Roberta Bayley

Comments (0) Thursday, Jul 19 2012

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Annenberg Space for Photography

2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067

Category: Galleries

Region: West L.A.

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Wedged in between photography lectures by Henry Rollins and Edward Colver (the man behind the cover of Steven Blush's book American Hardcore, followed by the 2006 documentary of the same name), Roberta Bayley discusses her career as a punk rock shutterbug in conjunction with the Annenberg Space for Photography's "Who Shot Rock & Roll" exhibit. When punk was spewed from music's angry womb in New York in the mid-'70s, Bayley had as much know-how shooting the scene as the musicians had playing their instruments. Bayley was a Pasadena-born, San Francisco–raised college dropout when she started working the door at CBGB, where she befriended the likes of The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, The Clash, Iggy Pop and Richard Hell. Bayley would go on to shoot the cover of Hell and the Voidoids' album Blank Generation, follow the Sex Pistols on their disastrous, short-lived American tour and work for Punk magazine (it's her picture of The Heartbreakers on the cover of co-owner Legs McNeil's 1997 tome Please Kill Me). But perhaps Bayley's most memorable photo -- and one of the best known in punk history -- is the B&W shot of Queens' fab four standing in front of a brick building for their first record; it has become as synonymous with The Ramones' imagery as their presidential-seal logo. Annenberg Space for Photography, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Century City; Thurs., July 26, 6:30-8 p.m.; free. (213) 403-3000, annenbergspaceforphotography.org. --S.B.
Thu., July 26, 6:30 p.m., 2012