WHEN AMY ARBUS RELUCTANTLY PICKED UP A CAMERA and went "into the family business," she knew that she was meant to be a photographer. And that she would inevitably be compared to her mother, the legendary Diane Arbus. She nevertheless forged ahead, took a job assisting New York photographer Jean Pagliuso, and got her first break when the Village Voice began publishing her monthly style page, "On the Street."

Shot in and around her East Village neighborhood, the page gained such a following that many of the people she photographed would wait for her to come along with her camera. Her picture of Madonna, wearing a stained thrift shop coat and carrying a bowling bag for her workout clothes, was made the same week that the as unknown's first single was being released. Arbus said, "In the picture she looks as if she knew what was about to happen to her." This photograph, along with 24 others from her new book, are now on view at Cohen Amador Gallery, in the Fuller Building on East 57th Street.

"On the Street" ran for more than a decade, defining a subculture and an era that Arbus says "was so creative, experimental, and full of joy." Her subjects include performance artists; costume, fashion, and interior designers; shop owners; agents, musicians; make-up artists; graffiti artists; bartenders; publishers; philosophers; journalists; and nightclub strippers. Shot in a straightforward documentary style not unlike her mother's, the images portray the panache and individuality of her subjects and demonstrate the rapport Arbus had with the people who defined the downtown punk scene.

"My mother's work has been an enormous influence on me," said Arbus. "But not literally. By that I mean, my photographs don't look like hers. That makes it difficult to compare them. What they do share is an emotional intensity." Arbus' sense of style got the attention of magazine art directors, and editorial assignments soon followed. In 1992, she took a Master Class with Richard Avedon, who proposed to show his students on "how to liberate their photographs from the tyranny of technology and the propaganda of appearances." In an article in Aperture v. 151 he said, "It takes an intelligence as bold as Amy Arbus to turn universal commonplaces not just into works of art, but works of insight."

The book collects 70 of the more than 500 images she made during that period along with page layouts from the Village Voice. Captions generally quote her subjects, adding nuance to her highly inflected observations. "Elke Koshka" 1983, resplendent in leopard jacket and carrying a stuffed leopard toy, says, "Sometimes I wear strawberry tarts, or birds, in my hair. You should see my apartment." The subject of "High Hairline" 1984, quips, "This is an Astor Place haircut. It only took 15 minutes."

Amy Arbus will be at the Astor Place Barnes & Noble,Thursday, Sept. 21st at 7 p.m. for a discussion and book signing.

Photo: Key Dress1989, © Amy Arbus. Courtesy Cohen Amador Gallery
Cohen Amador Gallery, 41 East 57th Street, 6th Floor

Read Philip Gefter's article in The New York Times