Govinda Gallery

Greg Gorman has just had published his latest book, It’s Not About Me: A Retrospective. I have all of Greg’s books of his photographs, and this retrospective of his decades long career is remarkable, and perhaps his best book. Among the almost 400 stunning portraits in the book are David Bowie, Dustin Hoffman, Glenn Close, Isaac Hayes, David Letterman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sidney Poitier, Billy Idol, Drew Barrymore, Jane Fonda, Peter O’Toole, Viggo Mortensen, Quincy Jones, Brad Pitt, Dave Chappelle, Howard Stern, Al Pacino, Robin Wright, and so many more.

It was indeed a great pleasure for me to have presented one of Greg’s earliest exhibitions. I first met Greg at his art filled home in Los Angeles with Robert Hayes, the legendary photo editor at Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. I had just exhibited the ground breaking show Modern Masters: Five Interview Magazine Photographers during the Fall of 1982 at Govinda Gallery. My college chum and life long friend Bob Colacello, editor of Interview at the time, suggested the idea for that exhibition to me. I was introduced to contemporary photography through my association with Interview, and it made a lasting impact on the photographic legacy at Govinda. Greg was part of the Modern Masters exhibition, and remains an invaluable part of our photographic program at Govinda.

A Los Angeles version of Modern Masters followed the Govinda debut, and I went to Los Angeles for the exhibition opening with Robert Hayes, who curated both exhibitions. Greg had us to his home for a visit and it is a day I will never forget, especially because of Greg’s extraordinary hospitality. I went on to present a number of exhibitions of Greg’s photographs at Govinda Gallery including Greg Gorman Volume 1, Photographs in the fall of 1990, and Greg Gorman Inside Life in the spring of 1997. Both exhibitions were also a launch for Greg’s books of the same name.

Gorman’s work was also featured in the Govinda exhibitions New Nudes in the spring of 1989 and in Govinda Gallery: Twenty-fifth Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition in the fall of 2000. Greg’s portrait of George Clinton in Los Angeles in 1984 was a sensation as part of the traveling museum exhibition Sound and Vision: Monumental Rock & Roll Photography which I had the pleasure of curating and to co-organize with The Columbus Museum.

Thank you Greg for your wonderful photographs!

Greg Gorman’s book It’s Not About Me is published by teNeues. It features a foreword by Sir Elton John, an introduction by Matthias Harder from the Helmut Newton Foundation, and an epilogue by John Waters. For more information or to order go to www.teneues.com.

Greg Gorman’s photographs are available from Govinda Gallery.

I am immensely humbled by this wonderful group of personalities––all brave souls who cared and put their trust in me.
Greg Gorman