LEICA CAMERA AG & OSTLICHT PHOTO GALLERY PRESENT: LENNY KRAVITZ “FLASH!” & MATHIEU BITTON “ASCENSION”
Exhibition on view from 11 – 22 August 2015
The life of a rock star is lived in public. Celebrated, admired, but also observed, crowded and pursued by fans and photographers, groupies, autograph hunters, gossip columnists and reporters – all armed with smartphones, TV and digital cameras, microphones. And flashes.
Lenny has turned the tables – and the camera – and trained his Leica on the caravan of reporters and fans which accompanies him wherever he goes. He has turned the surreal situation of being the focus of attention, constantly faced with a living wall of camera lenses, into a series of photographs. In laconic black and white images, Kravitz captures the repetitive ritual that takes place around him on an almost daily basis.
Leica Camera AG and OstLicht now present a selection of 50 of his works at the premises of the OstLicht Photo Gallery. The OstLicht owner and Leica Shop proprietor Peter Coeln and Lenny Kravitz started fine-tuning this idea for an exhibition already last year, when the latter visited WestLicht and OstLicht. After stops at the Leica Gallery in L.A. and recently in Wetzlar, the Leica company headquarters, the two now open the exhibition in Vienna on 10 August, the concept of which has been adapted and expanded especially for the OstLicht Gallery.
“It’s interesting that the very people who chase me to take my photographs have become the subjects of my first photo exhibition. Through turning the lens back on them, I have indirectly taken a deeper look at myself and the surreal world that I live in when on the road. What once was intrusive has now become a beautiful moment of a dance between the hunter and it’s prey.”
Mathieu Bitton’s portraits show new facets of life within the rock music circus. The photographer, a long-time comrade-in-arms of Kravitz, has accompanied the musician on his world tours, capturing both grand poses on stage and quiet hours between concerts. These works are exhibited for the first time as part of the exhibition FLASH.
All photographs are available for purchase. The OstLicht Gallery presents an exclusive, limited poster edition of 100 each accompanying the exhibition.