N Y C U LT U R E The CIA Agent Who Went Vogue SHARE By Marc Myers March 14, 2012 10:01 p.m. ET Photographer Hank O'Neal has been trained to spot what most people miss. In the 1960s and early '70s, Mr. O'Neal worked for the CIA as a "contact specialist," scouring cables for Cold War trends and memorizing operatives' verbal briefs during Midtown strolls. In 1976, Mr. O'Neal left the agency to write books, record jazz and focus on photography. By then, the button-down bohemian had befriended famed photographer Berenice Abbott, who mentored him. ("Always show the hands in portraits," she told him.)
Photographer Hank O'Neal IAN CLIFFORD Before long, Mr. O'Neal was taking portraits of celebrated New York artists, musicians, writers and editors including Allen Ginsberg, Cab Calloway and Jackie Onassis. But he always kept an eye on the city's walls. His new book, "XCIA's Street Art Project: The First Four Decades," documents his years photographing gra ti, murals and other works on public
surfaces. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Mr. O'Neal, who is 71, spoke recently about his CIA years, his a nity for urban subversion, and his book, which is out next week. Isn't your CIA work supposed to be kept secret? My work was secret but not my employment. I can tell you that I was recruited in 1962 just before graduating from Syracuse University. My rst assignment was in Washington, D.C., where I wrote "what if" reports about developing events in Africa. In 1967, I was transferred to the CIA's O ce of Operations in New York. How did you spend your days in New York? I met with corporate executives, scientists and others who were about to travel abroad or who had just returned. They were our eyes and ears on the ground. Then I wrote reports based on the intelligence they gathered. The subject matter is still secret. The CIA let you resign?
'XCIA's Street Art Project: The First Four Decades' documents his years photographing graffiti, murals and other works on public surfaces. CLAUDIO PAPAPIETRO FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL [Laughs] Yes. By 1976 I had become the o ce lefty and no longer found my work at the agency interesting. They wanted to reassign me to Pittsburgh. But by then, in my spare time, I had published two books, started a recording studio, founded Chiaroscuro a jazz label and was busy with my photography. New York was more interesting. Was photography a childhood passion? Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, I won a Brownie Hawkeye camera in a local grocery-store ra e. My father had carried a Leica with him in the South Paci c during World War II, and when he returned he set up a darkroom at home. Cameras were always important in our house. What initially attracted you to street art? When I started in 1976, I wanted to document a eeting art form. Pieces went up in public places, but the art was soon covered over or demolished. There was no record that it even had existed.
Is all street art worthy of being photographed? No. The aesthetic exists in the irony and subversive statements made by street artists about our times. Good street art starts with outrage exposing right and wrong, calling for social justice, or just reinterpreting iconic images. How the art appears, sometimes in torn layers, also de nes its quality. Do you consider it vandalism? Some of it is. But the best street artists respect the city's quality of life, choosing spaces like buildings marked for demolition or wood-panel walls around construction sites. Ever wait too long to photograph a piece? Sometimes. In late 1999, I spotted a rendering of Betty Boop on the side of a building on East 13th Street. When I returned hours later with my camera, the wrecking ball had already done its work. Half of Betty was just a pile of bricks. Has your project become an obsession? It's a never-ending scavenger hunt because new pieces are constantly going up. I tend to nd the best works on the Lower East Side, the Meat Packing District, Williamsburg, Dumbo, Bushwick, 5 Pointz, Hunts Point and even Coney Island. Is there any connection between the CIA and street artists? You'd be surprised at how many agency employees have a deep appreciation of the arts. They also outrage easily.
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