The FACE

PHOTOGRAPHY

There's more to capturing a subculture in the ascent than loading your camera with short-exposure film and hoping you'll bang into someone cool while the light is good. Henry Rollins said that Glen E. Friedman had built his 20-year career on an uncanny ability to caputre that shot at that moment - in truth, Fridman's shots often captured subjects before their moment had even arrived, when fame was just a dream away. An exhibition running from January 25 at London's ICA (it �s only on for ten days, so get your skates on) runs the gamut of Friedman's work, from his documentation of the sweaty, explosive punk movement to the chilled, take-your-timeness of the vintage B-boy era. Pictures are culled from his first book, Fuck You Heroes, and his new one, Fuck You Too: the exhibition, naturally enough, is called Fuck You All. Once seen, you'll presumably understand why he swears by it so much: Run DMC in pork-pie hats, a fresh-faced LL Cool J and some fly-on-the-wall shots of the Beastie Boys make for fascinating viewing. Even if you're not interested in seeing the in-your-face origins of what have become huge entertainment industries, go along just so you know who to blame for the old-school trainer revival.

Peter Lyle
The FACE march 1997

(2/3 pages with 2 color shots from FYT)

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