LEE JAFFE: REGGAE RISING à Los Angeles
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MB Fine Art Los Angeles is pleased to present Reggae Rising, an exhibition of photographs by multimedia artistLee Jaffe. In Reggae Rising, Jaffe poignantly captures the spirit of the reggae movement in Jamaica with compelling photographs of legendary artist Bob Marley and the Wailers before and during their rise to international acclaim.
In 1973, a chance meeting in a New York City hotel between a twenty-three year-old rising star in the conceptual art movement named Lee Jaffe and the soon-to-be reggae icon Bob Marley would lead to afriendship and collaboration that would change both of their lives. Marley gave Jaffe a copy of his soon to bereleased album Catch a Fire. For Jaffe, having just seen The Harder They Come (the first movie to bring reggae to a global audience starring reggae icon Jimmy Cliff), “it was like the movie had just walked off the screen. And[he] was now face to face with the voice of a group whose music was the most revolutionary [he] had ever heard.”
The message of the music moved Jaffe so much that he put his art career on hold and followed his new friend toJamaica and became an official member of the Wailers, jamming everyday with Marley, organizing the Wailers’first American tour, playing harmonica on the Natty Dread album, producing Peter Tosh’s Legalize It album and, essentially, adopting the Rastafarian lifestyle that was heralded by this new music. Despite the fact that themusic occupied so much of his time, Jaffe quickly realized he could no longer suppress his fine art production.Understanding that he was witnessing a cultural revolution before his very eyes, Jaffe picked up his camera and began documenting the rise of reggae.
Just as William Claxton’s unique and sensual renderings of the early California jazz scene capture the essence of the first truly American musical form, so does Jaffe bring to life Jamaica’s most important art form thatcontinues to have an enormous impact on people of all races throughout the world. Jaffe’s evocative images—like the music itself—transcends all genres, classes and creeds through a combination of inherent humility and profound wisdom. According to Billboard Magazine, “particularly pleasing are the black and whiteshots of Marley reading the Bible and Tosh sound checking for a University of Miami gig. But Jaffe’s manyportraits of lesser-known, but nonetheless key figures add invaluable detail to the story behind reggae’s greatest music.” No other photographer was around to capture these timeless moments of such important cultural significance. And considering Jaffe’s fine art background and close friendship with the group, no one else couldhave captured Marley in the way that Jaffe himself described as a man with a “certain aura, a certain calmness, a certain stoicism amid all the rock and roll hubris. In it, but not of it. And certainly not of this place.”
© Lee Jaffe
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 Mots clès / Tags : jaffe, reggae, his, marley, art, with, he, music, it, no, but, certain, rising, wailers, just, first, so, an, fine, all,
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