Last Night's Mick Rock Launch Party At Urbis

Mick Rock and David Bowie pose for the camera at URBIS last night.

I struggle hard to take these pictures in…

I attended the launch party of Rock ‘n’ Roll Icons: The photography of Mick Rock at URBIS in Manchester on Wednesday evening, a star-studded event populated by the most painfully hip folk north of Watford.

Mick himself was on great form, more than happy to pose for these exclusive BowieNet pictures, and very proudly at that I might add.

Mick meets his public at URBIS and holds his own for more than a few minutes!

This is easily the most impressive exhibition of Mick’s work, with beautifully themed rooms for each artist and many rare and unseen shots of pretty well everybody Mick has photographed and filmed, and I have to say that those of you planning to attend are in for a delicious visual feast beyond compare.

“Oh, no, no, no, you’re a rock ‘n’ roll suicide pact”

Even if you’re only interested in Mick’s work with David Bowie there is more than enough here to slake your thirst. Apart from massive prints of some of the more well known Ziggy shots, there are also huge displays of Mick’s Bowie artworks (see below) and continuous looped footage of some of the rarer bits of Mick’s Ziggy films, such as The Rainbow in ’72.

There’s even a listening post with an early 1972 Bowie interview with Mick, which I believe was actually conducted the same night as Mick first photographed David at Birmingham Town Hall on March 17th on their return to Haddon Hall. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the psyche of the embryonic Ziggy, while he was still formulating some of his ideas.

Aside from all this, there’s also a display in the exhibition of the work of Mosley meets Wilcox who have created some particularly stylish household items such as tables and crockery using Mick’s images.

The limited edition Bowie Collection has been made in the following editions: Table (100 editions), Vase set (250 editions) and Plates (250 editions). This stuff is being sold exclusively through Paul Smith stores world-wide and you can view it here.

If you don’t have much cash, it may be an idea to give the URBIS shop a miss. There are many Bowie items for sale, including Moonage Daydream: The Life & Times of Ziggy Stardust, the new edition and the Genesis Publications limited edition. (Don’t forget our competition next week.)

There’s also the slipcase hardback edition of Blood and Glitter (04.02.05 NEWS: MICK ROCK IN BERLIN NEXT WEEK) and the new softback edition retitled GLAM!, below.

If that doesn’t tempt you, why not get one or two of the Mick Rock greeting cards…one of which is the Bowie shot used for the Life On Mars? press ads, and there are a couple of T-shirts and other Bowie books too.

If your interest stretches further than David Bowie, then I’m afraid you’re financially doomed as there is also tons of stuff by the other artists Mick has photographed…not to mention loads of great Punk Rock merchandise left over from the last exhibition at URBIS.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Icons: The photography of Mick Rock opened properly to the public today and runs through until January 8th 2006.

For those of you that missed it, there’s more about this event in Tuesday’s news. (09.27.05 NEWS: MEET MICK ROCK AND MUCH MORE IN MANCHESTER, MAN!)

Stay tuned for our Mick Rock competition starting next week and details of more Mick Rock exhibitions on the horizon.