Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Images of Icons

The Gallery at the Katonah General Store will present 30 years of portraiture work by the noted photographer David Michael Kennedy at 109 Katonah Avenue in Katonah, New York from November 20, 1999 until January 1, 2000. A private reception for the artist will be held Saturday, November 20 from 4-7 p.m.

Kennedy's career as an acclaimed New York photographer spanned 18 years during the 70's and 80's when he documented the celebrity lives of Bob Dylan, Isaac Stern, Rachel Rosenthal, Debbie Harry, Micky Mantle, and Mike Tyson among others. In addition to photographing award-winning album covers for CBS, Atlantic and other major record labels, his work appeared in such magazines as Time, Rolling Stone, Spin, New York, and Omni. These vintage images form the foundation of the show.

In 1987, Kennedy departed the high life of New York to head west in order to document and celebrate the landscapes and people of the American southwest. Kennedy, his wife Lucy, and their 2 year-old son Jesse moved to a 100 year-old wood-heated adobe home in rural New Mexico to pursue his artistic vision.

Since then, Kennedy has focused on fine art projects as a master of the platinum/palladium process. Among his portraits and landscapes are portfolios that illuminate his passion for documenting the world of sacred American Indian Ceremonial Dancers and Elders.

His recent exhibitions include the Museo Cantonale d'Arte and Galleria Gottardo show from the collection of Fernando Garzoni in Switzerland, the Taos, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe show at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and the Photographers of the Twentieth Century show at Hall Gallery in Kansas City.

Images of Icons demonstrates Kennedy's absolute mastery of portraiture of people from all walks of life. In his artist's statement he explains, "I have been photographing people, well known and unknown, for over 30 years. My primary interest has been to discover and unveil the uniqueness that makes each person a unique being. I find that when I successfully photograph a person the image we create is quite amazing. The people I've had the pleasure of photographing are truly beautiful to me, even when our culture says that they aren't, and this becomes fully evident in examining the finished work. Because my goal is to reveal the inner being of each individual, I prefer that the viewer engage actively in a dialogue with the person photographed. When the person sitting for a portrait speaks to whomever may examine the photograph in the future. I'm thrilled by the possibility of creating a space in which the subject may reveal themselves in an intimate way with a viewer whose only access to understanding them is through the single image. Much power exists in this interchange and I am honored by the trust exhibited by both the subjects and viewers engaging in this silent interchange."

Personalities represented in this exhibition include never-before-exhibited images from the archives of Kennedy including Arthur Ashe, Harry Belafonte, Jodie Foster, Debbie Harry, Jesse Jackson, Patti LaBelle, Russell Means, Ozzy Osbourne, Andy Summers, and Muddy Waters. Kennedy will be available for interview in person in New York on November 19 or by phone until then. Please contact Jeff Crowell in New Mexico at (505) 424-1880 or June Goldfinger in New York at (914) 232-6400 for further information.