Poetic, reckless and very modern rendition of Buster Keaton’s deadpan face has much in common with chameleon David Bowie, able to grow, change, to remain himself. Two brilliant underdogs, with a great talent for visual body language and an uncommon sense of rhythm and spectacle. Both are ready to turn every performance into a creative opportunity, never doing the same thing twice. Obvious resemblance to purpose Steve Shapirowho had already photographed both when he took this portrait in New Mexico in 1975, The Man Who Fell to Earth (The Man Who Fell to Earth) or rather the charismatic and intriguing “starman” who is relaxing on the set of director Nicholas Roeg’s adventure film, surrounded by what he loves and what inspires him.
From their first meeting in 1974, and several times through the late 1980s, this also includes harmonizing with a photographer and activist who has already documented what’s bubbling on the streets of New York, and the emergence of Andy Warhol’s pop epic Kennedy. and his Factory, the civil rights movement in the 60s, sports figures such as Mohammed Ali and the seventh art, on the set of icons such as midnight cowboy, Godfatherhow will it be with Taxi driver And Apocalypse has comeas well as Buster Keaton on the set Movie (short film written by Samuel Beckett and directed by Alan Schneider, New York, 1964). Much of what is concentrated on the covers of the most relevant international newspapers of the time and on the covers of music albums, on the pages Photos of Bowie by Steve Shapiro (powerHouse Books, 2016) and in the exhibition halls of the Judicial SectionState Archives of TurinWith David Bowie | Steve Shapiro: America. Dreams.
The unpublished images and texts that set the pace for the one published after the unexpected death of David Bowie (January 10, 2016) and presented today in this exhibition, which opened in Turin a few months after the death of Steve Shapiro (January 15, 2022), start again since the first meeting in 1974 in Los Angeles. The beginning of a great professional rapport between two talents who share much more than admiration for Buster Keaton during a sort of 12-hour photographic marathon, from 4 am to 4 am the next day.
“It’s four in the morning and I’m just finishing today’s footage of Bowie on a motorcycle in the headlights of a car. He seems to be creating another character for his repertoire.“. Steve Shapiro, in Photos of Bowie taken by Steve Shapiro (PowerHouse Books 2016)
Twelve hours of incessant changes in style and costume under the direction of the artist, in search of that change that he never feared, in which he never stopped believing. Came to America in the seventies, abandoning the style and sound Ziggy Stardust And Aladdin Sanecontinuing to challenge the pinnacle of success, along with the rigid social mores of fashion, gender and sexuality, with the advent of the controversial white duke. Just one day to play around with the incredible rotten green background (and the frame that also became the cover of People), or wear styles and clothes along with spirituality, with the white vertical stripes he had just before painted on the clothes and on the toes, while drawing great circles and the kabbalistic tree of life on the background paper. The “dress” was featured on the cover of a book and put on public display, recreated over four decades later in a video testament Lazarus.
The same prophetic fate will impose on the ever-evolving sound and style Short (1977) along with a picture of Shapiro chosen for the cover after “what dreams are made of” slender White Duke From station to station (1976). An extraordinary album of only six long tracks, able to achieve commercial success in the United States (a wider and notoriously difficult market to conquer), surpassing the success in the United Kingdom that made it an icon of non-conformist style, helping Bowie overcome one of them. of the most critical and destructive moments.
Where are you
you drive like crazy
from station to station
the return of the slender White Duke
who throws darts
in the eyes of lovers
From the outset, David Shapiro has been a privileged witness to major milestones in the transformation of Bowie’s American adventure, often lending meaning and image to his fiery imagination, while for more than five decades he has continued to photograph the face of the shattered American dream that traverses the streets of New York and its most unforgettable cinematic adventure. Also there Virtual Gallery CAMERA WORKS dedicates an exhibition Godfather his shots on the set of a memorable film, like Godfather, (1972) on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s film. Virtual exhibition available worldwide 24/7 until December 22, 2022 (camerawork.de/en/virtualgallery).
The exhibition, curated by Onoarte and produced by Radar Associazione, Extramuseum and Le Nozze di Figaro under the patronage of the Piedmont region, continues Bowie’s journey in anticipation of the largest retrospective on his relationship with Masayoshi Sukita, starting on January 26, 2023 at the Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm with Bowie played by Sukita. From London to Japan.
As: David Bowie | Steve Shapiro: America. Dreams. The rights, State Archives of Turin, Judicial Section (December 1, 2022 – February 26, 2023) – Archiviodistatotorino.beniculturali.it/gli-eventi/david-bowie-mostra-2022-corte
Source: Elle