Bill Owens: Altamont 1969

Description

Altamont 1969 by Bill Owens presents a new and unpublished series of work, black and white photographs documenting the unique moment of the first large Rolling Stones concert at Raceway Altamont in California. This was the period of protest movements in San Francisco. Bill Owens captured the young generation's desire to stand up and raise their voice against the war in Vietnam, against segregation and racial discrimination, and against authority in general. Slogans and billboards, sit-ins and demonstrations are evidence of the cultural agitation of those years. Together with the Stones, other major rock bands appeared on stage, including Grace Slick, Jefferson Airplane, Carlos Santana and many others, while the Hells Angels were employed as security. Bill Owens has always been involved in socio-anthropological aspects of American culture and in the rise of the collective movement of protest and criticism against the misuse of power. Here, he uses photography as a kind of 'visual anthropologist', painting a fresco' of the cultural revolution that marked the entire world during the 1960s.

Born in San Jose, California, Bill Owens made his name in 1973 with Suburbia and numerous other monographs on the customs of middle-class America. A collector of folk art and pop memorabilia, Owens has dealt with subjects such as food and vintage cars. In the early 1980s Owens became a beer producer and in 1983 opened 'Buffalo Bill's Brewery'. Three years later, he founded the first American Brewer Magazine , a periodical dedicated to beer. His photographs have been exhibited internationally and are in many collections including the Museum of Modern Art, Berkeley Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, San Jose Museum of Art and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Bill Owens' latest book presents an unpublished series of photographs documenting the unique moments of The Rolling Stones's first concert at Altamont Raceway Park in California.-- "Juxtapoz" "Altamont 1969" [is a] fascinating collection of photographs, in addition to being an important document of a turbulent chapter in American cultural history.--Jonathan Blaustein "New York Times" On the morning of the concert, photographer Bill Owens, assigned by the Associated Press to cover the event, climbed a light tower to get into position. He watched as tens of thousands of people filed in, and he noticed how little had been put in place to serve them.--Geoff Edgers "Washington Post"