Art Shay a Retrospective at drkroom

Last weekend, I got a couple friends to go down to Chinatown with me for a reception honoring Art Shay, the legendary photojournalist. It was amazing to see rooms filled with his outstanding and memorable work. It felt like something between walking through the MOCA and sifting through Life magazines. We decided to make an evening out of it: we started at seVen grand, downtown, to have one of their famous whiskeys. Then, on to Chinatown, to the drkrm gallery, and of course ended with an authentic Chinese dinner down the street.

“Art Shay’s photography shakes you up, sets you down gently, pats you on the head and then kicks you in the ass.” Roger Ebert

“Art Shay’s one of the best photo-journalists I know. I’ve been a fan of his work since before I launched Playboy.” Hugh Hefner

Historic Chung King Road of contemporary art galleries

My girlfriends falling in love with Shay’s photo of Marlon Brando with his dog.

A member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) since 1957, Art Shay’s photography career spans nearly seven decades. He has published over 30,000 photographs, which include the likes of kings, queens, presidents, athletes and celebrities as well as the common man. He has covered subjects such as John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign, the fights of Muhammad Ali, Hugh Hefner’s infamous bedroom office, and the Chicago police clubbing demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Mr. Shay once told a reporter, of all his subjects, President Kennedy was his favorite, saying, “You can’t take a bad picture of that guy.” His pictures of Marlon Brando, Nelson Algren, Judy Garland, Diana Ross and hundreds of other luminaries are not the usual portraits; they are people off-guard, memorable for their humanity rather than their celebrity.

Unlike other photographers of his time, Art Shay has a way with words and his writing is sharp, vivid and evocotive, reflecting a cultivated intellect. Among Mr. Shay’s various publications are: Nelson Algren’s Chicago (University of Illinois, 1988), Album for an Age (Ivan R. Dee, 2000), Animals (University of Illinois, 2002) and Couples (University of Illinois, 2003). He continues to write a weekly blog entry, “From the Vault of Art Shay” for Chicagoist. Many of his images are in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago and numerous other museum collections. His photograph of Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev on an Iowa farm won Life magazine’s “Picture of the Year” in 1959. At 90 years of age, Art Shay remains an active photographer. He recently completed a series of images for Smashing Pumpkins lead singer, Billy Corgan (who had become close friends with Mr. Shay’s late wife, Florence). Corgan said of Mr. Shay’s photography, “He has the gift of capturing that ‘decisive moment’ that separates the legends from the rest of us punters who press buttons and call ourselves photographers. Art’s eye extends to those overlooked aspects of the human condition that have informed his opinions of the world.”

What did Mr. Shay have to say when we sat down to talk? I asked, to another photographer, what piece of wisdom could he share with me? His reply: “Well, taking pictures is no big riddle!” Haha, gotta love it!

drkrm is an exhibition space dedicated to the display of popular cultural images, fine art photography, documentary and photo journalism, cutting edge and alternative photographic processes. drkrm is located in the historic Chung King Road of contemporary art galleries in Downtown L.A.’s Chinatown. The Art Shay exhibition will be open until April 6, 2013. Go online to find out more.

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