Bob Dylan, Ken Regan, Sam Shepard, Muhammad Ali, and Govinda Gallery
Today Netflix launches Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese. Dylan hired Ken Regan to accompany him on the tour as his personal photographer. Govinda Gallery hosted Ken’s first ever exhibition, Ken Regan: Photographs of Bob Dylan and The Rolling Thunder Review, with an opening reception on January 21st, 2005 at Govinda Gallery. The exhibition was also a celebration of the publication of Sam Shepard’s book; The Rolling Thunder Logbook (Da Capo Press). It was an amazing exhibition and showcased Ken’s photos of Dylan and the scene surrounding the Rolling Thunder Review for the first time. The New York Times’ Jon Pareles gave a rave review of the film, and the New York Times used the very photo on the Govinda Gallery invitation in their story a few days ago.
Presenting Ken Regan’s first two exhibitions, the second on his photos of The Rolling Stones, was an honor and a pleasure. At the end of 2006 I started editing what was to be Ken’s first book, Knockout: The Art of Boxing (Insight Editions). I spent several weeks at Ken’s studio pouring over 20,000 negatives and transparencies of his boxing photos making the selections for the book. Of invaluable help at that time was Ken’s trusted and capable assistant Tom Justino. There were several thousand photos of Muhammad Ali alone. Knockout was published in 2007 and received a number of publishing awards.
I also spent several days recording Ken’s boxing stories at his apartment in Manhattan. These recordings became Ken’s text for Knockout. They are also a document of my time with Ken and are very special to me.
“This book may teach you everything you need to know about the art of boxing. It’s Ken Regan at his classic best.” – Muhammad Ali, from the foreword to Knockout, May 20th, 2007
“Whether it is hard news, sports, human interest, or rock and roll, the indefatigable Ken Regan is there with his fabled camera-eye. He is the illuminator of our culture, and the cultures with which ours interact.” – Budd Schulberg, from the afterword to Knockout, 2007
