Out of Mind, Right on Time

June 13, 2007


Being in the right place at the right time enough to get called a "zelig
of photography
" may not elevate Shawn Mortensen´s images to the same
level as the work of some of his most notable subjects (Raymond
Pettibon, Ed Ruscha, William Eggleston, etc), but the photo
retrospective Out of Mind certainly makes a strong case for him being
cool as hell. The 213 pages of portraits jump from a polaroid of Keith
Haring drinking a Bud in 1989 to a merely scruffy Devendra Banhart in
2002 to Mark Gonzales riding a bike up walls in 2005. But some of
Mortensen's best work has been when he's left the cultural kingdoms and
documented the wild life in Kingston, Jamaica and Chiapas, Mexico. In
Out of Mind Mortensen can simultaneously make a young and scrawny Snoop
Dogg look just as dangerous, accessible and, yes, cool as the
Zapatistas. On June 21st, Meltdown Comics in LA will host a party for the book's release along with an exhibition of some of its images.

Posted: June 13, 2007
Out of Mind, Right on Time