As the date approaches for the trip I'm starting to see some promotional work courtesy of the great Rockin' Jelly Bean starting to appear.
Its still a kick in the pants to see something with your name show up in flyers. More so if its in a foreign language.
Greetings folks! I decided to start a small blog to document the preparation and eventual opening of my first overseas gallery show. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
While I often wanted to visit Japan, the last way I would have ever guessed it was going to happen was by having a show. Never in a million years. And especially consisting of photos I shot of garage punk bands during the crazy days of pre-Giuliani NY.
It all started innocently enough when I happened to visit the ICP Gallery in New York for an exhibit by NY icon Bob Gruen for a new book on the NY Dolls. Holding my copy of my book in front of him to sign, I timidly mentioned I also had photos of a "scene" I shot years back. He was very amiable and encouraged me to see about getting them published. Encouraged by his words I did a search for my old shots that evening. Soon, encumbered by work and the upcoming holiday season, I forgot about it.
Fast forward a couple of months. One evening it occurred to me that not only had I forgot about the shots, but the whole publishing plans as well! To make up for it I decided to create an end of year project. I scanned several shots and posted them online for friends who happened to be at the shows with me. Specifically with an eye toward linking them to NJ mod's Bill Luther's new Facebook group. One that was strictly for people who had frequented an out of the way nightclub on W.29th St called The Dive.
For several years the Dive was the place where a consistent group of like-minded souls could congregate and actually hear music that was not only ignored during its time...but in the eighties as well! Mainly music created during the mid-sixties by any one of a thousand bands that sprung up in the Beatles wake. And while a small handful did become successful, the vast majority of bands stayed local phenoms if only among their friends.
The group that attended the Dive shows were aware of other musics but mostly disillusioned at the "softening" of the primacy of rock music. Which, at its core, was music of rebellion. We all looked at the tradition of "punk" attitude as really going back to the 50s and 60s. And while some were more attracted to the Mod elements and others were into the folk, pop, psych or straight-up rock flavors. One feeling was a uniform. We all felt it was "us" against "them".
Well, once I started to send the link out. I kept getting emails saying things like. "Great shots, you should show them somewhere" Which was far more than I ever expected. But they all advised the same thing. And that was to show them outside of the US.
So, one day I emailed a few art/music people in three different areas. Barcelona, Paris and Japan. My Barcelona connection had actually moved to Berlin and could not help, my Parisian pal said it would be pretty difficult to arrange something but good ol' Rockin Jelly Bean (member of Jackie and the Cedrics and gallery owner) was incredibly enthusiastic and suggested I come to Japan this summer with my photos.
Within a month I had my flight booked, reserved space at a gallery (on recommendation of RJB) and had my photos printed in Beijing. In retrospect, it was a total combination of luck, timing and a little bit of belief in my own abilities. More to come!
