Blender Gallery’s Greatest Hits

Overview

News flash, Bush and Co did have it wrong, the internet and digital photography are the real axis of evil in this crazy 21st century existence of ours. Somehow I don't think many people would disagree with either of those statements (for the record I am no Taliban/Hussein sympathiser) but I will argue my case just in case.

As soon as I walked in the door of the Blender Gallery's current Greatest Hits exhibition I was surrounded by intimate portraits — impossibly private moments shared between lucky photographers and some of the worlds most acclaimed musicians. The Beatles, the Doors, Queen, Hendrix, Jagger, Dylan, Joplin, the various incarnations of Bowie and many more. The scenarios vary from Woodstock to a plane cockpit to a Frisco park to a dark room where an orange haired Bowie glares at you through a mirror while his back is turned. Many were shot in studios and others captured iconic moments on and back stage. It is a catalogue of the bad old days with a rock overtone, nothing blatantly lewd although the smirk of Keith Richards could hardly be described as anything but.

So what's the problem you ask? Life is saturated with photos, so much so that it took me a minute to adjust and realise that I was looking at some amazing moments in history, not the latest inane saturday night Facebook photo album or the omnipresent blogs full of whimsical gibberish and the borrowed images that accompany them.

The exhibits are not cheap, perhaps a statement in order to distinguish themselves from the dime a dozen album that is the internet, perhaps not. But if you appreciate any of the aforementioned artists then you will definitely appreciate this.