http://www.drawger.com/lauralevine/ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:27:11 EST FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://drawger.com/_images/drawger_leo_logo.gif http://www.drawger.com/lauralevine http://www.drawger.com/lauralevine/index.php?section=articles&article_id=9993



It's been a while since I've posted some of my musician photos from the archives. Given that the Runaways movie opens this week, I thought it might be a good time to share some of the portraits I took of Joan Jett back in 1981. I lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in a fourth floor walk-up in Chinatown. There was just enough room to move the sofa out of the way and hang an 8 foot roll of white seamless for my photo sessions. Joan arrived with a bottle of champagne, her manager and a few others in tow. We relocated her mini-entourage into the tiny bedroom and shut the door so they could watch some TV and we could take some photos without any distractions. By the end of the shoot the champagne was gone, Joan's hands were scratched, my cat Tchatchke was exhausted (but happy) and I had some wonderful portraits of a very cool girl. Joan and I were both around twenty-three years old when we took these photos. She may have had a tough demeanor but she was a girl at heart, and I always loved how these photos showed the playful side of her.

]]> Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:27:11 EST http://www.drawger.com/lauralevine/index.php?section=articles&article_id=9841

This weekend's Guardian (UK) newspaper interviews eight rock and roll photographers about some of their favorite shots. The photographers spill with some pretty interesting and revealing stories behind the photographs. I talk about my 1984 photo of R.E.M. at Walter's Bar-B-Que in Athens Georgia. I enjoyed being interviewed in depth about just one image. The photographers and their subjects: Ian Dickson: Bob Marley, 1975 Ray Stevenson: Jimi Hendrix, 1967 Gered Mankowitz: Marianne Faithfull, 1964 Jill Furmanovsky: Joy Division, 1979 Laura Levine: R.E.M., 1984 Bob Gruen: Tina Turner, 1970 Guy Webster: The Mamas & the Papas, 1966 Anton Corbijn: U2, 1986 Here's my interview, and if you click on the link you can read the others. The band were about to release their second ­album, Reckoning, and as their record label didn't have a budget to send a photographer, I flew down to Athens, Georgia, on my own dime to shoot pictures and spend a few days with my friends. The five of us explored every nook and cranny that had photogenic possibilities – railroad tracks, abandoned factories, roadside signs, RA Miller's whirligig yard and, of course, Walter's Bar-B-Que. Truthfully, we stopped at Walter's because we were hungry. It wasn't a staged shot. While we were eating I saw a great photograph there, so I took it. I first heard about REM from a friend who handed me their homemade cassette Radio Free Europe/Sitting Still. He thought I might like their music, and he was right. I arranged to do a photo session with them when they came up to play New York City in 1982 for the New York Rocker, where I was chief photographer and photo editor. I photographed REM more than any other band – and probably more than any other photographer – in a four-year span. They were still coming up at the time: on a small record label, playing clubs, driving their own van and sleeping on floors. I could sense they were on their way to even greater success, and the photojournalist in me wanted to document that process. I often travelled with them, photographing them backstage, on stage, in motel rooms and at home. Michael, Peter, Bill and Mike were some of the easiest and most agreeable guys I've ever worked with. I think the fact that we were all friends brought an extra level of fun and trust to a process that can sometimes, I realise, be a drag for the musicians. The photograph has a special place in my heart not only because of the friendship, but because it documents a time and a place that disappeared soon after. It was a very happy time of fun, youth, experimentation and endless potential. I don't suppose any of us could have imagined how much would change in just a few years' time. It captures those last moments of ­innocence before they moved on to the wonderful successes that they did. But mostly, for me, when I look at this photograph, I see my four friends chowing down on a good meal, smiling, relaxing and being themselves. Prints of this image are available here. Expanded interview on R.E.M.'s website here. • All photographs appear in Who Shot Rock & Roll, by Gail Buckland.

]]> Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:23:41 EST http://www.drawger.com/lauralevine/index.php?section=articles&article_id=9458
You may be familiar with his mini-masterpiece, WESTERN SPAGHETTI.

Here's his latest, a holiday greeting, called Ka-BOOM! Happy Holidays!





]]> Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:55:27 EST http://www.drawger.com/lauralevine/index.php?section=articles&article_id=9277

NEW PRINT RELEASE. I'm pleased to announce a new limited edition print release, The Collyer Brothers.  The original piece first appeared in Blab! in 2001. Like many New Yorkers, I grew up fascinated by the legend of Homer and Langley Collyer, the reclusive hoarders who were tragically crushed under their 136-ton accumulation of booby-trapped "collectibles" in the 1940s. As a child, my mother warned me that I might end up like one of the Collyer Brothers if I didn't clean up my room. (Did I listen? Read on.....). Over the years I grew more obsessed with their story, and in 2001 I spent several months researching, writing and painting this piece, a diptych on an antique blanket chest cover. The original painting is not for sale, but due to many requests (and happily coinciding with the publication E.L. Doctorow's new book, Homer & Langley), I have decided to produce a limited edition print, which I'm pleased to offer at a special introductory price for the holidays. This large limited edition archival pigment ink print is printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 gsm 100% cotton rag paper, signed and numbered on front by the artist in pencil. It is available in two sizes. Edition Size: 50 Paper Size: 24" x 18" Image Size: 22" x 11" Price: $350.* plus $15. U.S. shipping/handling (shipped in a sturdy tube) - * special offer through Dec. 31, 2009 (There will also be an extra-large size available for $600. - please email us for details.) Please visit my online gallery to place an order. Other prints as well as original paintings are available on my Illogator site for holiday gift giving starting at $45. p.s. As far as my mother's warnings.....nine years ago I opened my own "Shrine to Clutter," a seven-room packed-to-the-rafters vintage junk and oddities shop in Phoenicia, NY, named, naturally, for my inspiration: Homer & Langley's Mystery Spot Antiques.











]]> Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:04:14 EST http://www.drawger.com/lauralevine/index.php?section=articles&article_id=9230

I love it when an illustration project comes with a hidden bonus. I'm pleased to add to the celebration and toast the inclusion of my work in the Society of Illustrators 52nd Annual (Advertising category). I was commissioned by EMI/Virgin UK to create a painting for the cover of a wonderful CD by Alessi's Ark called "Notes from the Treehouse." (The painting is done with acrylic paint and vintage trading stamps on birch panel). But what really made this project special is the friendship that Alessi and I struck up. We were first introduced via phone after I received the assignment from her record label. After almost a year of emails, letters and overseas phone calls, we finally met in person just a few weeks ago, when she came to NYC to perform. It's hard to believe she's only nineteen (I believe she was seventeen when she recorded the album) - her talent as a musician, singer, and artist is staggering, and I'm so happy to have made a new friend. Listen for yourself here (Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes produced the CD). And congrats to all of the other illustrators in 52!







]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:41:19 EST http://www.drawger.com/lauralevine/index.php?section=articles&article_id=9075
























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