Fuck You All by Glen E. Friedman

Saturday night, the 941 Geary gallery in San Francisco was overrun with skaters, potheads, skinheads and art critics.

The one thing everyone had in common though was their love of photography - in particular the images captured by legendary photographer Glen E. Friedman.  Displaying works from his Fuck You Heroes collection, as well as other selected works, Friedman’s photos, ranging from Tony Alba and the rest of the Dogtown and Z-Boys crew to Chuck D. and Public Enemy to Henry Rollins and Black Flag, represented all of the misfits and throw-aways without discrimination.

Adding a bit of paint to the mix was Shepard Fairey.  For the first time together, he and Glen featured the collaborative reinterpreted works Shepard did of a handful of Friedman’s photography.  A pretty amazing congregation of the past, present and future of street art.

The beauty of this show, as with it’s subject matter, was it’s celebration of youth culture - namely the capturing of spontaneity and the absolute chaos of the moment.  Whether it was the first kick-flip out of a freshly-drained swimming pool, the do or die moment of a leap in to the mosh pit, or the thought had by a handful of friends in New York that hip hop really could change the world, the moment in time was captured and celebrated.  In that nanosecond, anything can and did happen.  That was Glen E. Friedman’s world and I was personally stoked he decided to share it with SF.

On view until December 31 at 941 Geary Gallery, San Francisco. More info: http://www.941geary.com