When former Ossining resident Bobby Grossman was growing up in Westchester, he developed a passion for both rock’n’roll and photography. In fact, he and high school classmate Meg Griffin, who would go on to launch her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame radio career at Briarcliff’s WRNW, attended many concerts together.
“Meg is so cool,” said Bobby. “We went to high school together, we went to concerts together. The Youngbloods were a band we followed.”
Just like Meg, Bobby fashioned a career around his passion for rock. But for Bobby, his medium was photography and his subjects were many of the icons of New York’s 1970s punk rock scene. His ability to get inside scenes and befriend his subjects, and his raw photographic style made his pictures popular with a host of publications – Rolling Stone, Interview, The New York Times, The Village Voice and many more.
He also created promotional pictures for his artist friends, including Blondie, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, The Ramones, Robert Fripp and Talking Heads.
Over the next few decades, Bobby’s photos have been featured in many galleries and museums around the world. Including the seminal group exhibition – “Bande a part: New York Underground 60s 70s 80s.” The show opened in Paris and traveled to London, Los Angeles, Portland, Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York City.
This past year, Bobby relocated to Beacon, New York, and after having his photos in storage for four years he is preparing for his first exhibit in several years. With literally thousands of photos to choose from, Bobby is finalizing photo selection for the exhibit called Low Fidelity. “Some of the photos that had no meaning 40 years ago, take on a whole new purpose,” noted Grossman. “People became famous. People died. So I have a lot of fresh, new images.”
One artist who’s sure to be represented is David Bowie, who Bobby says was a pleasure to work with. “David Bowie was so cool,” recalled Grossman. “After our first meeting he remembered my name and it was always so nice to see that guy. He was such a gentleman. We were acquaintances over the years. I only photographed him a few times, but those photos are in my show.”
Bobby Grossman Photographs: Low Fidelity May 15th- July 17th 2021
Photographer Bobby Grossman will be presenting a collection of photos from his Low Fidelity Series 1975-1983 at The Lofts at Beacon, May 15th thru July 17th. These iconic images document the New York City Downtown Scene centered around the fabled nightspots CBGB and The Mudd Club as well as Andy Warhol’s Factory at Union Square. Grossman’s images include informal portraits and candid shots of David Bowie, Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fab 5 Freddy, William S. Burroughs, Blondie, Ramones, Talking Heads and the infamous late-night public access television show Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party. Mr. Grossman has also included images from his celebrated Doom & Destiny Collaboration with renowned visual artist Shepard Fairey.
The exhibition opens Saturday May 15th with a social distanced gathering from 6:00-9:00 pm.
Wine, soft drinks and snacks will be served.
Music provided by Rachel Camp
Teenage Kicks WXBC Bard
The Lofts at Beacon, 18 Front Street, Beacon, New York 12508
Contact: Laureen Schmidt (845) 202-7211
Email: laureen@beaconhip.com
I can’t find anything online about this show other than this particular article.
Does the show run at The Lofts at Beacon through July 17th? If so where can we find out about purchasing tickets, hours etc?