ANIMALS PHOTOGRAPHED FOR THIS WORK ARE DEAD.
“This project brings animals back to the world from which they were displaced by human activity.
They are placed in a setting, which has replaced the original “natural” scene.
The intent is to juxtapose the life-like traces of the original beings with the seemingly lifeless setting of the modern world.
The animals portrayed are merely the shell or outer casing of the original being. They are taxidermy mummifications.
The work is an inquest, delving into relative values in the evolving ‘natural’ world.”
Bob Seidemann is best known for the creation of several album covers and portraits of musicians in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1969, Eric Clapton formed a new band and Seidemann was commissioned to create the cover for their album. Seidemann photographed a nude 11-year-old girl to create what would become his most famous and controversial work, titled "Blind Faith". Not only did it become the cover and title of the album, but the band as well.
Although unpublished until her death, Seidemann's 1967 portraits of a semi-nude Janis Joplin earned him wide acclaim. In fact, a Baron Wolman photo of Joplin used a number of the earlier Seidemann portraits as a backdrop. Seidemann also photographed The Grateful Dead a number of times during their peak, both for posters and album liners, as well as designing the covers for Go to Heaven and Jerry Garcia's debut solo album, Garcia. Other works include the cover of Jackson Browne's Late for the Sky, Neil Young's On the Beach, and numerous concert posters for bands such as Traffic and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
After his stint in Rock ‘n’ Roll photography, Seidemann pursued two long-term projects: ‘Plane as Art’ - a remarkable undertaking to document the 20th-century airplane and its creators which are now in the permanent collection at The Getty Museum; and ‘Wild Animals’ which being shown in this exhibition for the first time ever.
“This project brings animals back to the world from which they were displaced by human activity.
They are placed in a setting, which has replaced the original “natural” scene.
The intent is to juxtapose the life-like traces of the original beings with the seemingly lifeless setting of the modern world.
The animals portrayed are merely the shell or outer casing of the original being. They are taxidermy mummifications.
The work is an inquest, delving into relative values in the evolving ‘natural’ world.”
Bob Seidemann is best known for the creation of several album covers and portraits of musicians in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1969, Eric Clapton formed a new band and Seidemann was commissioned to create the cover for their album. Seidemann photographed a nude 11-year-old girl to create what would become his most famous and controversial work, titled "Blind Faith". Not only did it become the cover and title of the album, but the band as well.
Although unpublished until her death, Seidemann's 1967 portraits of a semi-nude Janis Joplin earned him wide acclaim. In fact, a Baron Wolman photo of Joplin used a number of the earlier Seidemann portraits as a backdrop. Seidemann also photographed The Grateful Dead a number of times during their peak, both for posters and album liners, as well as designing the covers for Go to Heaven and Jerry Garcia's debut solo album, Garcia. Other works include the cover of Jackson Browne's Late for the Sky, Neil Young's On the Beach, and numerous concert posters for bands such as Traffic and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
After his stint in Rock ‘n’ Roll photography, Seidemann pursued two long-term projects: ‘Plane as Art’ - a remarkable undertaking to document the 20th-century airplane and its creators which are now in the permanent collection at The Getty Museum; and ‘Wild Animals’ which being shown in this exhibition for the first time ever.