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Janette Beckman’s Artist Statement

“Once upon a time in the UK, before MTV and big business took over the music industry, before people became obsessed with money, before the time of stylists and expensive designer labels, when bands had total artistic control, anything seemed possible, there were no rules and they were making it up as they went along.

“Just out of art school, I was working for the music paper Melody Maker taking photos of three or more bands a week. Around the corner in Covent Garden was my attic ‘studio’ and darkroom—a tiny room with no heat and a bucket to catch the rain dripping through the hole in the ceiling. It was right in the centre of London, close to all the best clubs, pubs, and cafes, and my rent was $70 per month. Brilliant.

“The bands were just like us, a mix of mostly working-class kids and former art students. There were no publicists to keep you away from the band; you traveled with them on the coach, hung out in the bar, ate in the ‘caff,’ went to the sound check, and poked your camera wherever you could.

“The fans were often friends of the bands. They looked fantastic: punks, skinheads, rockabilly, 2 tone, self-styled kids with that attention to detail. They were wearing bin liners (garbage bags), shopping at jumble sales, army surplus stores, ripping up their mum’s old sweater, sticking a few safety pins in their school blazer to look good. It was the D.I.Y. aesthetic and it didn’t cost anything.

“You didn’t have to follow the traditional idea of ‘beauty’ to be a star. Think Polystyrene with her braces on her teeth and wild hair singing ‘Oh bondage up yours’; Shane Macgowan, the spotty punk; Jerry Dammers with this front teeth missing. Style, attitude, and music were everything.

“As Dee Dee Ramone said ‘[Punk] gave everyone a chance to say something. That's revolution.’ And despite unemployment and ‘No Future,’ many people look back on those years between 1977 and 1983 affectionately as one of the last times that their generation felt so happy and carefree.”
—New York, July 29, 2005
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Made in the UK documents the years between 1977 and 1983, a time when British music pushed every boundary. photographer Janette Beckman had extraordinary access to the musicians topping the UK charts—icons of an era when music had an agenda—including Joe Strummer, The Beat, The Specials, John Lydon, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dee Dee Ramone, The Damned, Debbie Harry, The Raincoats, The Mo-dettes, Laurel Aitkin, Steve Strange, the Rokats, the Undertones, and the fans themselves. Among these groups, this generation still had the radical idea that each and every punk, skin, mod, rude boy, and rocker was just as important as the bands. Beckman’s gritty aesthetic placed her on good footing among the kids on the street—and the portraits she made prove that attitude never dies.

“The photograph of Paul Weller and Pete Townsend completely sums up my teenage years—self-conscious and fantastical about details. The books also shows how the music industry has changed. Back then, it was basic, down-to-earth photographs, taken in scruffy clothes or backstage changing rooms. Today, everything is so ‘thought about,’ image-conscious, marketed, and packaged. I know which I prefer.”
—Paul Smith

UK Exhibition
September 23–October 14, 2005
Paul Smith
41-44 Floral Street, London WC2
Paul Smith Press Contact: Sadie Watts
Tel: +44-207-66-70, email: sadie.watts@paulsmith.co.uk

Londoner Janette Beckman began her career at the dawn of punk rock working for The Face and Melody Maker. Beckman photographed groundbreaking album covers for The Police’s first three albums. Moving to New York in 1982, she was instantly drawn to the underground hip hop scene. Her photographs of the pioneers Afrika Bambaataa, Run DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, and Grandmaster Flash are collected in RAP: Portraits and Lyrics of a Generation of Black Rockers (St. Martin’s Press, 1991). Beckman’s work has appeared in Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Glamour, among others. She lives and works in New York.

Founded in 1960, Dr. Martens is one of the world's most recognized and authentic footwear brands. Parent company, UK based, R. Griggs Group Limited has been involved in shoemaking since 1901 and has taken the brand from humble beginnings to what is now a cultural icon and a workplace staple.

The brand's heritage is rooted in work, yet it's been adopted as the footwear of choice by fashion subcultures for over 40 years and continues to inspire individual expression. Dr. Martens offers some of the highest quality footwear in the world featuring the very best in craftsmanship and original styling. The Website can be viewed at www.drmartens.com

For more information, please contact Sara Rosen, Publicity Director
powerHouse Books, 68 Charlton Street, New York, NY 10014
Tel: 212-604-9074 x105, Fax: 212-366-5247, email: sara@powerHouseBooks.com

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