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(l-r) Jules de Balincourt, [Behind Masks] Bruce High Quality Foundation, Nina Chanel Abney, Tim Barber; Kyle Thurman, Matt Moravec; Pati Hertling, Aurel Schmidt, Julia Chiang

In 1985, the September issue of Arts magazine ran six group portraits by photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders capturing the early participants in the East Village art scene -- artists, dealers and critics -- whom the magazine dubbed "The New Irascibles." Included were David Wojnarowicz, Futura 2000, Mark Kostabi, Kiki Smith, Colin De Land, Pat Hearn, Robert Pincus-Witten and Paper's own Carlo McCormick, just to name a few. The visual composition was loosely based on Nina Leen's iconic 1951 photograph of Abstract Expressionists titled "The Irascibles," which featured, among others, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko and the lone woman, Hedda Sterne. Pincus-Witten, who wrote the accompanying Arts piece, astutely observed, "Only beginnings and ends are interesting," while lamenting the transformation of the East Village from artists' playground to gentrified bubble where, he said, "the art has improved" and "has become art."

Fast-forward a quarter century later, we are straddling the end and the beginning of something else. When the economy took a nosedive, anxiety spread like wildfire throughout the art world, and the future of the art market, which had been insatiable for so long, looked uncertain. The Caligula-style orgy of consumerism, the work that fueled it and the flippant attitude that made it all sexy seemed horribly outdated. The return of the real boomeranged back -- and about time, too.

Everyone in the scene can feel the tide changing, and something new is brewing in the air. And said scene, no longer limited to downtown Manhattan, has expanded into something mercurial and sprawling. Even when the times are riddled with uncertainties, creative minds are restless and resourceful. To quote Hunter S. Thompson's famous line: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." So here, as an homage to "The New Irascibles," we present a band of young, brave hearts, from Jersey City to the Lower East Side to Bushwick, who have been forging ahead steadily, creating their own momentum, movement, style and even a couple of new business models. They are The Next Irascibles, as photographed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

* CLICK TO SEE THE PAST IRASCIBLES