Mick Rock, Rock ‘n’ Roll Icons
Stephen Gosling
Queen, Lou Reed, the Sex Pistols, David Bowie, Blondie, Iggy and the Stooges… the list of rock icons goes on and on. And if you’re Mick Rock, you have gotten to know each and every one of them intimately. Imagine having all the benefits of being around such great bands at the height of their careers without the burden of their fame. You could say Mick Rock had the life many of us wish we could have.
At URBIS, Manchester’s premier art gallery, Mick Rock is showing a retrospective of his work from the late 1960s to the present day. There are not many people who can say they hung around with Pink Floyd in the 60s, Ziggy Stardust in the 70s, Blondie in the 80s, R.E.M. in the 90s, and now such bands as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Killers. He is without a doubt the quintessential rock ‘n’ roll photographer, and this show proves just that.
"The first time I photographed Syd was in 1969, at the time of Madcap Laughs. He was very unhappy and withdrawn. He had just left Pink Floyd but he allowed me to connect with his raging beautiful luminosity. This was the first time I was truly charged with the alchemical power of camera and film." This statement, made by Mick Rock in 1979, describes the power he felt while recording such brilliant artists on film. Without Mick, we would be missing many of the iconic music images we have grown up with.
More than just the formulaic images of bands performing at a gig, this exhibit instead reveals the depth to which Mick was immersed within the culture. While portraits take up the mainstay of the exhibit–Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody cover is a shining example–the peripheral images of Mick Rock hanging out with these legends is what is most satisfying. Many of the pictures are informal, catching the performers off-guard–backstage, at rehearsals, out at a bar, in their hotel room–exposing a very human side of these great artists.
Also included in the exhibit is what Rock calls his period of "psychedelic cubism," a period where Rock set about recycling his portfolio and producing cathartic photo collages of his work to reflect on the tumultuous nature of the times.
To enhance the energy of the exhibit, the white gallery walls have been boldly painted black, blue and red. Music from the bands involved is piped in through several speakers, lending the images a little movement. The experience is less like an ordinary trip through a gallery than a comfortable jaunt around a hip nightclub, the pictures on the wall celebrating the up-scale clientele.
This show does exactly what it promises to. It represents the icons of rock ‘n’ roll over the past four decades. Yet in doing so, Mick Rock becomes an icon himself, the exhibit representing his progression from sideline photographer to intricate member of the scene. Every photographer must be jealous of this man. And if they say they’re not, they’re lying.
