Recognize - Tapa dura

"Glen E. Friedman's mission with RECOGNIZE is no less than 're-aligning the aesthetic' or demolishing and then re-making the rules by which we view and understand art... The re-introduction of sight into art-making and art-seeing, away from purely conceptual in-jokes and toward formal problems of light, composition and beauty. Just as Renaissance artists re-introduced the classical world's honesty and discipline to art-making, Friedman restores picture-taking to its primary and vital function: composition of the natural world, combined with a sense of wonder at the magnificence of what is all around us." - Ian Folke Svenonius, 2005 "With access to a decent shelf of art books one could easily align Glen E. Friedman's work with a golden chain of initiatic transmission in Western art. This sublime aesthetic incorporates, say, Correggio at one end and Turner at the other; perhaps also in a sense the late Monet of the lily ponds...These photos are more pleasurable than one might expect because they are secretly more painful. They hide an aesthetic shock behind what first appears to be more picturesque nebulosity. They sneak up on you, gradually becoming more and more sexual, more uncomfortable. It's customary nowadays to claim we "distrust beauty" because it has betrayed us. In fact the reverse is true: our culture betrays beauty and then blames it for its lack of depth. On this edge Glen's work is dancing - hence its vertiginousness, its touch of vertigo. Real beauty is always serious." - Peter Lamborn Wilson, 2005

Glen E. Friedman's captivating images demonstrate his remarkable eye for raw reality, talent and aesthetic beauty. He is the most important photographer of his generation. Friedman's childhood was largely spent skating in the legendary West L.A. schoolyards of the area called "DogTown." His friends were beginning to be featured in magazines, but Friedman felt the images failed to capture skating's true essence. Though still in junior high school, he thought he could do better.In the fall of 1976, Friedman discovered an empty pool, and corralled a few guys into riding it so he could take pictures. He showed the results to a freelance SkateBoarder writer he met on the local schoolyard banks, who put the eighth-grader in touch with the editor. They published the first photos Glen submitted as a full-page subscription ad. He soon after became their youngest staff member.Several years later Friedman began to shoot the punk shows he was attending. Glen was passionately loyal to his subjects, and relentlessly devoted to winning them exposure. Proto-punks such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and others received some of their first national and international media documentation through Friedman's work.In 1982 Friedman self published his "photo-zine" MY RULES. It sold 10,000 copies and was the largest selling 'zine of the era.In 1983 Friedman produced Suicidal Tendencies first album, which became the biggest selling hardcore punk album of the decade.After Friedman created some of the most memorable Beastie Boys photos before they were known to the masses, he was introduced to Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons. By 1985, Friedman was photographing all the DEF JAM artists and relocated back to New York in 1987. His early documentation of Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Ice-T, L.L. Cool J and the Beasties brought Hip-Hop to a wider audience. His work achieved fame as record covers for many of the decades finest in Hip-Hop and Punk. Many of his photographs are recognized as the subjects' definitive portraits.By 1994, Friedman had published Fuck You Heroes on his Burning Flags Press imprint. A collection of his work spanning 1976 to 1991, "Heroes" looked at the pioneering leaders of the Skateboarding, Punk and Hip-Hop subcultures. Its title, though offensive to some, signifies his subjects' heroic rejection of reactionary social standards. His second book, Fuck You Too: The Extras & More, was published in 1996.His FUCK YOU ALL exhibition brought Friedman's work to major cities around the world. Starting at the "Institute of Contemporary Art" in London, then on to Sydney, Tokyo, Rome, Milan, Berlin, Stockholm, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.In 1998, Glen published The Idealist: In My Eyes 20 Years, the artistic summation of his photography. Diverging greatly from his other books. This title was revised in 2003 to include an additional five years.In 2000, The book, DogTown - The Legend Of The Z-Boys, was co-authored with C.R. Stecyk III, and edited and designed by Friedman. Glen's film credit, co-producer and creative consultant, barely touch on the major influence he had on the feature-length documentary DogTown and Z-Boys, which won audience choice award for Best Documentary at Sundance and other festivals.A consummate artist and political activist, he shuns intoxicants, and follows a strict vegan diet.In 2004 Friedman created the "Liberty Street Protest" for millions from around the world to see at Ground Zero in New York City. It's provocative anti-war sentiment received attention worldwide.In 2005 his new book Recognize will be released.In 2006 the first major American museum retrospective of all his work will be shown at the South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art in North Carolina, the same state in which he was born.