ROCKERS RAVE ABOUT ROCK ARTIST’S IMAGES
A star-studded crowd showed up for the opening of famed rock photographer Robert Knight’s new “40×40” exhibit.
Most of the fans and well-wishers who showed up at the Symbolic Gallery behind the Strip were rockers themselves—singer songwriter William “Bootsy” Collins and his wife, Patti Collins; Seth “Shifty Shellshock” Binzer of Crazy Town and star of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew; Prodigal Sunn from the Woo Tang Clan; David Weintraub, producer, writer and star of Sons of Hollywood; Australian rock group Sick Puppies (Mark Goodwin, Emma Anzai, Shim Moore); Las Vegas grunge/hip-hop group Poverty’s Backyard (Mike Weiss, Talid Kerns), being groomed for success by Prodigal Sunn; Garth “Guinness” McKeown of rock group Black List 86 in a white fur hat and sunglasses; silk-screen artist Jim Evans and wife Nancy; Symbolic Gallery vice president Robert Rios; David Pappas, executive director of nightlife operations and marketing for The Mirage; and gallery owner special-effects artist Chris Vranian and wife Claire.
The exhibit of 40 images taken over a span of 40 years from 1968 to 2008 included some never-before-seen photos and was curated by Warwick Stone, who was also Peter Morton’s chief curator at our Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. After the opening, guests moved to The Beatles Revolution Lounge at The Mirage for an after-party in the psychedelic nightlife spot, which included a flowered lei fight between “Shifty” Binzer and producer Weintraub.
Knight was the first to photograph Jimi Hendrix and the last to photograph Stevie Ray Vaughan. His career began in 1968 and has since created a sprawling archive of classic rock ’n’ roll stills including Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana. He is part of Guitar Center’s Hollywood Rock Walk team, showing works on the outside of more than 150 Guitar Centers around the country—one of the largest outdoor gallery shows of original photographic art in the United States.
Symbolic Gallery and its collection began in 1985 in a garage as a private passion for brothers Bernie and Marc Chase. They grew a luxury car business into an annual $120-million enterprise. In 2000 Bernie created the collection as the natural offshoot from his business, branching into areas such as high-end, luxury timepieces; music and entertainment memorabilia; fine art; fine-art photography and Asian collectibles. The gallery is a wealth of high, pop and “low-brow” culture, including the largest privately held collection of Johnny Cash memorabilia, works by Von Dutch, The Beatles animation cells and original R. Crumb cartoons