God I love Norman Seeff’s portraits. Powerful, direct and filled with the spirit of the people in front of his lens. Seeff’s Frank Zappa doesn’t look like any other Zappa I’ve ever seen but it’s a Zappa that totally captures a special creature inside. His John Huston brings you a man SO much bigger than life. His Pointer Sisters are just delicious…and they think so too. His wider shots and contact sheets reveal the atmosphere Seeff created in the studio: chaos, anarchy, high times and abandon in front of the lens, hands and arms reaching in from the edge of the frame with bounce cards or flags to make the seemingly effortless lighting work. Not seen, the large audiences he sometimes gathered to make the session a performance.
Not everything is high times. There are plenty of sensitive and revealing portraits too. Johnny Cash, Tina Turner, Greg Allman and Cher, all of their pictures reveal a lot about who they were when they were reaching inside.
If you live in Los Angeles you will have a chance to experience Seeff’s work first hand starting July 16th at the Ron Robinson store in Santa Monica. This show, put together in collaboration with Fahey/Klein Gallery, will feature twenty-one large black and white prints. Robinson, long known for dressing the stars, obviously knows style. It’s going to be interesting to see how he integrates the photography and the fashion.
If you are elsewhere there’s the website; http://normanseeff.com/ It’s unusually comprehensive with contact sheets, alternate takes and a long career on full display.
Full disclosure: I’m writing this before the opening. I can’t tell you exactly what you will see if you come out on July 16th but…it doesn’t matter. It will be a great show, it’s Norman Seeff.
EXHIBITION
Norman Seeff
Ron Robinson
1327 Fifth Street
Santa Monica, CA, 90401
USA
http://www.ronrobinson.com
Fahey/Klein – http://faheykleingallery.com
Norman Seeff – http://normanseeff.com/
Written by Andy Romanoff – www.andyromanoff.com
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