Evening News, Late Night with David Letterman, Kennedy Center Honors,
Country Music Awards and the Grammys. His most treasured journalistic
coverage was of Fidel Castro in 1996, traveling to Cuba with Dan Rather for 48
Hours.
Armed with his ever-present Leica, freelancing provided Pagnano with the time
and flexibility to pursue his own passion – the art of street photography.
Recognizing the ways in which streets are among the most egalitarian spaces in
public life, Pagnano was drawn to scenes that revealed the way environment
played a profound role in shaping people’s behavior. Here, people of all
backgrounds converge, creating extraordinary moments of random chaos.
In 2002 Pagnano self-published Shot on the Street, a culmination of his color
street photography that captures the tension and fleeting juxtapositions of the
urban landscape. The title refers to both the act of street photography and the
psychological effects of the street. “It can excite, anger, defeat and inspire. The
street’s influence and energy never ceases,” Pagnano observed.
Pagnano’s second book, Empire Roller Disco (Anthology, 2022), captures one
special night in 1980 at Brooklyn’s legendary roller rink, when the photographer
and skaters were perfectly in sync. “I’ve never really thought of myself as an
artist,” Patrick wrote in his notebooks. “I feel like I’m just a citizen of the world and
should conduct myself responsibly and not isolate myself from reality—
photography is just what I do.”
Pagnano’s photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of
Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library,
Art Institute of Chicago, and Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.
He died in New York City in 2018. Patrick D. Pagnano was a man of intuition,
feeling, and generosity, someone the world cannot easily replace.
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“In 1980, the acclaimed street photographer Patrick D. Pagnano went on assignment to document the Empire and its legendary cast of partygoers. The resulting photographs, gathered in Empire Roller Disco for the first time, capture the vibrant spirits, extraordinary styles, and sheer joys of Brooklyn roller disco at its dizzying peak.”