Gail Buckland is a photography scholar’but not of rock & roll. Nonetheless, the author/curator/professor came up with an idea about a unique show for the Brooklyn Museum: a photography exhibit that focuses on rock & roll photographers, not the performers. ‘Who Shot Rock & Roll’ is currently on view at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City through October 7. Whittling down countless images to the 166 that constitute the exhibit was a daunting task for Buckland, whose research through archives and discussions with photographers took four-and-a-half years. The show is divided into separate sections (Behind the Scenes, Artists at the Beginning of Their Careers, Portraits, Live Performances, Fans and Crowds, Conceptual Collaborations, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan), while the accompanying book written by Buckland, which includes approximately 200 images, is seemingly haphazard in its approach. It is not organized chronologically, alphabetically or even according to musical genres. Buckland chose this way intentionally to provide an element of surprise, so when the reader is about to turn the page, he or she doesn’t know what will come next. For Buckland, the photographers are the stars of the exhibit. Ken Regan captures a beaming Keith Richards with wife Patti Hansen standing next to the crib holding their sleeping baby girl in 1985, a contrast to the usual swagger of Richards, guitar in hand, cigarette in mouth. Bob Marley and the Wailers are seen walking down an alley to the Odeon Theatre in Birmingham, England, in Ian Dickson’s 1975 photograph. The band eschewed transportation to the venue so as to save money. Patti Smith in a sofa bed, in the middle of a messy apartment she shared with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in the early 1970’s, is caught by Judy Linn, who went on to shoot the rock icon for many years. The first part of the exhibit focuses on the early days. A young Elvis cavorts backstage with a fan while a pre-fame Madonna poses in a second-hand coat and bowling bag. The portrait section includes a huge image of Van Halen’s David Lee Roth with full 1980’s hair, while the fans and crowds section contains an image of fans in a mosh pit at a concert in Washington State. ’I’m a photographic historian and curator and my passion is photography,’ says Buckland, who lives in New York City and is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at The Cooper Union. ‘I tried not to select the pictures because of who’s in them, but because of the quality of the photograph.’ The age-old question of what makes a good photograph is in play at the exhibit, and the answer may not always be what one would think. The images that hang on the walls at the Annenberg tell different stories of rock & roll. A 20ish Bruce Springsteen is flanked by a half-dozen adoring teenage girls who are blissfully happy just being so close to their hero. As Buckland says about this photo, ‘That epitomizes the rock & roll photograph: a virile young man and girls. They’re dying’they’re absolutely dying. They’ll never forget it. ’You can never really define what makes a great photograph, but it resonates in your heart and mind in a certain way. It lingers in your thoughts,’ Buckland continues. ‘It’s more than just the information in the picture. It has some connection with the subject. Just as there is no one soundtrack that’s rock, there’s no one photographic vision.’ Great rock & roll photographs usually came from musician-photographer collaborations, without interference from the record companies, public relations people, stylists and the like. Photographer Laura Levine’s picture of singer Bj’rk wearing leaves and catching raindrops on her tongue was completely improvised. When Levine started being told how to shoot her subjects, she got out of the field. Another image shows Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain sitting backstage, head in hand, crying after a performance. For Buckland, this is the most unexpected photo in the exhibit because it reveals the Nirvana singer in such a vulnerable light, different from his public image. For those old enough to remember Altamont, the image of Mick Jagger on stage with a Hell’s Angel security guard nearby speaks volumes (a fan was killed by an Angel at the December 1969 Northern California concert, making Altamont sort of the anti-Woodstock). ‘This is just a great, great picture,’ Buckland says. ‘It’s worthy of being placed with amazing historical photographs. It’s about the tension, and the band is totally oblivious to any kind of violence that’s about to occur.’ Though it’s difficult to pinpoint one part of the show as ‘best,’ the backstage section is most interesting, as it shows performers in relaxed states. R.E.M. band members sit at a lunch counter at a diner in Athens, Georgia, their hometown, with all but Michael Stipe fully engaged in their food or newspaper. Only Stipe is looking at the camera, flashing his boyish grin. Another photo shows members of The Band hanging out in a kitchen, while Eric Clapton sits in yet another hotel room (shot by his then-wife, Pattie Boyd, the inspiration for Clapton’s ‘Layla’). ’Who Shot Rock & Roll: The Film,’ a hi-tech rear projection film unique to the Annenberg, enhances the exhibit. Interviews with photographers and musicians explain the stories behind some well-known images. By contrast, an old-fashioned slideshow features 80 images by Henry Diltz, set to a Brazilian Jazz soundtrack that present a patchwork of young musicians such as Jackson Browne and Neil Young, who hung out in Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and 1970s. Another exhibit highlight is Albert Watson’s double-exposure image of Mick Jagger and a leopard, their features perfectly lined up, taken in the days before Photoshop. In this era of digital manipulation, there are still many photographers who shoot the old-fashioned way, and the Annenberg is filled with these kinds of shots. Photographer David LaChappelle says, ‘I’m not a digital artist. I’m a photographer. I like to keep it real.’ Jimi Hendrix in a suit and tie, backing up Wilson Pickett in Harlem in 1966, is one of the most surprising images, a contrast to an image that hangs nearby, of Hendrix in full hippie regalia at Monterey, his guitar on fire in front of him. Others, such as Led Zeppelin in front of their plane; New York’s punk haven, CBGB’s; and Tina Turner singing from her soul in a Memphis club all bring the viewer back to specific times and places. The hair, the innocence, the still-vibrant performers, all evoke memories for the viewer of where they were in their own life at those times. Buckland likes to find the backstory of a photo. ‘For me the challenge of writing about it is figuring out why it has resonated the way it did.’ In the case of Bob Gruen’s John Lennon New York T-shirt image with the Manhattan skyline behind him, she says, ‘It’s not just because it’s John Lennon. It’s not just because he’s in a New York T-shirt. But it’s something about his attitude, his independence.’ Though Buckland never counted the images of individual artists in the show, she thinks that honor goes to Mick Jagger, ‘because he’s so photogenic and everybody has photographed him.’ Conceptually, ‘Rock & Roll’ is the same as it was when it was seen at the Brooklyn Museum, though the actual order has been altered. The exhibit has traveled to seven other museums, including the Worcester Art Museum, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and the Tucson Museum of Art. In choosing images for the book and show, Buckland had no choice but to leave out many outstanding possibilities. ‘I would be more than happy for somebody to come and do their own version of the history of rock & roll photography and include a completely different selection,’ she says. ‘This is just to start a discussion that puts the photographers in the forefront for a change.’ And how did the photographers, who are certainly getting their moment in the limelight, feel about participating in the show? ’I got the whole range of, ‘Thank you Gail, finally we’re getting some recognition’ to ‘Thank you, but I don’t think I want to be involved,” Buckland says. ‘When most looked at my resume, and realized that I’m a distinguished professor, I’d done 14 books and I work in museums, they were pretty intrigued because they never actually worked with somebody like me.’ No matter which project Buckland is curating, her goal is always the same’have people fall in love with photography. ‘I want them to realize the power of the image. I want them to realize that just like the music, the image can make them feel that rebel inside of them.’ Admission to the Annenberg is free. Contacts: Call (213) 403-3000 or visit annenbergspaceforphotography.org.
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