November 21st to February 2, 2020
October 24, 2019- New York City: In collaboration with 10 Corso Como, Getty Images Gallery today announced Beat Positive, a new exhibition which will bring to life the dawn of hip hop culture through a series of iconic and rare photographs. On view from November 21st to February 2, 2020, the exhibition will showcase vibrant images from music photographers Janette Beckman and David Corio alongside never before seen material from the Getty Images archives, including images of a young LL Cool J, triptychs of The Fat Boys filming their ‘Jail House Rap’ video and the Beastie Boys in concert – images on display will all be available to buy as fine art prints.
Using the four main elements of hip-hop – turntablism, MC’ing, graffiti writing and break dancing – as a jumping off point, Getty Images Gallery Curator Shawn Waldron worked with Beckman and Corio to create a unique offering of limited-edition prints capturing everyone who was anyone in the early days of hip-hop.
Shawn Waldron, Curator, Getty Images Gallery said: “The opportunity to work with photographers Janette Beckman and David Corio is a dream come true. Their authentic portraits shot in New York and London between 1982 and 1993 are a time capsule to the days when hip hop, graffiti and b-boys truly went global. Their pictures showed the world the faces (and fashions) behind this incredible musical culture as it burst from the streets of New York. For music fans and hip-hop heads, it is not to be missed.”
Londoners Janette Beckman and David Corio first discovered hip hop in 1982 while on assignment for music magazines such as NME, Melody Maker and The Face. It gained them both access to a genre of music and cultural phenomenon, still in its infancy, which would go on to shape and dominate global music charts just a few decades later. Their early portraits of Run DMC, Slick Rick, Salt ‘n’ Pepa, Whodini, Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah and the Beastie Boys, along with many others, are now considered classics of the genre. Their work has been shown internationally at museums and galleries such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Museum of the City of New York, the Annenberg Space and Powerhouse Gallery.
The official opening will take place on Thursday, November 21 from 6-8PM. Photographers Janette Beckman and David Corio will be hosting a walkthrough of the exhibition on Saturday, November 23 from 3-5PM. Both events are open to the public.
See silkscreen prints by Janette Beckman here.