It has been more than 2 years since singer David Bowie passed away in Manhattan. His collection of art and artifacts have come almost full circle, ending with their final exhibition stop in New York City. The worldwide “tour” began more than 5 years ago in London and has found maximum interest wherever it has landed. Matthew Yablonsky is the coordinating curator for the show. This collection of artifacts tells the story of Bowie’s musical legend, not from a musical perspective but from how he got his inspiration for so many of his songs. He was said to have seen the 1950’s unique talent and style of Little Richard in a photograph. Little Richard was entering a red car wearing a red suit, at which point Bowie said, “Now that’s rock and roll.”
What is amazing is that Bowie’s career spanned 55 years. His goal was to take what was his definition of visually defining cultural “cool” and working to turn it into the songs we loved to hear. The artifact collection contains more than 100 items, including everything from physical sketches to props used on stage. Bowie may have said this was a tapestry of his mind, his music, and his career. If you are a collector of album covers, the collection includes the Polaroid (non-digital) pictures he used as the basis for his album covers.
Parts of the collection were actually purchased on the eBay website. This is an important point if you are someone who has collected the old vinyl records and kept them in their sleeves intact, and their album covers in pristine condition. Making them available on eBay may the next step in making a solid chunk of money and becoming a part of rock and roll history. Sandra Hirshkowitz was Bowie’s artifact manager and has made available a large portion of the exhibit.
Attendees will be able to walk through a timeline of David Bowie’s life, from his beginning as David Jones and his transformation to his signature style and music. Many of the exhibitions are collaborations by people who worked with Bowie and those who knew him well.
If you are wondering about why you would attend such an exhibition, even if you are not a Bowie fan you will be able to appreciate the methods and motivations used to created music. Every artist, musician, writer, and filmmaker draws their inspiration from somewhere, usually the world around them. Oftentimes that creative process is hidden and all most people get to see and hear is the end result. This offers an opportunity to both connect with his music and begin to understand the creative process.
Someone once said that we cover what we see with our eyes. Bowie coveted the ideas of what he saw and fashioned them into the many stories we hear in his musical lyrics. From the beginning of his career he wanted to be unconventional while experimenting with the ideas that were rattling around in his head. The artifact collection tells about that journey in a number of ways.
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