By The Neck, The Photography of Danny Clinch
By The Neck, an exhibition of photographs by Danny Clinch, was on view at The Milton J. Weill Art Gallery at the 92nd Street Y to run concurrently with the New York Guitar Festival. The exhibit was curated by the New York Guitar Festival's David Spelman.
ABOUT DANNY CLINCH: Over the past 15 years, Danny Clinch has established himself as one of the premiere photographers on the popular music scene. A New Jersey native, Clinch began his professional career working as an intern for Annie Liebovitz, one of his initial inspirations. Clinch absorbed other important lessons while assisting Steven Meisel, Timothy White and Mary Ellen Mark.
He has shot everyone from Radiohead to Public Enemy, from Phish to Metallica, from Johnny Cash to Bruce Springsteen and his work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Spin, Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Mojo and Q. In addition to his frequent work for magazines and album covers, Clinch has presented his work in numerous galleries as well as published two books: Discovery Inn (1998), which is a collection of work shot over a ten-year period, and When the Iron Bird Flies (2000), which documents the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, where Clinch was the official photographer.
In 2002, Clinch launched his filmmaking career with "Pleasure and Pain," a feature length documentary about Ben Harper, a young roots-rock musician with a passionate following. The film was immediately picked up by Seventh Art Releasing. His most recent directorial accomplishment is "270 Miles From Graceland" documenting the 2003 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee featuring performances from Sonic Youth, Polyphonic Spree, The Flaming Lips, The Allman Brothers Band, and James Brown to name a few. The feature length film premiered at the historic Ziegfeld Theater in New York City.
As for the future, Clinch wants to keep on doing it all - shooting for magazines, putting together books, making films. "I’m known as a music photographer, and I’m very proud of that" he says. "But I want to continue doing films and photo essays – personal projects that are good for the soul. The photographers I most admire – like Robert Frank or Irving Penn – never allowed themselves to be pigeonholed."
