Mick Rock, the 66-year-old British photographer with an artist’s eye and a sailor’s mouth, has clicked into existence some of the most indelible images in rock and roll. The cover of Lou Reed’s 1972 album Transformer, for instance, or, from the same year, the guitar fellatio pose featuring David Bowie and Mick Ronson. (Look it up.) A selection of Mr. Rock’s photos, culled from his latest book,Exposed, will be on display at Tribeca’s Sumo Gallery through October 19.
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.
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