The hero of work Sisso (2009-04-29 11:29:29)
Anton Corbijn is a photographer, primarily, regardless of his films, music videos and stage designs. His images burst open the walls of the exhibition space. The opening at Ludwig was arranged in a way that eternal rock and roll was sounding from, if not from his pictures, the loudspeakers outside.
The retrospective exhibition entitled Work is to be open until 5 July, in the spacious halls of Ludwig, offering numerous gigantic monochrome photographs and a few films. One can spend hours in the past of music, supported by images and footages. Kraftwerk, Miles Davis, Kurt Cobain, Tom Waits – only a few examples to the legends Corbijn has placed in front of his camera in the past three decades. The images are also film-like, they tell us stories of a gloomy tone, in bluish shade, similarly to his films that are more images – it is the settings, the blacks, the greys and the looks behind the camera that are interesting and not the stories. More than 200 portraits, several are familiar, made in the style of press photos, or better say, these are paraphrases set in a studio, some are quite witty. The models apparently enjoyed the session, or at least they were not disturbed too much, or they knew the concept and liked that. The photographer knows his way around the world of musicians, and I would not be surprised if he always wanted to be a rock star – finally, he became one but not on stage. His name is indicated on the art map of the world, and who cares about Rock Lexicon? Having walked through the exhibition, and my five-year-old son having seen the images and posed and raged enough upon the inspiration, we take to the terrace of Ludwig, sit under the open sky, and listen to Palotai, the monument of the Hungarian DJ scene, playing Nirvana mixes from the terrace of the glass hall. The little boy is jumping over the decoration waters (that is how he calls the nicely illuminated fountains breaking forth from the pavement), and I watch the building – a miracle of modern architecture – with admiration, the former pirate DJ`s vegetal movements, and talk about passing with old comrades, and, although I can hardly recognise it, I am happy that this is now Budapest around.
|