Most
top music photographers tend to shy away from the public eye, and Scarpati is
no exception. Over the three decades that he’s been creating iconic images for
everyone from Jane’s Addiction to Kenny Rogers, he has only granted a handful
of interviews.
So
it’s especially interesting to see Scarpati finally stepping out of the shadows
and becoming more visible online via his personal Etsy shop.
Scarpati’s lens has chronicled a staggering range of rock, metal and punk acts including Poison, Circle Jerks, Social Distortion and Rush. His work has been cited by the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, PDN, and more. His photos of the band Fishbone are in the Smithsonian Institute’s permanent collection. He’s been called the house photographer of the Sunset Strip.
Now
he’s offering unprecedented access to museum-quality art prints of select
images, along with lovingly restored movie lights from Hollywood’s golden age.
To describe
this shop as one-of-a-kind would be an understatement.
Looking
through the prints available, it’s clear this project is a labor of love.
Large-format archival prints, and museum-quality canvas,
elevate the works to a level rarely seen in the genre. Clearly, the intent was
to make each one a true statement piece.
And
the movie lights? Apparently even a jet-setting photographer needs a hobby.
Scarpati has taken to scouring old Hollywood studio supply warehouses in search
of restoration-worthy examples. He tends to favor lights by famed makers like Bardwell & McAlister and Mole Richardson. Made between the 1920s
and 1940’s, each is a one-of-a-kind original, complete with vintage stand or
tripod. They exude the sort of patina that can’t be matched by cheaply
mass-produced repros. Yet ironically, the lights in his Etsy shop actually cost
less than the replicas available in upscale malls.
How did all of this come together?
As the
photographer himself explains, he wanted to be a painter. He wanted to be a
rock star. He ended up being neither – and both. Scarpati, whose images have
become some of the most enduring icons of metal, rock and punk, was raised in
New Jersey, came of age in San Diego, gained notoriety in Los Angeles, and now
calls Nashville home.
Success
often comes in waves, and clearly the surf’s up for this beach-loving lens
junkie. He’s shot epic album covers for country megadiva Lee Ann Womack, as
well as the pinker-than-pink packaging adorning the New York Dolls’
critically-acclaimed comeback album. Apple even chose the Dolls cover to
feature in an ad campaign promoting hot new iPod colors.
Then
there was that call from a little place back east known as the Smithsonian. As
a result, a series of images culled from Scarpati’s first shoot with the band
Fishbone is now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African American
History and Culture (to be completed in 2015).
The TV blockbuster Nashville
recently used large-format prints from Scarpati’s Eyes Wide Open compilation to adorn the walls of a recording studio
set.
Scarpati’s
name was again thrust into the limelight recently when renegade indie record label captain and obsessive art collector
John Edward Mermis, a.k.a. Long Gone John, acquired a large-format silkscreen
of a classic 1984 Scarpati photograph as his birthday present to himself.
Mermis has amassed a collection of
art and pop ephemera rumored to be worth in the millions. His label, Sympathy for the
Record Industry, has released recordings by hundreds of bands from all over the
world. These include early efforts by the White Stripes, Courtney Love and Redd
Kross. Clearly, Mermis has a keen ear (and eye) for quality. It’s not
surprising he’s focused in on Scarpati’s work.
Find
Scarpati on Etsy here.
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