LOS ANGELES.- "Hendrix Revealed: A Life Through The Lens" opens Thursday, May 29 at the Celebrity Vault gallery in Beverly Hills, and represents the largest exhibition of photographs of Jimi Hendrix ever shown in the Los Angeles area. Acclaimed in London earlier this year, the show was produced and curated in association with U.K.-based Raj Prem Fine Art Photography. This week, Celebrity Vault co-founders Klaus Moeller and Cole Sternberg announced that ten percent of opening day sales will benefit Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle, the city in which Hendrix was born. EMP's Director of Curatorial Affairs, Jasen Emmons and Jacob McMurray, curator for the museum's current major Hendrix installation, will attend the May 29 VIP opening reception, which begins at 7PM.
EMP will also provide Celebrity Vault with rare Hendrix artifacts to be displayed during Hendrix Revealed, and will inform their extensive membership about the show. EMP is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to the exploration of creativity and innovation in popular music through interactive exhibitions, educational curricula and other special programs. Since its Frank Gehry-designed museum opened in Seattle in 2000, it has drawn more than 4 million visitors. Their retrospective Hendrix exhibition, Jimi Hendrix: An Evolution of Sound, opened last month and runs through April 2010.
Celebrity Vault's Moeller said, "We are honored to have EMP's participation in Hendrix Revealed, and to help support their important work. We hope to have more of this kind of synergy with our gallery going forward."
Hendrix Revealed presents works by a world class assemblage of over fifteen photographers who created indelible portraits of Hendrix, rock 'n' roll's most visually iconic superstar. Spanning 1967-1970, images range from famously iconic shots to rarely seen treasures -- edition sizes will vary, and several will be one-of-a-kind, hand-finished "editions of one." Participating photographers include: Ed Caraeff, Eddie Kramer, David Montgomery, Bruce Fleming, David Redfern, Gered Mankowitz, Barry Levine, Robert M. Knight, Jerry Schatzberg, Herb Schmitz, Dezo Hoffman, Barry Peake, David Magnus, Baron Wolman, Dominique Tarle and Rob Bosboom.
The show marks the 40th anniversary of Hendrix's first U.S. tour in 1968, also the year that Electric Ladyland was released. David Montgomery's infamous image for the U.K. cover of that LP, featuring large group of naked ladies, was banned in the U.S. -- the image is part of Hendrix Revealed, as is Montgomery's elegantly psychedelic inner sleeve portrait of Jimi. The year prior to Electric Ladyland, Hendrix's era-defining performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival propelled him to instant global fame and remains one of rock's seminal moments. Taken at that concert, Ed Caraeff's unforgettable shot of Hendrix setting fire to his Fender Stratocaster will also be featured at Celebrity Vault. Photographers attending the May 29 opening include Barry Levine, who shot Hendrix at Woodstock, and Eddie Kramer, who was also Jimi's friend and engineer/producer.
