The Sexy ’70s
Annie Leibovitz at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles
No one makes it through life without looking back and wondering what it all means, how it all aligns, or why the pieces juxtapose against each other with such erratic strategy. Annie Leibovitz is no exception, and in her new show at Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles, she relinquishes the role of photographer and becomes both curator and auto-archaeologist, digging up 4000 sacred relics from her early career.
Annie Leibovitz. The Early Years, 1970 – 1983: Archive Project No. 1 opened as a new take on the 2017 exhibition of the same title presented by the LUMA Foundation’s Parc des Ateliers in Arles, France. The exhibition is on view through April 14, 2019.
Leibovitz’s work immortalizes the shaggy, salty, sinewy vibe of the 1970s. The Rolling Stones, Rolling Stone, the sequined pop silhouettes of Elton John, Andy Warhol, and Mick Jagger–it’s impossible to spend any amount of time reminiscing about the golden age of rock and roll without falling into a glittering bed of Leibovitz’s photographs. Between the whiskey and the lens, however, are far more intimate moments than she’s ever undressed for her viewers before.
These telling scenes of her family and personal life rounds out the road-fatigued glimpses of fame. Instead, they serve us the comfort of breakfast in a flyover state diner; they serve the peace of a family picnic on a cloudy day. Leibovitz unburies 4000 memories alongside her realized dreams, and we’ve never been so spellbound.
