Posted 4 years ago
IronLace
(929 items)
Since 2018 I've been posting a birthday tribute to David Bowie featuring memorabilia from my collection.
I well recall when I learned of his passing in 2016, & it was for me, the harbinger of a difficult time. Rock music was to lose numerous major players that same year, including Prince & Leonard Cohen, to name just a few. Not to mention various significant events, both global & personal, that erupted later in 2016.
To mark 74 years since Bowie's birth, this time I'm posting a super new book of photos of Bowie by top photographers who worked with him throughout his career. As well as being a uniquely influential singer & songwriter, Bowie spent a lifetime making an artwork of himself. No wonder he was such an inspiration to artists of all kinds, who saw in his ever evolving images the essence of creativity itself.
As an artist, the creative acts one engages in are never made in full isolation - there's always someone else's work that you're looking to, bouncing off, playing with, & thinking about. An artist soaks up interesting things like a voracious sponge. And just as Bowie himself was an eclectic consumer of culture, so were the many artists who worked with him. Creativity is never a solo act, it's a diverse & complex network that forms connections across place, time, & context.
For Christmas, I received this impressive book full of iconic Bowie images dating from the 1960s - 2000s.
1. Front cover.
2. Photograph by Markus Klinko from 2002, for the album "Heathen".
3 & 4. Original artworks by Lynn Goldsmith, digitally created in 2020 from earlier photographs taken by the artist. I think these are particularly interesting as they offer an outstanding example of an artist taking Bowie's image into a symbolic space. Image 4 is especially intriguing to me personally.
What a wonderful Christmas gift! I've always been a huge Bowie fan. He excelled at everything he ever did. When I heard of his passing, I was shocked and deeply saddened.
I always loved Bowie and his artistic creativity. He was a major inspiration to me and of course the world. I also mourn the great loss of Lou Reed who was a poetic genius.
Many thanks, jscott0363! Yes, I was just thrilled to receive this book, it's awesome. And I agree, it was a massive shock when he died...I actually couldn't believe the news when I first heard it. He'd been a part of my world, as for so many other folks, for so long that it didn't seem quite real. I was already in a bad place, & the grief cut so deeply for me at the time. But of course, the art that he gave us lives on...
Thanks also, EZa! I'm also a big fan of Lou Reed, who was, as you said, a true modern poet & a major inspiration to Bowie. Their collaboration on "Transformer" is up there as one of the greatest in rock history. "Satellite of Love" is a favourite song of mine!
Me too! Even though it's a simple song, it's definitely a favorite. I listened to so much of David Bowie's music as I was growing up. It was smart, and creative - not like the tedious predictable drivel on the radio. So- Happy Birthday David Bowie!
Adore David Bowie creativity, have you seen Laberynth?
Totally agree, EZa - he was a true artist, & is sorely missed by many of us. But he lives on through his amazing, diverse music, & as an inspiring role model for creative people...
Thanks also, kivatinitz! Yes, I remember seeing Labyrinth back in the 80s as a teenager - loved it!
thanks IronLace