[scarpati]'s photostream

EYES WIDE OPEN ... 7x7 softback by scarpati |

www.etsy.com/shop/scarpatistudio

He wanted to be a painter. He wanted to be a rock star. He ended up being neither – and both.

Scarpati, whose images span four waves of modern music and have become some of the most enduring iconics of metal, rock and punk, was raised in New Jersey, came of age in San Diego, gained notoriety in Los Angeles, now calls the world his home and Nashville his return address. His work has been cited by The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and PDN.

Eyes Wide Open is the first show of a storied career.

also on my second book - cramp, slash & burn ... "when punk & glam were twins"
southern California music scene 1980-1990

www.kickstarter.com/projects/1435951695/cramp-slash-and-b...

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Think of me as an innocent bystander

There was no master plan. No carefully tended career path. I loved rock and punk music. I saw things. Puzzles intrigued me. Bugs and lizards and creepy crawly things fascinated me. Influences possessed me. There had to be a way to put it all together… and those girls in the clubs who were all presence, black leather and kohl eyeliner…

Need I say more?

Actually, I probably do. Because what you’re about to experience is the summation – to date – of a life’s work, mostly in and for the music business. These pictures represent the world as I’ve seen it, lived it, breathed it, touched it and especially loved it.

The unseen brought forth. The iconic skewed and transformed. The molten moment or surreality conjured and captured. What greater reason is there?
Well, maybe right now… knowing you’re about to walk through my very first show in 25 years of taking pictures and creating images.

I’ve always broken rules—tried to not do what everyone else does. The idea of something so, well, organized seemed like the antithesis of a career built on letting the photographs speak for themselves. But what if we let the pictures speak to each other, or hang them places that caused people to look and then speak to each other about what they were viewing?

Suddenly this thing I’d so studiously avoided seemed not just like a good idea, but a good reason to go through hundreds of images to find the 30 most provocative ones that spoke to me. For if they spoke to me, surely they would inspire people to talk about things they otherwise wouldn’t.

After all, my work has been based on a vast coterie of influences: 24 hour diners, erotic photographers, epic history, punk rock, art books carried across Europe in a backpack, faeries, cheap booze, tall tales, lost nights, major statements, the challenge of “can it be done”, religious and sexual landmines, reasonable doubt, heavy metal and… did I mention those girls with their eyes lined with kohl?

You get the idea.

A lot has changed in a quarter of a century – and yet, an image with stopping power remains one of the most impactful forces I’ve found.

Yes, some of these pictures date back to my very earliest days. Some of them you might know, or even own without knowing they could be considered art. And then there are the things I shot just for this show. Just for me. Because I could… and because I could.

Among the innovations – beyond a higher margin of error and the ability to do many things in myriad ways – has been the development of so many more potential materials for the images to appear on. Beyond the joy of creating the pictures you see, there was the thrill of matching each to a presentational substrates that deepened the feeling I was originally trying to evoke in the people seeing them.

The feeling evoked. How long has it been since a photograph did that to/for you? Because that was, actually, what made me want to truly do this? The way certain photos that I saw hit a nerve inside me—brought out something raw or alive or questioning.

“How did they do that?” is a fine muse. It is a reason to create and it’s a reason to push beyond what you’ve already done. It’s what brought me here. Hopefully you’ll take that question home. And, absolutely, it’s what’s going to keep me making pictures that evoke that question until my last frame is shot.

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Work – Holidays – and Second Book… ( very sidetracked at the moment )
Will get around to next personal series ASAP!!! : D don’t give up on me!
Progress on second book being posted here – if ya wannna peek!

www.facebook.com/pages/Cramp-Slash-Burn-When-Punk-and-Gla...




studio@scarpati.com
www.scarpati.com
scarpati.com/exhibition/
www.blurb.com/user/scarpati
www.facebook.com/john.scarpati


In this edition of LightSource, Bill and Ed talk with Scarpati.
LightSource Episode 61 (Interview Series) [55:20 minutes]

LightSource061 [25.4 MB]

www.flickr.com/groups/lightsource/discuss/72157604371360515/