Slideshows Abound for Brooklyn Museum's Rock Exhibit

By Roy Edroso Mon., Nov. 2 2009 at 11:12 AM

Categories: Events, Featured, The Arts

The Times. New York magazine, Spinner et alia will show you slides from the Brooklyn Museum's Who Shot Rock 'n' Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present exhibit. They sure didn't get press like this for Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video. The show opened this weekend and promises to be one of BM's biggest draws since the controversial Sensation New Brit Art show in 1999 -- and good for them, since they've had to raise their suggested admission price this year and could use the traffic...

We saw it this weekend and our own quick take is: It's only rock and roll but etc. If you are allergic to museologized pop crap you may need Benadryl, as there are plenty of album covers, promo shots, and videos on display that are mainly of interest because omigod Morrisey is so cool and like that. But there are also plenty of very fine shots where the payoff is aesthetic even if the come-on is star power (as with the William PoPsie Randolph snap of a sleek Wilson Pickett and tuxedoed sideman Jimi Hendrix). Rock stars are good at posing but most interesting when they're riding the bus or doing their job. And the girls reacting to New Kids on the Block are pure joy.

You might also want to go downstairs and check out the less famous names.

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