You might not know the name, but he created some of the most enduring
images of pop stardom. Anton Corbijn claims to be a "Very, very basic
photographer."
His images have the power of simplicity, and if we believe U2's Bono,
the subject of many Corbijn images, there is something mystical as well.
"Sometimes he can give you a substance you may not have ... but are
working towards," the singer is recorded as saying.
Corbijn's own comments about his work seem to suggest that most of his
photos are almost accidental. If so, he has shown over the years an
uncanny ability to capture elusive pop stars in accidental moments of
self revelation, moments that make them people rather than icons.
The backgrounds of his photos work in Corbijn's favor. They seem totally
mundane but end up saying much, such as the classic 1977 shot of Elvis
Costello in a tiny hotel room in Amsterdam which speaks volumes about
the quality of the man and his music.
His ability to get close to the unapproachable is probably what is most
remarkable, and a shot of Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell has a
casual ease that is a total contrast to how the "image" of these
supermodels is usually presented. The current exhibition of his works at
the Cherng Pin Gallery at Taipei's flagship Eslite bookstore is full of
big names from Frank Sinatra to Kurt Cobain, John Lee Hooker to Luciano
Pavarotti. Faces everyone has seen, but probably not in the same way
Corbijn has seen them.
Corbijn's photographs will be on show at the Cherng Pin Gallery located
at B2, 245 Tunhua S. Rd., Sec. 1 (敦化路1段245號B2) beginning tomorrow
until Oct. 21.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
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