Kim Gordon: No Icon

Description

An illustrated portrait of the life and work of Kim Gordon, one of the great musical icons of the last forty years and a founding member of Sonic Youth, fashion icon, and role model for a generation of women. Kim Gordon is best known as the bassist, vocalist and founding member of the legendary rock band Sonic Youth, one of the most influential and successful bands to emerge from the post-punk New York scene. Although her artwork is not as well known as the band, Gordon is also taken seriously in the art-world, exhibiting in museums and galleries worldwide. This illustrated scrapbook is an edgy and evocative portrait of Gordon's life, art and style. Spanning from her childhood surfing in California in the 60's and 70's, to New York's downtown art and music scene in the 80's and 90's where Sonic Youth was born. Depicted through unpublished personal photographs, magazine and newspaper clippings, fashion editorials and advertising campaigns, interspersed with Gordon's song lyrics, art works, private objects and ephemera, theoretical art writings and even a handful of her favourite recipes.

Kim Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, visual artist, and actress. She rose to prominence in the late 1980s as a bassist, guitarist, and vocalist in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Her autobiographical memoir A Girl in a Band, 2015 became a New York Times best seller. She is represented by 303 Gallery in New York City has had solo shows at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pitsburgh, PA and The Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.

"Kim Gordon might say she's no icon, but we beg to differ. The musician, most famously known as the co-founder of Sonic Youth, has recently released her sprawling visual anthology titled No Icon, published by Rizzoli. As with all great photography books, it features never-before-seen pictures, writings, and other memorabilia that she's collected throughout her prolific career and punk life. Serving as a follow-up to her 2015 memoir Girl in a Band, Gordon's latest autobiographical effort is a backstage look at her life, beginning in '60s sunny California to downtown New York in the '80s, where Sonic Youth was conceived. With a foreword written by musician, actor, and fellow riot grrrl Carrie Brownstein, No Icon is a guaranteed necessity for anyone with an inner punk rocker, or simply a coffee table enthusiast." - INTERVIEW "Kim Gordon, the co-founder of rock band Sonic Youth, put together this scrapbook of personal photographs, journal entries and lyrics, paired with magazine and newspaper clippings and even ads, to document and give context to her life and career as a musician and artist." - NEW YORK MAGAZINE "Nineties fashion, celebrity intrigue and punk rock nostalgia intertwine in KIM GORDON: No Icon (Rizzoli, $45), a scrapbook-style memoir of a life and career spent in the furthest depths of the New York underground." - NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW