RON GALELLA
Vintage Galella

14 Sept – 1 Oct 2011

Hailed ‘the Godfather of the American paparazzi culture’ by Time and Vanity Fair, Ron Galella, born 1931, is regarded the most controversial celebrity photographer in the world. Located at the intersection of visual documentation and a performative art practice, Galella’s photographs have gained critical recognition as a contemporary art form.

This exhibition marks Galella’s first commercial gallery show in the UK. Concentrating on the sixties and seventies, the exhibition will include around thirty-five vintage prints from his personal archive and comprises images of celebrities such as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Steve Martin, Rod Stewart, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson, Andy Warhol, Bob Hope, Elvis Presley, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman and Elton John amongst others. Prices range from $4,000 - $15,000 USD.

Galella has made a career of taking unauthorised photos of celebrities and is willing to take great risks to secure the perfect shot. He is known for his obsessive treatment of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and the infamous court battles which resulted in one restraining order to keep him twenty-five feet away from her and her children. He was found guilty of breaking this order four times and faced seven years in jail and a $120,000 USD fine; later settling for a $10,000 USD fine and surrendering his rights to photograph Jackie and her children.

Additionally, he suffered a serious beating by Richard Burton’s bodyguards as well as a punch in the face by notoriously reclusive actor Marlon Brando, breaking his jaw and knocking out five of his teeth. Galella hired an attorney to sue Brando, who later revealed in Smash His Camera that Galella received only two thirds of his $40,000 USD settlement but that his primary concern was revealing this message “I don’t want anyone to think they can go around punching me if I am taking their picture, get that story out, not the money.”

Ultimately, it is his passion for photojournalism and the locus of his work between art and documentary practice that results in Galella’s prints being exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the world; including the New York MOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern, London and the Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin.

Galella served as a United States Air Force photographer during the Korean conflict before attending the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles where he earned a degree in Photojournalism. His work has since featured in numerous publications including Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Life and The New York Times; a number of books have been published on his work, No Pictures (2008, PowerHouse Books), Warhol by Galella: That’s Great! (2008, Verlhac Editions, Monacelli Press, Seeman Henschel Verlag), The Photographs of Ron Galella: 1965 – 1989 (2001, Greybull Press), Jacqueline (1974, Sheed and Ward, Inc.); and he is the subject of a 2010 documentary film directed by Leon Gast entitled Smash His Camera.