In 1972, David Bowie released his groundbreaking album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. With it landed Bowie’s Stardust alter-ego: A glitter-clad, mascara-eyed, sexually-ambiguous persona who kicked down the boundaries between male and female, straight and gay, fact and fiction into one shifting and sparkling phenomenon of ’70s self-expression. Together, Ziggy the album and Ziggy the stage spectacular propelled the softly spoken Londoner into one of the world’s biggest stars. A key passenger on this glam trip into the stratosphere was fellow Londoner and photographer Mick Rock. Rock bonded with Bowie artistically and personally, immersed himself in the singer’s inner circle, and, between 1972–1973, worked as Bowie’s official photographer. Last night, Taschen Gallery in Beverly Hills celebrated the launch of the book and an exhibition of selected photographs from the tome for an exhibition entitled David Bowie: Shooting For Stardust, which will be on view until October 11. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper
Bizarre Life VIP Opening at the Taschen Gallery in Los Angeles
Opening of Bizarre Life – The Art of Elmer Batters & Eric Stanton at the Taschen Gallery in Los Angeles, a controversial and essential exhibit that traces the artistic struggle of these two pioneers of fetish art, from the gritty post-war streets of Times Square to their position today as cultural icons. On view until May 24th, 2015 at the Taschen Gallery, 8070 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper
.45 POINT BLANK
In December of 2011 while walking on Sunset Blvd, near the intersection of Vine Street, Gregory Bojorquez was caught in the crossfire of a shoot out between a gunman and LAPD. As Bojorquez instinctively snapped pictures, police shot the gunman dead in the street. One innocent bystander was also shot and later died in the hospital. Bojorquez’ photographs were carried by hundreds of newspapers around the world, but have never before been available to view as a sequence of fine art prints. Using these series of photographs as a backbone, Bene Taschen (son of Benedict Taschen) has curated a retrospective of sorts of photographs by Bojorquez from the 90s and 2000s. Gregory Bojorquez .45 POINT BLANK will be on view at the Hardhitta Gallery until July 12, East Annex, 5900 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA