Roberto Rabanne featured in Woodstock exhibit

BETHEL, NY — The Sidedoor Gallery at Old Burr Farm, 153 Burr Road, has opened its doors this summer with a special exhibit celebrating the spirit of Woodstock, “Woodstock Nation–A Celebration of the Spirit of the Times.” A gala reception will be held Saturday, August 14 to jointly introduce acclaimed music and fashion photographer Roberto Rabanne and celebrate the official opening of Sidedoor Gallery, which also boasts a permanent collection of Sullivan County photographic images.

Rare images of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, which Rabanne shot from the group’s earliest gigs in San Francisco and throughout the Dead’s 29-year history, will be on display for exhibit and sale through September 6, along with Rabanne’s images of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Carlos Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, Steppenwolf and Ritchie Havens. Many of these works have never before been displayed or offered for sale.

Sidedoor owner Dan Ionescu, a New York based architect and photographer who has owned a home in Bethel for several years, said, “The gallery will offer a permanent collection of photographic images that capture the singular sensibility that Sullivan County evokes through its architecture, its landscape and its communities.

“In addition, we will have a number of mixed media invitational shows that we hope will contribute to the flourishing Sullivan County fine arts community by promoting emerging local talent and highlighting the culture and history of the area, as with Roberto’s show. This exhibit is about Woodstock and the influence the concert had on American rock and roll. Roberto’s photographs emphasize that spirit and energy.”

Ionescu and his wife, Caroline von Reitzenstein, who curates a private art collection in New York City, welcome you all to visit their gallery. The Sidedoor will be open weekends from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and by appointment.

For more information call 845/583-1178 or 212/508-0140.

Robert Rabanne The images of photographer Roberto Rabanne have captured the energy, complexity and beauty in music, fashion and art for more than three decades. Born in Panama, he moved to the US at age thirteen. While working as an usher at the newly opened Fillmore East, he asked Jimi Hendrix if he could take his picture and that was the beginning of his career as a professional photographer. From the late 1960s through the 1970s, Rabanne immersed himself in the diverse music scenes of both the Lower East Side and the Haight-Ashbury district. Later, Rabanne’s interests expanded to jazz and reggae. Shooting for Down Beat, Jazz Express, Goldmine, NME and numerous recording companies, his work now included the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Bob Marley and scores of others as he became the official photographer of the Monterey Jazz Festival. In the early 1980s, Rabanne returned to live permanently in New York and was soon became one of the most sought after high fashion photographers in the business.