Nat Finkelstein at Idea Generation
I was invited to the private view of a new exhibition at Idea Generation, Redchurch Street, East London on Tuesday; A retrospective of the photography of Nat Finkelstein, photojournalist of the 1960’s.
Nat was an integral part of Andy Warhol’s factory, documenting the goings-on behind the big silver doors, constantly photographing his friends Nico, Edie and members of The Velvet Underground.
Although this isn’t the biggest exhibition, the quality of the photographs with their supporting stories from subjects or Finkelstein himself, meant that you really felt you’d learnt something a lot hadn’t been privy to previously. In particular the story of his and Nico’s relationship, her addiction to drugs and fall from grace presented next to the last ever contact sheet he shot of her portrait had me stood still for a few minutes.
Unfortunately, the night got pretty busy very quickly (there was lots of free drinks…) which meant I didn’t get upstairs to view the work Finkelstein did with The Black Panthers. But Idea Generation is free to enter so neither you, or I have an excuse not to go back . If you’ve recently been down to Tate Modern to see Pop Life then this is a great exhibition to see what happened behind the scenes. Highly recommended if you like the whole Pop Art movement, The Velvet Underground or the 60’s in general.
Posted in GraphiKL
by Ric