Ron Galella brought paparazzi photography into the public eye and with it the celebrity culture we live with today. Galella showed the famous as they are without lighting, in their own clothes, often disheveled, and not too happy to be photographed. In the world of publicists and packaging, this reality check is refreshing.
Galella covered multiple beats from society at museum openings, nightlife in the disco era, movie stars on the run in airports and limousines, to the world of Warhol. He pursued them all from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to wasted rock stars without regard to their status in the world – they were all equal in his lens.
The result was that he captured the real person. The expressions are un-posed and genuine – a very rare quality in portrait photography. At the end of the day we find that Ron Galella is an extraordinarily good photographer with an archive of 55 years of work, which reflect many changes; the clothes, the hair, the clubs, the personalities – the culture.
Ron Galella, a native New Yorker, served as a United States Air Force photographer during the Korean conflict, after which he attended the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, graduating with a degree in photojournalism. His books include The Stories Behind the Pictures (2014), Jackie: My Obsession (2012), Warhol by Galella: That’s Great! (2008), Disco Years (2006), The Photographs of Ron Galella (2002), and the forthcoming Sex in Fashion. A film chronicling his life and career, Smash His Camera, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, winning the award for “Best Director” in the “US Documentary” category
EXHIBITION
Ron Galella : 55 Years a Paparazzi
From September 25th to November 28th, 2015
Staley Wise Gallery
560 Broadway # 305
New York, NY 10012
USA
