MOBY
DESTROYED – INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
at GALERIE ALEX DANIELS – REFLEX AMSTERDAM starting May 31st 2011

American artist Moby launches a photographic exhibition and a photo book in London, New York, Gent, Berlin, Paris, Milano, Amsterdam, Bologna & L.A.


Destroyed, Moby’s forthcoming new album and accompanying book of photography is set for release on May 16th, alongside an international programme of exhibition of photographs, which will take place throughout the summer. The hardback edition of Destroyed is 128 pages and features 55 photographs taken by Moby. The exhibition takes place in The Netherlands starting on May 31st, running through June 13th at Galerie Alex Daniels – Reflex Amsterdam in collaboration with Galerie Famous. The opening is on May 31st with a mini-concert of Moby (by invitation only).

A litany of intriguing photo images taken all over the world, Destroyed is a by turns stark, poignant, amusing and beautiful cavalcade of surreally deserted cityscapes and urban ‘nonplaces’ - airport buildings with endless corridors that seem to lead nowhere, and semiabstract compositions of cloud forms and landscapes shot from airplane windows.

A behind-the-scenes international odyssey, Destroyed introduces us to a side of touring that is often unexposed; secluded time spent in artificial spaces like hotel rooms and backstage waiting areas. The combined album and photo book provides an intimate look at Moby’s world and his creative process as an artist, both the music and photos were created in the same period and draw inspiration from the strange and sublime world of touring. There are contrasting images of luminous but lonely hotel room vistas alongside vast, swaying crowd scenes, as snapped from the stage; their juxtaposition seemingly saying everything about the very psychological dislocation, the dramatic yin and yang of the international touring musician’s life. As Moby puts it, “Touring is all contrasts and strangeness, and that's what I'm trying to convey in these pictures.” Taking, developing and printing photographs are not new departures for Moby. Once a graduate student of film and photography at SUNY Purchase (State University of New York), he’s been a keen SLR lensman ever since he was presented with a camera, aged ten, by his Uncle - a photographer at the New York Times. To this day Moby carries a camera wherever he goes. The title and front cover of Destroyed depicts the final part of an LED security warning: Unattended luggage will be destroyed, which Moby snapped as it flashed up in a deserted hallway at New York’s La Guardia airport. Explains Moby, “One of my goals through my pictures is to take the normal and present it as odd and to take the odd and present it as normal.”

Although keen on a number of contemporary practitioners, Moby’s key photographic influences are drawn mostly from the early-to-mid 20th century, including such names as Irving Penn, André Kertész and Edward Steichen. Other, more recent influences include Sally Mann and Wolfgang Tillmans. “The technique behind photography in the ‘70s and ‘80s
almost took precedent over the composition itself, and then Wolfgang Tillmans came along and said, “by the way, if you have a crummy little instamatic camera you can make
remarkable images, and there’s something really liberating about that.”

The combination of the new Album with the photo book are opening an intimate view on Moby’s world and his creative process as an artist. The music as well as the photographs have been created in the same period.


For more information about the exhibition, the photographs and the book please contact:

Galerie Alex Daniels - Reflex Amsterdam | Weteringschans 83 | 1017 RZ Amsterdam | +31 20 423 54 23
www.reflexamsterdam.com | info@reflexamsterdam.com
or
Galerie Famous | +31 (0)20 627 28 32 | +31 (0)65 512 23 33 | www.famousauction.nl | info@famousauction.nl

Photo Book:
Moby – Destroyed
Photo book and CD is published by Damiani, € 29,90
Signed copies by Moby are available from June 1st at Galerie Alex Daniels – Reflex AMsterdam

Album:
Destroyed the album is available in CD, vinyl and digital formats. A free EP is available to download from www.moby.com


Exhibitions:
10th May - 26th June - USA - NYC - CLIC - www.clicgallery.com
18th May - 19th June - UK - London, Proud Gallery http://www.proud.co.uk/weareproud.aspx
19th May - 4th June - BELGIUM, Ghent – A&Gallery www.angels-ghosts.com
21st May - 27th May - GERMANY, Berlin MADE Gallery http://made-blog.com/
2nd May - 4th June - FRANCE - Paris, Colette - www.colette.fr/
17th May - 7th June - ITALY - Milan Colombo Arte exhibition - www.colomboarte.com/
1st June - 13th June - HOLLAND, Amsterdam - Galerie Alex Daniels – Reflex Amsterdam in collaboration with Famous Editions Amsterdam www.reflexamsterdam.com
21st July - 28th July - ITALY - Bologna - L'Inde Le Palais www.lindestore.com
10th September - USA - LA, Kopeikin Gallery - www.kopeikingallery.com/