"Many punk fans will purchase Hard Art for the novelty of seeing H.R. as he was before Bad Brains moved to New York and became legends, or Ian MacKaye as he was before he shaved his head, and formed Dischord Records, Minor Threat, and Fugazi. The book deserves a wider readership than that. Perkins’s skill as a portraitist is such that you can see the energy and potential in these young men’s faces even without the context of their future roles as icons. Equally worthwhile are the portraits of those who did not become icons, but participated in the shows."
Philadelphia Review of Books
"Even if you aren’t familiar with these bands, the backstory of the Bad Brains’ impact on punk or the impact of the Teen Idles and Dischord Records on the DC scene, Perkins’ photos offer a fascinating snapshot of a time when it was still rebellious, even dangerous, to declare yourself a punk . . . All in all Hard Art is a pretty incredible . . . peek at a scene that helped launch 1,000 bands and DIY labels that existed for their love of the energy and the music, not as any means to an end."
"Even if you aren't familiar with these bands, the backstory of the Bad Brains' impact on punk or the impact of the Teen Idles and Dischord Records on the DC scene, Perkins' photos offer a fascinating snapshot of a time when it was still rebellious, even dangerous, to declare yourself a punk…All in all Hard Art is a pretty incredible…peek at a scene that helped launch 1,000 bands and DIY labels that existed for their love of the energy and the music, not as any means to an end."Mother Jones Washington Post (feature)Washington Post photographer Lucian Perkins has turned his lens on everything from the high fashion runway to the Persian Gulf War, but it so happens he also shot the heck out of D.C.'s young punk scene on one night in 1979…Call it a must for the D.C. punk historians out there."Pitchfork/Nothing Major Hard Art …is another entry into the swollen literature of D.C. hardcore self-documentation. So the obvious question is, what can Perkins add to a subject? Two things: First, a very narrow and early focus. The photos document just four shows in 1979 and 1980…Second, it’s only half self-documentation. Perkins, a career Washington Post photographer who covered wars from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan, photographed this scene but was not of it. As intimate as they are, his pictures benefit from a certain distance that a curious outsider can lend to his subjects: anthropological though never exploitative...capturing all the energy of those shows without trying to explain it."Washington City Paper Hard Art, DC 1979 , a photobook featuring the work of D.C.-based lensman Lucian Perkins. (Henry Rollins contributes an essay.) As the title suggests, the tome collects striking images of the likes of Bad Brains, Trenchmouth, and other firebrands from the early days of the city's soon-to-be-thriving punk scene."Baltimore City Paper Hard Art is a pretty incredible…peek at a scene that helped launch 1,000 bands and DIY labels that existed for their love of the energy and the music, not as any means to an end."Mother Jones Washington Post (feature)Washington Post photographer Lucian Perkins has turned his lens on everything from the high fashion runway to the Persian Gulf War, but it so happens he also shot the heck out of D.C.'s young punk scene on one night in 1979…Call it a must for the D.C. punk historians out there."Pitchfork/Nothing Major Hard Art …is another entry into the swollen literature of D.C. hardcore self-documentation. So the obvious question is, what can Perkins add to a subject? Two things: First, a very narrow and early focus. The photos document just four shows in 1979 and 1980…Second, it’s only half self-documentation. Perkins, a career Washington Post photographer who covered wars from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan, photographed this scene but was not of it. As intimate as they are, his pictures benefit from a certain distance that a curious outsider can lend to his subjects: anthropological though never exploitative...capturing all the energy of those shows without trying to explain it."Washington City Paper Hard Art, DC 1979 , a photobook featuring the work of D.C.-based lensman Lucian Perkins. (Henry Rollins contributes an essay.) As the title suggests, the tome collects striking images of the likes of Bad Brains, Trenchmouth, and other firebrands from the early days of the city's soon-to-be-thriving punk scene."Baltimore City Paper
