Not that you’ve ever needed a new reason to fall in love with Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday, but on view now at Fahey/Klein Gallery are two exhibits by legendary photographers who got a chance to capture musical icons from jazz greats like Miles Davis to rock stars like Mick Jagger.  In the big gallery space, you’ll find a plethora of black and white images that make you wish you’d worn your white gloves and perhaps a broach.  One image that stands out among the rest is the one above, of Frank Sinatra in silhouette on stage in a smoky room – the photo is large and the effect washes over you.

In the smaller room, find brightly colored, bold, and fantastical images of Jimi Hendrix on his knees on stage, the Allman Brothers sitting with their equipment outside a venue, and a young Santana in his element.  The photos in this room look like stories in and of themselves; if they were taken during indifferent moments, they surely created stories after having been captured.  The represented jazz photographers are such household names as Herman Leonard, William Gottlieb, and William Claxton with rock and roll photographs hailing from the lens of Jim Marshall.

If you’ve ever wondered what getting someone under your skin or what Billie’s “Stormy Blues” actually looks like, this exhibit is for you.  Walking through the exhibit, you may spontaneously feel like you hear a saxophone playing faintly or Ella Fitzgerald’s sultry voice.  You may wish the room suddenly became darker or filled with smoke and whispered stories about the scene at Musso and Frank’s or the old Dominick’s.  Good thing this exhibit’s a little easier to get into.

“Legends of Jazz Photography” and Jim Marshall’s “Trust” are on view at Fahey/Klein Gallery now through May 15, 2010.  For more information, please call (323) 934-2250 or click here.

Photographed in a desert looking uncomfortably hot in long black dresses and striking wigs, Afanador’s women are the bold image of Latin women that remains burned in our brains from John Singer Sargent paintings and films by Luis Bunuel and Federico Fellini.  They are the women who look like they could teach you about the ways of the world in the most basic sense – they look like they’re from the earth.  That’s particularly why Afanador’s photographs, in his “Mil Besos” exhibition are so memorable, enticing, and true.  He photographs women of all shapes and sizes in various forms of undress at their most intense – one image shows two women nearly kissing, one shows three women who look like they’re on the verge of spontaneously imploding (in good and bad ways), and one shows two women in the midst of a certain kind of dance and wearing long skirts that almost seem connected.

In his “Torero” exhibit, showing in the smaller of Fahey/Klein’s two rooms, the images are more portrait-like and show the young men who become bull-fighters in all their embroidered, detailed, costume-like majesty.  There are the simple parts, like a dusty pair of shoes with a bow, there are images that celebrate the male body, and there are images that show the emotion behind such a dangerous and historically rich sport.

All in all, Afanador’s images, from both exhibits, succeed in so many ways.  They not only enhance the melodramatic and quixotic vision of Latin men and women, but they also seem to show the familiar and human side of these gorgeous specimens.

Ruven Afanador’s “Mil Besos” and “Torero” will be on view at Fahey/Klein Gallery through March 27.  Please click here for more information.

Mark Laita is the photographer version of “they,” it seems, with his exhibit at Fahey/Klein Gallery called “Created Equal: New Work.” Each print presents two sides of a similar coin juxtaposing two people and the garb of their occupation.  For example, in one frame, you’ll see a fortuneteller on one side and an executioner on the other.  Keep going and you’ll find a shot of an astronaut next to one of an alien abductee.  Some are witty, others a little sad, but all of them are truthful about not only the staunch differences between types of people in our diverse world, but also about their sometimes surprising similarities.

It’s also interesting to see the pairings that Laita came up with – an abortionist next to a garbage man, a woman in a bar next to a gold prospector, and opera patrons next to moonshiners.  It’s all about perspective, see? Especially when you check out the young ballerina next to an older go-go dancer.  It’s about the only time you’d even want to see them together.

Mark Laita’s “Created Equal: New Works” will be on view at Fahey/Klein Gallery through January 23, 2010.  For more information, please call (323) 934-2250 or click here.

They say it’s smart to have a niche: find what differentiates you from the pack and run with it.  That has been quite true for the owners of Fahey/Klein Gallery on La Brea Blvd.  Focusing entirely on the medium of photography has proven quite the challenge what with a new exhibit that must go up every five weeks, but as David Fahey, co-owner of the gallery mentioned, it’s been well worth it.  We recently sat down with Fahey to discuss Los Angeles’ art scene, photography, and wild times with Peter Beard.  How many other people can you name off the top of your head who can recount stories about Irving Penn, Alfred Stieglitz, Helmut Newton, and Herb Ritts?  We can name only one: David Fahey.

On now through December 5 at the gallery is an exhibition of nudes featuring two distinct artists: Ralph Gibson and Rasmus Mogensen.  A tried and true genre, according to Fahey, these artists really take their work to a new level of innovation.  Gibson’s architectural, piece-by-piece look at the female form implements shadows, light, towels, and stockings to find a host of new, intriguing shapes.  On the other hand, Mogensen’s larger-than-life photographs of nude women posing in nothing but high heels are reminiscent of Helmut Newton with a unique Mogensen touch.  Called “Perfectly Natural”, each photograph in the series has been altered in some minor way to create the artist’s idea of a perfect woman – look closely at them and you’ll see the Photoshop-ed discrepancies.

Having stayed in the same gallery space for twenty-three years, it’s safe to say the owners of Fahey/Klein Gallery know a thing or two about Los Angeles’ changing artistic landscape.  We took a seat and listened to the expert – check out our video to hear what he had to say.

Ralph Gibson and Rasmus Mogensen’s work will be up at Fahey/Klein Gallery through December 5, 2009.  For more information, please call (323) 934-2250 or click here.

Simba, Uncle Scar, and Pumba only wish they’d had a photographer like Nick Brandt.  With his framing, lighting design, and ability to capture moments surreal to most of us, they would have looked much more “safari glam” in a whole series of animal portraits.  Unfortunately for them, Brandt found a slew of animals ready and willing to pose for him in their natural habitat. 

His photos, while genuinely not shot in a studio, make you feel like he can either talk to animals or that perhaps he bribed the elephants with peanuts.  He was able to capture the harmonious ways in which the animals seem to work together and within their natural surroundings.  Showing now at Fahey/Klein Gallery on La Brea through October 18, Brandt’s photos were taken in Kenya, the Serengeti, and the Parcs des Volcans in Rwanda.  Herds of elephants walking together across the desert, lions posing against the wind like models in front of a fan, and giraffes necking each other are all on display for unassuming Angelenos only used to seeing this kind of animalistic behavior on set or on certain parts of Sunset Blvd.  Thank you, Mr. Brandt, for reminding us where the real animal kingdom is!

Nick Brandt’s exhibit A Shadow Falls is on view now through October 18, 2009 at Fahey/Klein Gallery.  For more information, please click here.