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An article about the GREAT exhibit

Alter ego of a Rolling Stone
Bill Wyman onhand for 'Second Nature' photo exhibit
By Steve Clarke
Posted: Tue., Oct. 18, 2011, 4:00am PT

Bill Wyman exhibits his "Second Nature."

LONDON -- If Bill Wyman, the Rolling Stones' bass player for 30 years, hadn't been a rock star he would have been a photographer.
Wyman, who is almost 75, was much in evidence Thursday at the opening of the first London exhibition of his photography. Entitled "Second Nature" and held at the Rove Gallery, the "snaps," as Wyman calls them, document the Stones' life on the road, in rehearsal and in performance.

There are photographs of other celebs, too. There's an intense John Lennon, a dreamy Jerry Hall and an especially soulful portrait of the great bluesman John Lee Hooker.

"That was taken in a little club in Saffron Walden, Essex, in March 1969," recalls Wyman. "I was standing in the wings and waited for the right moment to get the light. It is John Lee being himself, humble but proud of what he was doing."

From Bill Wyman's website

Sunday 9th October 2011

Bill Wyman's Second Nature photography exhibition got a fantastic preview and write-up in The Sunday Times. Read all about Bill's new London-based exhibition of his stunning portfolio of photos spanning his career...

Wyman goes behind the lens
The Sunday Times, October 9, 2011
By Maurice Chittenden

The Rolling Stones’ former bass guitarist gets his own exhibition of photographic work in the heart of London’s trendiest art district.

When Bill Wyman left the Rolling Stones, he spoke of his desire to retreat from life in front of the camera. Now he is in the limelight once more - this time for his work behind the lens. Seven decades after his uncle gave him a Brownie camera, his first big exhibition has opened in Hoxton Square, in the heart of London’s trendiest art district.

As well as capturing his fellow Stones, the 70 photographs depict flowers, animals and wintry landscapes taken from his tour bus.

"I never thought there would ever be an exhibition of my photographs," he said. "That was pie in the sky to me. But if I hadn't been a musician I'd have loved to have been a photographer. I always wished National Geographic would ring me and say, 'We want you to go to Bhutan and shoot a six-page special,' but they never phoned."

Wyman's exhibition has opened in the same month that a collection of artworks by fellow Stone Ronnie Wood goes on display at Castle Galleries across the UK. He insists, however, that there are no artistic differences.

"There is room for both of us in the art world. I have only just started but Ronnie has been at it for years. He has been selling since the mid-Eighties."

Photography is just one of the bass guitarist’s activities since quitting the Stones in 1992. Although he turns 75 this month, he has a chain of restaurants and plays in his band, the Rhythm Kings, who are about to start a 36-date tour.

His archive contains more than 20,000 photographs, many of them of his fellow Stones and bearing witty titles. One of Mick Jagger reading a Bible in a hotel room is entitled "Mick looking for loopholes". Another, called "Keith Richards and lookalike", shows the guitarist holding a skull.

Kenny Schachter, an art dealer who is presenting Wyman’s Second Nature show at the Rove gallery, said: "Bill has created a gigantic body of work; much of it is beyond anything I imagined."

Second Nature
Photography By Bill Wyman

October 5 to November 30
KENNY SCHACHTER ROVE
Lincoln House
33-34 Hoxton Square
London N1 6NN

Opening hours:
Monday - Saturday 10am - 6pm and by appointment
+44 (0) 7525 039 582
[email protected]
www.rovetv.net
www.billwymanarchive.co.uk

Bring it over to this side of the pond, Bill.

You ain't gotta fly over here if you don't wanna. :nooslajaleisk

Bill has it together.

Some really nice work. Thanks for posting.

http://goo.gl/3Pkl1
Getty
__

Dude's gold...

Is that "Come Back Suzanne"?

No... it's downtown Suzie

:nooslajaleisk

The softer side of a Stone: an interview with Bill Wyman
26 October 2011
By Kevin Wilson
http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com

Our art correspondent Kevin Wilson chats to Rolling Stone Bill Wyman about his landmark photographic exhibition

Most icons of the music business are iconic for what they do best. A few superstars paddle in other ponds but rarely get remembered for their ‘second job’.

But Bill Wyman has come of age in the photographic world with his new exhibition Second Nature at Kenny Schachter/Rove in Hoxton Square. It rubber stamps Bill as one of the great creative photographic eyes.

I frequently get sent photographer’s portfolios and, yes there are some fine ‘bands on tour’ snaps, there are some fine scientific nature snaps, there are even some good portrait shots; but it’s quite rare to come away with a collection of disparate subjects spraying a feeling on you. Mr Wyman leaves you with mood.

We see a reflective calm introspective Mick Jagger, an antithesis of his public persona and a thoughtful, elfin, Jerry Hall magically etched with a softness worthy of a Dior ad campaign. We are given non-tokenistic insights that will endure for decades.

Mick in bus on the way to the Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto Canada. June 1975

Jerry Hall in a ‘dreamy mood’ in a hotel in Frankfurt, July 1982

It is much harder to capture the same serenity mid-way through a performance but that same mood flows through the image of John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker from side-stage in Saffron Walden Essex. March 1969

The exhibition flicks from sensitively frozen Stones to carefully captured nature images. That same feeling permeates his works like the words Bill Wyman through a stick of Blackpool rock.

Flooded land near Nijmegen, Holland in January 2011

A Damsel-fly resting on a branch over river in July 2009

Chatting with Bill, his passion for archaeology shines out. It’s no surprise that Bill is creating history for future music archaeologists to uncover. Generations to come will see the importance of the sensitive documentation of some of our most important legends. Built indelibly in his DNA is the urge to record and he continues to religiously keep diaries alongside his photo archive.

The images in this great exhibition more than speak for themselves, but I thought I’d speak to Bill himself to garner further insight:

How did the other Stones respond to your photography in the early days?

They were just casually interested, none of us thought of it as important. My interest in it was personal.

Are there any moments that got away from the camera that you had wished you had captured?

Probably hundreds over the years and you kick yourself each time it happens.

Do you have a preference for documenting people or nature?

My preference at the moment leans more toward nature and landscapes, but people come into it as well when the moment presents itself

Did you realise at the time you were taking the earlier pictures of the band that you would be contributing to rock history?

Not in a thousand years. I took photos to illustrate my diaries that’s all. It was a personal thing.

Do you have a favourite picture in the exhibition?

I have many, otherwise they wouldn’t have been chosen for the exhibition. The side shot of Jerry Hall, the winter landscape in Sweden with the deer and the apple blossom.

What are you planning next ?

I’m basically beginning to shoot random photos of London life, including taxi drivers, people sitting outside restaurants, and interesting moments I see with pedestrians.

Do you like being photographed ?

When it’s a necessity but I do prefer to be behind the lens and always have.

When you look back at your pictures of the Stones is it exactly how you remember it?

I remember pretty much the moment of taking them and I get nostalgic.

Was it hard choosing the 40 prints for your portfolio?

‘Very hard, so I left the final choices from a possible 300 or so with Kenny Schachter.

You capture great landscapes and extreme detail, does your creative eye ever switch off?

Only when I go to sleep or to the toilet. They are the only times I break off from work!

There aren’t many successful musicians who have time for a second career or hobby, let alone an ability to do it as well as you do. Which wins in your head music or photography, or do you play both in stereo?

There are many facets to my life including music, photography, sport, archaeology, writing books, and researching into history – all of which, fortunately, I’ve had a lot of success with it so far and I hope it will continue.

No time for more questions as Bill is off on a 37 venue tour of the UK with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings - with camera in hand - naturally!

Second Nature, Photography by Bill Wyman, October 5 to November 30

KENNY SCHACHTER ROVE, Lincoln House, 33-34 Hoxton Square, London N1 6NN. Monday – Saturday 10am -6pm and by appointment 07525 039 582

Images are for sale individually (£1000-£6000) and fifty percent of the proceeds from sales of a portfolio of 40 will be donated to Outset Family, a philanthropic initiative dedicated to supporting art education programs.

All Photos strictly © 2011 Bill Wyman Archive (Bill Wyman / Ripple Productions Limited)

Kevin Wilson is an international arts consultant, curator and collector. He advises on collections, investments and projects. His clients range from the Historical Royal Palaces, international corporations, to private individuals and collections worldwide.

www.kwart.co.uk

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http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl GENERAL >> MAIN BOARD >> Bill Wyman "Second Nature" photography exhibit http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1318954641 Message started by Voodoo Chile In Wonderland on Oct 18^th, 2011 at 11:17am