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Charles Peterson April 1 – May 1 |
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| Nirvana, Van Couver, 1991 | ||||||||||||||
| Poised at the epicenter of an explosive underground scene, photographer Charles Peterson witnessed the birth of a brash new era in music that grabbed the world by its throat and refused to let go. Grunge, the bastard child of 60s garage and 70s punk, revived the original gritty spirit of rock and roll: rebellion ain’t pretty but it sure is fun. In conjunction with the release of Touch Me I’m Sick (powerHouse Books, 2003), Peterson’s eponymous exhibition features photographs of Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, TAD, and Henry Rollins, among others. Peterson’s photography documents the raw power of live performances by the soon-to-be-famous artists and their dedicated fans. Yet, Peterson’s photographs do not rely on the cult of celebrity to tell this compelling tale of angst, anxiety, and acoustics. Rather, they capture the cathartic ritual between musician and fan played out in seedy clubs reeking of sweat and stale beer. Bored, alienated youth with nothing better to do than bash their instruments and mosh their bodies in a barrage of sound, song, and furious energy are mirrored with Peterson's signature style of wide-angle intimacy, swirling lights, and a strange sense of grace. Peterson became known mostly for his signature style “blur,” exploited by use of the open shutter flash technique, capturing bands at the height of their intensity. Marvels of controlled chaos and swirling lights, his live photographs plucked spontaneous beauty from the tumult of a rock show, revealing the depth and honesty of its most unguarded moments. “Touch Me I’m Sick” at The powerHouse Gallery will be Charles Peterson’s first solo show in New York. On February 3, 2005, “Touch Me I'm Sick: The Photographs of Charles Peterson” will open at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia. Twenty seven of his photographs are in the permanent collection of Seattle's Experience Music Project museum. He is also with Getty Images (Stone and the Image Bank) and Retna Ltd. Peterson currently lives in Seattle with his dog Barkely. “And you know what? I think other photographers secretly want to be like Charles and Charles secretly wants to be like other photographers. And it’s a hard call—would you rather have that street cred, punk rock hipness, and respect from all the cool bands, or industry suave that gets major magazine editors and record exec dorks to fly you all over the world for photo shoots and pay you outrageous amounts of money?” —Jennie Boddy, Your Flesh #25, Fall 1992 (featured in Touch Me I'm Sick) “If bands were animals (a point that could be argued), and clubs their natural habitat, Charles Peterson becomes National Geographic.” —Eddie Vedder, Touch Me I'm Sick more on Charles Peterson / Preview the exhibition / Peterson on Kurt Cobain |
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68 Charlton Street (between Hudson and Varick) New York, NY 10014-4601 (212) 604-9074, ext. 100 Monday–Friday 11:00–7:00 Saturday 12:00–6:00 for print sales contact |
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