Performance: Opening Night Reception – Review

• Location:Drkrm Gallery – 2121 San Fernando Road, Suite 3

I’ve been meanint to mention that I attended the opening night reception of PERFORMANCE: A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION at Drkrm Gallery last weekend.

This is a collection of photographs from two movies: PERFORMANCE, co-directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, and THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, directed by Roeg. The first stars Mick Jagger; the second stars David Bowie.

Perhaps because of the rock-n-roll connection, the opening night was more crowded than any other recent Drkrm event. There were no posters on display, only photographs, most in black-and-white, although there are some color shots from FELL TO EARTH, including several of Bowie in his startling alien makeup.

The highlight of the exhibit consists of eight large portraits of Jagger shot by Cecil Beaton. Unfortunately, these images (unlike the rest of the lot) are not for sale.

PERFORMANCE is perhaps weird enough to be of interest to genre fans; MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is clearly a science-fiction film, although Roeg’s typically fragmented narrative style (which includes lots of montage editing) leads one to read it more as a metaphor than as a literal tale of an alien. So the appeal of this exhibit may be more to art house aficionados than to genre fans. For the most part I would recommend this only to collectors who are serious about purchasing some of the rare images on display; the photos are certainly interesting, but their limited scope is not enough to make the trip worthwhile for looky-loos.

The exhibition runs through February 24.