Member of the Swedish Gallery Association
MICK ROCK – The Man Who Shot the Seventies
On November 16, 2014, A Gallery co-produced the launch exhibition for Auktionsverket’s new cultural arena in Gothenburg: The Man Who Shot the Seventies – a powerful retrospective by legendary British photographer Mick Rock. The show featured fifty iconic images spanning five decades, from early portraits of David Bowie and Lou Reed to later work with Janelle Monáe, Daft Punk and Father John Misty. More than 500 guests attended the opening night.
Mick Rock was never merely a chronicler. He created mythology. His camera didn’t just document the music world – it helped build its visual identity. Through his lens, glam became form, and form became legacy.
He photographed Syd Barrett, Queen, Blondie, Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett. He was the eye behind Lou Reed’s Transformer, Iggy and the Stooges’ Raw Power, and Queen’s Queen II – the latter later reenacted for the “Bohemian Rhapsody” video. He directed several of David Bowie’s earliest music videos, including Life on Mars and Space Oddity, and contributed stills to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Shortbus.
Rock’s archive is a time capsule of intensity, charisma and collapse. His images don’t fade into nostalgia – they burn into the present. He kept working until the end, photographing new generations of artists with the same raw energy and deep presence.
“I’ve never felt like a voyeur,” he once said. “I work from the inside out. Like a cook I gather all the ingredients and keep mixing and stirring until the effluvia starts to rise… then I’m off to the races.”
Mick Rock passed away in 2021, leaving behind one of the most iconic visual legacies in music history. To have exhibited his work in Gothenburg – and to be part of that orbit, even briefly – was a privilege.
Photographer opening & interior: © Dino Soldin, © Mikael Almse
© Estate of Mick Rock – www.mickrock.com