Sometimes it takes two to create disparate yet connected photographic art. Photographic artists Michael Grecco (first image, above) and Elizabeth Waterman (second image, above) each offer completely different bodies of work, that both reveal and celebrate intimate looks at two very different subcultures. The married photographers will be opening two paired solo exhibitions at Leica Gallery in mid-September.
Grecco’s exhibition, Days of Punk, features punk music performers backstage, on-stage, and just playing around. The punk term is used loosely, as some of the images include other musicians from the same era, in the years 1978-1991. Along with punk icons like the Ramones and Dead Kennedys, and their predecessor, the iconic Lou Reed, viewers will find powerful images of Joan Jett, The Talking Heads, and more. Many, but not all of the works are taken in a beautifully evocative black and white. Grecco’s approach is at times that of a street photographer or journalist, capturing subjects off-guard or in the middle of a mosh pit, on the fly; others are more perfectly framed stage performances, or a composed image of a group. Whether a quick capture or a well-realized depiction of a performance, these photos are often bold, and always involving.
Moneygame, Waterman’s exhibition, is about an entirely different culture indeed, that of strippers in five different American cities and in Bangkok. Some of her work is in a lustrous noir black and white, but the majority of the images are shot in super-saturated color – red and golds and greens that vibrate and pulse like the neon surrounding these women. Some of the Bangkok images, shot earlier this year, have never been exhibited before. While Waterman frequently shoots subtle, suggestive images of these performers’ daily work, some images are deliberately blurred, almost surreal – and combined with their fierce color, they remind the viewer of the emotional stress – and the physical demands – of this profession.
Both Los Angeles-based photographers immerse themselves in the worlds they’ve chosen to depict. Grecco describes himself as a club kid who became both a chronicler and participant in the Boston club scene. While working as both an Associated Press and Boston Herald photojournalist, he also covered Boston’s punk music scene for Boston Rock magazine and WBCN-FM, capturing that scene’s rhythm and heart, it’s wild energy and as he describes it, “infectious freedom.”
Viewers will enter that era and that world not only through Grecco’s passionate visuals but through related soundscapes that were produced as a collaboration with Mission of Burma band members. These works are also featured in the artist’s recent best-selling book, Punk, Post Punk, New Wave: Onstage, Backstage, In Your Face 1978-1991.
Waterman’s work, too, was first presented in a book, her Moneygame. The trust Waterman needed to establish with the stripper performers to create her photographs is the indelible heart of her images. She showed her work to the ladies, helped them collect the dollar bills tossed at them, and was generally and genuinely present in their lives, until they became comfortable with posing for her, as well as allowing her to capture views of their daily milleau. While this is a charged and challenging world, Waterman was able to capture not only lush performance photographs, but images of them at rest, having meals, applying their make-up. In the process, she has created a relatable work environment, exploring the way in which her subjects are, just like any other performer in any other sort of job, using their money to pay off debts, start an enterprise, or provide for their families. Her recent Bangkok images have a slightly different sense of both coloration and subject, including stripping performance sub-groups such as trans and plus-size strippers, while exploring use of a shallow depth of field at open aperature.
Based on her photographic experience, Waterman is currently developing a documentary series on this world, including the changing workscape for these women, from unionization to supportive communities looking for greater visibility and acceptance. She relates that she is exploring what the life of the modern stripper looks like.
This compelling paired exhibition offers a profound look into lives lived in very specific worlds – and the innate humanity and power of performance among both today’s strip performers and recently-past-era punk musical artists.
Leica Gallery is located at 8783 Beverly Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048. Grecco and Waterman will hold an artists’ reception on Thursday, September 14, from 6-8 p.m.; the exhibition runs through November 5th.
- Genie Davis; photos provided by the artists.