Rare and unseen photographs go on display at Harrogate art gallery
Source:http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/exhibitions/9167748.The_Experience__Jimi_Hendrix_At_Mason___s_Yard___RedHouse_Originals__Harrogate___until_August_28/
29th July 2011
RENOWNED rock photographer Gered Mankowitz will attend today’s opening of his exhibition of classic and unseen photographs of Jimi Hendrix at RedHouse Originals in Harrogate from 4pm to 7pm.
Mankowitz is exhibiting at the Cheltenham Mount gallery for the first time, and the show will be the last opportunity for collectors to view this collection in Britain before the exhibition travels to the Far East in 2012.
The Experience: Jimi Hendrix At Mason’s Yard features archive images from Mankowitz’s two shoots with the American guitar-slinger in his Mason’s Yard studio in central London in 1967.
At the first shoot, on the last frame of the first roll, Mankowitz took the portrait that would become the most important photograph of his career and possibly the most famous studio portrait of Hendrix ever taken. You know the one: a tightly framed portrait of Hendrix with hands on hips, taken from a slightly elevated position to emphasize his head, the width of his shoulders and his slim hips.
“It’s extraordinary to look back and realise that this portrait was the only shot I did of Jimi by himself on the first roll,” says Mankovitz. “I must have either felt very confident that I got it, or was stupid that I didn’t realise what had just happened. Either way, it was captured and would go on to have a life of its own many years later.”
The entire RedHouse gallery will be dedicated to this exclusive collection of photography and printmaking, most of the images having been unveiled only recently.
The first floor will feature Mankowitz’s traditional handmade black-and-white silver gelatin photographs, while the ground floor and landing area will be distinctly untraditional, devoted to physically imposing and boldly conceived artworks created by Mankowitz from his original black-and-white images. These give a contemporary twist to his classic images in sizes up to six feet high.
A range of different printing and framing techniques feature in the show, including lenticulars, lightboxes, silkscreen prints, special metallic papers and contemporary framing techniques.
“Mankowitz has incorporated state-of-the-art technology and cutting edge concepts to bring us one of the most exciting exhibitions of the year,” says Richard McTague, who runs the pop, modern and urban art gallery with Jon Kendall.
RedHouse Originals are mounting Mankowitz’s Hendrix show from today until Sunday, August 28 in tandem with the Harrogate International Fringe Festival. Opening hours are 10am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday; 11am to 4pm, Sundays.
• For more information on the gallery, see RedHouseOriginals.com