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For Immediate Release: August 11, 2004 (return
to press releases)
Charles Peterson: Touch me I'm Sick
Rock My Religion, Dan Graham
Beginning September 8th, the Housatonic Museum of Art will host concurrent
exhibitions that explore the ongoing dialogue between underground rock
music and mainstream society.
Touch Me I’m Sick, a series of photographs by Charles Peterson,
document the birth of grunge, a brash new era in music that grabbed
the world by its throat and refused to let go. Running concurrently
will be Rock My Religion, a film by Dan Graham that poses a provocative
thesis on the relation between religion and rock music in contemporary
culture.
Peterson's photography documents the raw power of live performances
by soon-to-be-famous artists such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sleater-Kinney
and Mudhoney. His photographs tell a compelling tale of angst, anxiety,
and acoustics, capturing the cathartic ritual between musician and
fan played out in seedy clubs reeking of sweat and stale beer. Bored,
alienated youth with nothing better to do than bash their instruments
and mosh their bodies in a barrage of sound, song, and furious energy
are mirrored with Peterson’s signature style of wide-angle intimacy,
swirling lights, and a strange sense of grace. Marvels of controlled
chaos, his live photographs pluck spontaneous beauty from the tumult
of a rock show, revealing the depth and honesty of its most unguarded
moments.
In Rock My Religion, Graham posits a compelling theoretical essay
on the ideological codes and historical contexts that inform the cultural
phenomenon of rock 'n' roll music by formulating a history that begins
with the Shakers, an early religious community who practiced self-denial
and ecstatic trance dances. With the "reeling and rocking" of
religious revivals as his point of departure, Graham embarks on an
analysis of the emergence of rock music as religion with the teenage
consumer in the isolated suburban milieu of the 1950s, locating rock's
sexual and ideological context in post-World War II America. This complex
collage of text, film footage and performance focuses on the music
and philosophies of Patti Smith, who made explicit the trope that rock
is religion.
Charles Peterson was born in 1964 in Longview, Washington and received
a B.F.A. in photography from the University of Washington in 1987.
His photographs have graced hundreds of record covers and appeared
in publications worldwide including the Village Voice, NME, The New
York Times and Newsweek. His book Touch Me I'm Sick was published in
2003 by powerHouse Books.
Dan Graham's art and theories analyze the historical, social and
ideological functions of contemporary cultural systems, including architecture,
rock music, and television. In performances, installations, and architectural/sculptural
designs, he investigates public and private, audience and performer,
objectivity and subjectivity. His work has been exhibited in many internationally
prestigious institutions, including the Musée d'Art Moderne
de la Ville de Paris and The Whitney Museum of Art in New York City.
Touch Me I'm Sick and Rock My Religion will be on display at Housatonic
Museum of Art’s Chernow Gallery from September 8th until October
10th. An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, September 9 from
1 to 2 pm.
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