Overview

""Lively, lavishly assembled collection of Black Flag photos . . . Fury is palpable throughout the book-even rehearsals look like barnburners."" -Los Angeles Times ""Many of Friedman's photos of the band midperformance include, critically, galvanized audience members, which reinforces the idea that early punk was a social movement. Friedman . . . has been fighting the good fight with his lens for decades. What I See documents a band standing in for any artist committed to questioning rules and living with integrity."" -Shelf Awareness, Starred Review What I See: The Black Flag Photographs of Glen E. Friedman is an incredible compilation of all of Friedman's most iconic and recognizable images (from 1980 to 1983), of this seminal American punk band, as well as over one hundred never-before-seen photos made during those phenomenal peak years in the group's history. The book includes a foreword by Chuck Dukowski, a cofounder and bass player of Black Flag. Friedman's own introduction to the book takes readers through his journey with the group, from the very first time he heard their music, to his perspectives on the music of the era, to the how, why, and what Black Flag was doing at the time. His words provide additional context to the imagery, explaining what drove him to create his art alongside the band. From the streets around Black Flag's single-room home base/office, rehearsing for their first album, handing out flyers, wheat-pasting posters, driving for hours to a show and returning the same night, house parties, clubs, to the big stage and the beach, Glen E. Friedman was there with his heart, soul, and most importantly his camera. In What I See, he shares with us and inspires us with these images that were made over an incredibly volatile four-year time span.

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9781636140360

Table of Contents

Reviews

This is an excellent hardcover art book that preserves the savage work of Friedman, Black Flag, and Raymond Pettibon. --Punk Globe Evidence of how one band's music--and especially its attitude--became essential and inspiring. --Kirkus Reviews A truly memorable and thought-provoking compendium. --Midwest Book Review Praise for previous books by Glen E. Friedman: While most photographers were taking photos of Fugazi, Glen was making photos with us. --Ian MacKaye, Fugazi, on Keep Your Eyes Open Everyone knows the old saying, 'A picture's worth a 1,000 words.' It couldn't be more true with this pictorial retrospective of Fugazi, one of the most influential rock bands from the 20th century. Fugazi's career and DIY ethic are captured in photographs of gigs from their hometown of Washington, DC and abroad. --Alternative Press, on Keep Your Eyes Open Photographer Glen E. Friedman has taken some of the most iconic photos in skateboarding, punk rock and hip hop. Known for capturing the raw energy of a counterculture generation in its prime, his photography helped shape the way people view punk music and redefined the sport of skateboarding. --q (CBC Radio) Friedman . . . marvelously captures [Fugazi's] non-hierarchical structure and spirit . . . These images bristle with the manic yet controlled energy that characterized all of Fugazi's performances. Sweat sparkles, bodies contort themselves, microphone stands fly off the stage. --Bookforum, on Keep Your Eyes Open DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys is a stunning book that blends historic words and reports with a photo archive that has a golden shelf in the annals of skateboarding. --SurferToday, One of the Best Skateboard Books of All Time [Friedman's] knack for being in the right place at an extraordinary amount of right times, coupled with his ability to size up noteworthy characters and scenes, has secured his place as one of the most important and recognized photographers of youth culture . . . If it wasn't for these photos and these words, the story of the Z-Boys may have never been told, and the impact skateboarding's had on the world would have been significantly reduced. --Strength Magazine, on DogTown [An] amazing collection of images from Friedman, who was a skater and friend of the Z-Boys and managed to be there for a ridiculous amount of the important sessions (Tony Alva's first frontside air ever?!) . . . The book picks the best of the best from [Stecyk's] articles and photos, and coupled with Friedman's you get a very personal and complete sense of what the whole deal was really about . . . [A]s a skater, you not only owe it to yourself to check these things out and learn what went down way back when, but you owe it to these guys who changed skating forever. --SLAP Magazine, on DogTown The Idealist is a retrospective collection of Friedman's aesthetics, [featuring] some of the images for which he is justly acclaimed and many others that will be new to his fans, ranging from DogTown skateboarders, and hard-core heroes to hip-hop icons, cityscapes to portraits, public intellectuals to historical monuments. --BOMB Recognize your humility, recognize the power of nature, recognize the beauty of the world. It is rare to find a photography book like this, one that genuinely and with total directness conveys the spiritual qualities of the material world. --LA Weekly, on Recognize

While most photographers were taking photos of Fugazi, Glen was making photos with us. --Ian MacKaye, Fugazi, on Keep Your Eyes Open Everyone knows the old saying, 'A picture's worth a 1,000 words.' It couldn't be more true with this pictorial retrospective of Fugazi, one of the most influential rock bands from the 20th century. Fugazi's career and DIY ethic are captured in photographs of gigs from their hometown of Washington, DC and abroad. --Alternative Press, on Keep Your Eyes Open Photographer Glen E. Friedman has taken some of the most iconic photos in skateboarding, punk rock and hip hop. Known for capturing the raw energy of a counterculture generation in its prime, his photography helped shape the way people view punk music and redefined the sport of skateboarding. --q (CBC Radio) Friedman . . . marvelously captures [Fugazi's] non-hierarchical structure and spirit . . . These images bristle with the manic yet controlled energy that characterized all of Fugazi's performances. Sweat sparkles, bodies contort themselves, microphone stands fly off the stage. --Bookforum, on Keep Your Eyes Open DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys is a stunning book that blends historic words and reports with a photo archive that has a golden shelf in the annals of skateboarding. --SurferToday, One of the Best Skateboard Books of All Time [Friedman's] knack for being in the right place at an extraordinary amount of right times, coupled with his ability to size up noteworthy characters and scenes, has secured his place as one of the most important and recognized photographers of youth culture . . . If it wasn't for these photos and these words, the story of the Z-Boys may have never been told, and the impact skateboarding's had on the world would have been significantly reduced. --Strength Magazine, on DogTown [An] amazing collection of images from Friedman, who was a skater and friend of the Z-Boys and managed to be there for a ridiculous amount of the important sessions (Tony Alva's first frontside air ever?!) . . . The book picks the best of the best from [Stecyk's] articles and photos, and coupled with Friedman's you get a very personal and complete sense of what the whole deal was really about . . . [A]s a skater, you not only owe it to yourself to check these things out and learn what went down way back when, but you owe it to these guys who changed skating forever. --SLAP Magazine, on DogTown The Idealist is a retrospective collection of Friedman's aesthetics, [featuring] some of the images for which he is justly acclaimed and many others that will be new to his fans, ranging from DogTown skateboarders, and hard-core heroes to hip-hop icons, cityscapes to portraits, public intellectuals to historical monuments. --BOMB Recognize your humility, recognize the power of nature, recognize the beauty of the world. It is rare to find a photography book like this, one that genuinely and with total directness conveys the spiritual qualities of the material world. --LA Weekly, on Recognize

Author Information

Glen E. Friedman, one of the most important photographers of his generation, is known for his influential and iconic images of rebellious artists from classic skateboarding, punk, and hip-hop cultures. As a true artist his process was much more incendiary than it was documentary. Friedman, first published at the age of fourteen, has produced over one hundred record covers, countless magazine pages, and almost a dozen books, including DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys, Keep Your Eyes Open, The Idealist, Recognize, My Rules, and Together Forever: The Run-DMC and Beastie Boys Photographs. His work is now included in a number of notable international collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution .

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