ALLMEDIA NYC: Music Photographer Mick Rock Debuts ‘The Legend Series’

by Stephanie Ortiz, Staff Writer; Image: Flier for Mick Rock’s ‘Legend Series’ (Image Source: CATM Chelsea)

The legendary Mick Rock has photographed rock and roll icons for decades, fusing music, photography, and the digital era. He has captured the likes of Davie Bowie and Lou Reed to Queen and Lady Gaga, along with their spirit and embodiment of music.

Rock is now showcasing some of these photos in his first ever art show, “The Legend Series,” at the CATM Chelsea Gallery on 22nd Street and 10th Avenue. The exhibit features enhanced version of his old prints with digital alteration and psychedelic additives.

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For my sins in a former life, I’ve been forced to spend an inordinate amount of time with musicians in this life. Of course, I love them.

A camera is a wonderful ally. It requires minimal maintenance and provides entry to a world of endless imagery.

My ambition was not to be a great photographer (though that certainly would have been a worthy stance). It was a lust to embrace anything that startled or energized me.

I am not in the business of documenting or revealing personalities. I am in the business of freezing shadows and bottling auras.

Without the rock ‘n rollers, I would not have developed as an image man.

You want to shock people with a bit of mystery and beauty. That’s my favorite kind of shocking.

I’ve never felt like a voyeur, although I’ve certainly done plenty of looking!

There’s an art to looking back - how to celebrate the past without being entrapped by it. Photographs provide the great physical link.

My allegiance was always to the act. I wanted them to be happy. I wasn’t owned by a magazine or a record label.

I smell pictures more than I see them and I hear pictures more than I can smell them. It’s very habit forming.