2008 in New York City

I just noticed that tonight is the opening for a show by Lynn Goldsmith in New York City entitled: LYNN GOLDSMITH - ROCK AND ROLL at Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York

The Artist Reception is Thursday, October 2, 2008 from 6:00-8:00pm, and there will also be an artist’s talk at 7:00pm. I wish I could be there.

The full press release is below:

Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York announces Lynn Goldsmith, Rock and Roll, a solo exhibition of Goldsmith’s oeuvre of rock and roll photography. A reception in the presence of the artist will be held Thursday, October 2nd from 6 to 8 pm, featuring an artist’s talk at 7 pm. Signed copies of her critically praised book, Rock and Roll (Abrams, 2007) will be available for $60.

Lynn Goldsmith’s contributions as an interface between the music industry and public over the last four decades make her a legend of rock and roll in her own right. Elvis, Mick Jagger, The Police, Michael Jackson, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, The Beastie Boys, among many, many others, have all found themselves in front of her camera.Her work is part of the country’s most prestigious collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian, and of course the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Through her energy, technical skill, and dedication, Goldsmith was able to capture rock icons from Gene Simmons and Keith Richards to Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan in ways no other photographer could. Personality and creativity has yielded Goldsmith’s work exceptional throughout her extensive career and amongst the plethora of celebrity images. What separates her work, in particular, are the candid and intimate personal relationships she developed with many of the artists. Her images break through the boundaries and red tape surrounding her subjects as she grants the viewer access and understanding into the lives of these individuals portrayed as artists, musicians and real people simultaneously. Complementing her studio portraits, concert images and candid glimpses into the lives of these musicians, Goldsmith also presents us with the multiple views and viewpoints of some of the most influential and important figures of rock and roll through her intricate rock mosaics.

To create her visually arresting rock mosaics, Goldsmith selects a main image which to her represents the most iconic elements of the music and musicians, whether it’s Mick strutting his stuff onstage or Sting reclining on a park bench, looking impossibly cool. Then she chooses over 2,000 of her own photographs taken by her over a period of years spent on the road and in the studio with the certain artist or group; these images are then hand-placed unaided by any computer programs into the selected image using a grid system. For Goldsmith, creating an image this way is as much about the process as the final image and the story of rock and roll that it tells—that all of those thousands of performances and nights at the studio put together create an icon.
There will be 14 mosaics in the exhibition along with dozens of stills from her acclaimed four decade career. Goldsmith had a back stage pass before someone even thought to make them, and what she saw and shows us through her photographs still captivates. When Dan Akroyd said you’d have to live in a cave to have not been influenced by rock and roll, he wasn’t exaggerating. The music and its creators have left a mark on all our lives. Goldsmith help to create that mark and leave us its evidence today.

Goldsmith’s work is in the permanent collections of: Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland; and the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C. Her photographs have appeared on the covers of Life, Newsweek, Time, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, People, and Elle, among others. She has published ten photographic books, directed video magnification for rock concerts and music documentaries, and was the youngest person ever inducted into the Director’s Guild of America for her work as director of the first rock and roll concert on network television. In addition to being an accomplished photographer, Goldsmith was a chart-topping recording artist under the pseudonym Will Powers.

For more info, visit the Gallery’s website here.