MARIPOL!
Madonna DANCETERIA
signed, numbered and stamped in marker by the artist (lower right)
archival pigment print on museum paper
30 x 36 inches (76 x 92 cm)
Executed in 1982, printed in 2025. This work is edition 3 from an edition of 15 plus 3 artist's proofs.

NOTES:
A glass and cigarette in hand, and a stare that cuts straight through the lens, Madonna DANCETERIA captures the pop icon at the very edge of fame. Photographed by Maripol in 1983, this image is all attitude and allure: a moment before MTV, before global superstardom, before Like a Virgin redefined the decade.

The photo was taken at Danceteria, the legendary NYC club that was part punk, part disco, part art scene. Three floors of sound and subversion. It was there Madonna gave her first live performance in 1982, hustling and finding the connections that would launch her career.

For styling her breakout video Like a Virgin, Madonna turned to Maripol’s “Maripolitan” line — rubber bracelets, crucifixes, layered chains. The look went viral before the word existed, becoming one of the most iconic fashion statements of the 1980s.