By Kevin Coughlin
For the last half-century, Roberto Rabanne has photographed virtually everyone who matters in pop culture, from Andy Warhol to Lady Gaga.
Many of their images are on display in a new exhibit at Morristown’s 70 South Gallery. But one celebrity’s mug is conspicuously absent: President-elect Donald Trump.
“I used to party with him” in the 1980s, Rabanne said at his gallery reception on Friday. His arrival from New York was delayed for two hours, he said, because of a Trump motorcade.
Rabanne, 68, said he considered the real estate mogul a wannabe of New York’s Bonfire of the Vanities-era club scene.
“I thought he was a knucklehead then.” Now, Trump’s election worries the Panamanian immigrant
“I think it’s really bad for the country. He’s a narcissistic demagogue. It’s all about him. What he’s digging up should have been buried a long time ago: Animosity, fear, loathing. He’s playing to the worst instincts of people.”
Trump’s pledge to Make America Great Again carries an ominous ring for Rabanne.
“I don’t want to go back to what he calls America being great: Jim Crow, 1958. I want the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. That’s our contract,” he said.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
Rabanne emigrated to New York with his mom in 1963, when he was barely a teen. Ever since, he has shown a Forrest Gump-ian knack for being in the right place at the right time.
During his student activist days, he wangled an usher job at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East and asked Jimi Hendrix if he could photograph his sound check before a concert.
“I went back with two proof sheets, and he gave me $100,” Rabanne said. A career was born.
A random encounter with Jerry Garcia on the streets of Haight-Ashbury turned into a long professional relationship with the Grateful Dead star.
“He was a very generous man, very intelligent, well read. A very kind person,” Rabanne said.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin
Rabanne’s list of rock stars could fill the Hall of Fame: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream, Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Prince. Indeed, some of his photos are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They’ve also appeared in Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy and Cream magazines.
Branching into jazz and reggae, he captured images of such greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Betty Carter and Bob Marley. He was the official photographer of the Monterey Jazz Festival, according to his biography.
His subjects are “game-changers,” but his success stems from never treating them that way.
“Most of these people are just regular people,” Rabanne said. “The cult of celebrity gets in the way of that.”
At the time he met Trump, Rabanne was doing fashion shoots. He jetted to Milan, Paris and London for G.Q., Vogue, Depeche Mode, New York and Seventeen, and for top designers. Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin influenced a style Rabanne describes as gritty, sexy and provocative.
Andy Warhol also made an impression.
“I learned from him … that we’re in the communications business. For us it’s about communicating a pop sensibility to the Dada era, and surrealism. I have picked up where he left off.”
SWEETS AND SNOWBOARDS
Rabanne founded Fashion Preview, dabbled in online fashion sites and now, working closely with his artist girlfriend, Claudia Berk, is pushing in new directions. Like designer chocolates. And fine art snowboards. Jerry Garcia adorns one on display in Morristown; another snowboard sold for $50,000.
For $15,500 you can take home a giant “lenticular” box of Garcia, whose 3-D hands can dance across his psychedelic guitar as Dead tunes waft from embedded speakers.
Rabanne prints on pillows, too, and says a limited edition book called The 27 Club will be bound in wood. It will feature his photos of rock icons who checked out at age 27: Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and others.
“We were looking for people who would push the envelope,” Ira Black, director of the 70 South Gallery, said of Rabanne. “This seemed like something that would connect with lots of different people.”
Black noted that artists’ opinions–politically and otherwise–are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the gallery.
The show, titled Revolutionary Reflections, runs through December and includes the debut of Livingston High School senior Emily Moskowitz, who only picked up a camera two months ago. Her forté is digital manipulation of images into geometric patterns.
While Rabanne appreciates the convenience of digital photography–he still obsesses about a shot he missed a decade ago because he had no camera with him– he’ll always prefer the “intrinsic quality of film.”
His advice to aspiring shutterbugs:
“Go out and shoot every single day. Document your world. Because it will be gone before you know it.”
A lively reception, and a colorful show! Pleased to meet you. See you at the next one!
Rabanne is an iconic photographer and has a large following of collectors. I have several pieces of his in my collection. The prices are half of what I saw in NYC. Rock on Roberto. If you buy a piece make sure you ask Roberto the setting for the photo and what was going on at the time. His stories are wild from wild times.
Thank you Kevin for the insights in the featured photographers! I went and It was amazing and totally worth checking out!! I bought a piece which 79 south is custom framing just as I want it.
Love that place !
I agree that Trump is a narcissistic demagogue. However, I seriously doubt that “Make America Great Again” is an indication that he wants to go back to the Jim Crow era. That’s just plain silliness.
Anyway, sounds like a fascinating show. Good luck with it!
Great article