Exhibition features never-before-seen photographs of Warhol, Hockney and Basquiat

Luckily, Peter Harrington, the rare bookshop, and gallery based in Mayfair, London, has released details of its forthcoming exhibition, History is a Nightclub: Downtown AREA, NYC, 1983-87, a spectacular array of 35-40 candid moments from the 80s featuring the greats of modern art at their most relaxed, alongside a host of celebrity friends including Sting, Tom Waits, The Beastie Boys, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Grace Jones and John Waters – saving you from a Jeff Goldblum, fly transformation moment.

Ben Buchanan captured these glimpses of NYC’s downtown scene while working as an in-house photographer for AREA, a nightclub renowned for its constant and imaginative redecorations – Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and David Hockney are seen attending an art-themed party, while Grace Jones poses with a lion for her birthday during the club’s Natural History reinvention.

Basquiat, who returned to the headlines this year when his work Untitled sold for $110m at Sotheby’s in Manhattan, can be seen DJing during a party night and relaxing on a bed, while Haring poses with a man he has used as a living canvas for his art.

“They were always creating something, even when they were relaxing,” says Buchanan, who worked at AREA from 1983 to 1987.

“At a meal for the assembled artists there was a sketchbook being passed around – Jean-Michel drew a portrait of (Playboy contributing illustrator) Leroy Neiman – Andy tipped out a bowl of snow peas onto his page, crushed them in, and signed it.”

“I had turned up at AREA looking for a job,” says Buchanan, “and they gave me a camera I had no idea how to use and they told me to point it at anything interesting.”

“It was the club that everyone wanted to get into – even the invitations to each theme were inventive and covetable, while the decorations were often brought in from movie sets.”

History is a Nightclub, Downtown AREA, NYC, 1983-87 opens at Peter Harrington, Dover Street, from 2 - 31 October 2017.