Planet Notion - Nobby Clark: Starf*cker. Photographs of The Rolling Stones.

19/09/2008

I have to talk about going to a photography exhibition. About the juxtaposition of the light and “OH, would you look at the way that Orange just happens to be in the centre of that woman’s bosom” (and all that jazz). About how the shot looks so AMAZING and the way this looks with that and “OH! Look at the way the light looks like a HALO!” But I can’t really do that. I don’t know what makes the perfect photograph in the eye of the connoisseur; the same as I don’t know what makes the perfect meringue, mash or onion gravy. What I do know is that if it tastes good I’ll eat it.

So I wandered down to Nobby Clark’s latest exhibition at the GX Gallery in Camberwell; got a bus and a train and everything. Personally invited… The exhibition’s called Starf*cker and it’s a collection of photographs - many unseen, from Nobby’s time at the Observer. Nobby was assigned to cover the Rolling Stones at Earl’s Court in ’76, which is kinda like being asked to go on an all expenses paid trip to Tangier with the name and number of the finest local whore-house. Catch my drift?

The title of the exhibition (just to clear it up) refers to a Stones song from their 1973 album, Goats Head Soup. The album was panned by many who claimed that it was the End of the Stones ‘Golden Era’. But the track, Starf*cker (later renamed Star Star), became part of Stones mythology with its lurid lyrics on celebrity sex exploits. We’re talking references to John Wayne, Steve McQueen, “tricks with fruit”, keeping “your pussy clean” and so on and so forth. It’s an excellent album and an excellent song, so screw the doubters… It summed up the spirit and the legend of the Stones to a T. For that I love it; Nobby must have too.

Ahem; to the exhibition. Whether you’re a fan of the Stones or not - if you like your rock n’ roll with lashings of attitude, barrels of swagger, oozing sexual energy and dripping with big-tour glam, you’ll probably love Nobby’s iconic photographs regardless. Has it all in abundance. I’m no expert and you don’t have to be to feel an appreciation for the work on display at the GX Gallery…

Put it this way… I could even (sort of) understand why some of the photographs were special from an arty perspective; I could appreciate the awesomeness of Nobby’s shots. Let’s just think about it for a second, you know, put things into perspective here. These are photographs taken during a Stones performance. I mean, nobody knows what’s going to

happen when the Stones are performing, right? You can’t prepare for anything. Especially with Jagger gallivanting around like an antelope on hind-legs, dressed, from head to hoof, in skin-tight, knob-pinching, extrovert garb…

Indeed, this is part of the reason Nobby’s photographs are so delightful. To capture such fantastic shots; such wonder; such delight; beautiful; stunning; the clothes; the lights; the scale; the extravagance; the rock; the roll; the Stones… that’s hard to do justice to with a camera. And yet Nobby has succeeded. There’s a crazy shot of Jagger hanging from the lights like some garishly dressed fruit bat; there’s another of him splashing a bucket of water into the crowd; and then there are those moments of intimacy, where Jagger joins Keith (Richards) as he tears up on guitar or pouts at Charlie (Watts) on drums…

I managed to ask Nobby, whilst supping on the free wine and admiring some of the younger, ahem, posh females in attendance, what it was like to be involved in photographing a Stones show. I mean, it must have been pretty crazy right? So, Nobby looks at me, a smile slowly creeping, and he says: “Crazy? Yeah… (a chuckle) to be honest, I can’t remember a single thing.” Keep on rocking Nobby… keep on rocking.

Nobby Clark: Starf*cker (The Rolling Stones live in London ’76) is open until September 25th. For further information on both the exhibition and the GX Gallery, CLICK HERE!