The other day I had the pleasure of attending the opening ceremonies for the photographic presentation by D. Randall Blythe, lead singer of the crushing band Lamb Of God. It would be held in The Sacred Gallery, a nicely sized space connected to Sacred Tattoo in Chinatown, NYC. Below is the Event Announcement for your reference.
As I am no stranger to this kind of event having done reports on “The Beatles 1964” Photographs and the more recent “Dee Dee Ramone” exhibit, I felt that presenting this event in the same fashion worked best for those readers who are too far away to even hope to come but might want to dole out some cash and order one of the prints. That being said you will find the entire presentation below along with the notes that Randy himself had penned and these are all worth reading. All photographs were done by D. Randall Blythe and the same applies for the words. I’ll return towards the close of the visuals but for now please do enjoy and let these emotive works take your mind elsewhere.
Wasn’t that something? Whew, I was blown away by several of these works and among them had to say that the church in the darkness and the subway ones struck me the hardest as far as feels go. Randy was present at the opening and very engaging to speak to. He posed for numerous pictures with the fans that attended and while some were the expected Lamb Of God fans, there were also those who were primarily fans of his photographs and had been following his Instagram feed for awhile. I’ll paste that link in for you when we are done. Here’s Randy being dramatic with his Exhibit Card and then several other shots of some of the awesome people that I spent time with during this happening.
Randy and his friend Acey Slade. Acey is also an awesome photographer and a musician that I am happy to report has been written about on this very site. Talented dudes right there for sure. Acey was also spinning some tunes from up in the DJ booth this evening.
The frames that Randy’s art were in were all the work of Greta Brinkman who used reclaimed wood for them and they added a great feel to the photos as well. Here is a little bit about Greta and of course the designer herself. Greta also plays bass in a band called Druglord and she was kind enough to give me a CD that night. I will be listening to that as soon as my nights clear up and sharing my thoughts right here on the website for all you eager minds.
Remember Jesse Camp from MTV? Well here he is. He was in rare form and was calling me Captain America across the night. I was sporting a t-shirt with his famous shield on it so there you go.
Snagged the means to get a photo of Acey and Jesse while they were in close proximity.
This is a painter I met a few years ago, David Stoupakis. Dave is a super cool dude and Korn fans might be interested in knowing that he did the artwork for their “See You On The Other Side” album.
This lovely lass is Miss Leah Jung and not only is she a model that has been featured in numerous magazines related to tattooing but she is a musician. She sings and plays ukelele, and I hope to see her perform one night soon. Would make a good PiercingKen.com story I am thinking.
Here’s Randy and Greta. The night was slowing down at this point and the gallery was preparing to close after a very successful event.
I’ll close out the presentation with some of the candid shots of the people that I spoke to at the exhibit along with the ones that I couldn’t resist being in myself.
Thanks for reading and please be aware that this exhibit will close on June 30th so if you can get there please do get there as I think you will enjoy it. I cannot promise you that Randy will be there all the time but I am sure he might drop by again since he appeared to have a great time. While you are down there you can visit my favorite Vietnamese Restaurant down on Centre Street and Walker – “Nha Trang Centre”. Be sure to order the Summer Rolls and Crispy Squid in Garlic Sauce if you do. I was glad to be a part of the opening event and enjoyed it fully along with all the awesome people encountered. Best of luck in the continued run of this exhibition Randy, its some great stuff.
Official Websites:
D. Randall Blythe: https://instagram.com/drandallblythe/
Sacred Gallery: http://sacredgallerynyc.com/
David Stoupakis: http://www.davidstoupakis.com/
Acey Slade: http://www.aceyslademusic.com/
Leah Jung: http://leahjung.com/
The Gothic Hangman: http://www.gothichangman.com