Unframed Devo photo | Allan Tannenbaum

Unframed photo print, edition of 50, 17x22. Frame: $300 additional

Devo entered Allan Tannenbaum’s studio in 1981 and quickly a bond was formed. With their plastic hair on top and equally shiny patent leather shoes on the bottom, the band was ready for action. Sporting pleated slacks and matching khaki shirts, the band looked around the studio and spotted a few items to amplify their duty then, now and for the future of today, when this print would adorn your wall. The sleek Haliburton Zero briefcase provides a bias for action, as does the walkie-talkie, portable cassette player, digital calculator and analogue pocket spy camera.

Allan Tannenbaum has been photographing since the 1960s. After college he gravitated to the nascent art scene in the SoHo district of Manhattan. When the SoHo Weekly News commenced publication in 1973, Tannenbaum became the Photo Editor and Chief Photographer. Tannenbaum relentlessly covered the art world, music scene, politics, show business and nightlife. The high point of this period was photographing John Lennon and Yoko Ono nude in bed – the low point was the murder of John Lennon 10 days later. Tannenbaum photographed Sid Vicious in handcuffs leaving the hotel room where his girlfriend was dead. He took the cover photograph for Nelson Mandela's book Long Walk to Freedom. Devo used one of his photos for their album cover on Duty Now for the Future. Tannenbaum got the biggest and most dangerous story of his career just six blocks from his home – the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Tannenbaum photographed the explosion of the second plane and Ground Zero between tower collapses.