Deadbeat Club is a Los Angeles based independent publishing house, founded by photographer Clint Woodside in 2011. The project has now published more than 50 titles and collaborated with a broad group of photographers which includes some of the most recognised and influential American artists of the last 20 years. Out of the simple necessity to create a tangible output for photography, Woodside was able to celebrate the importance of fanzines and independent publishing as a democratic response to the fast- fruition of images nowadays. At the same time, his project has not only managed to regularly produce outstanding publications and collaborate with some of the most important worldwide events for printed matter, but it has been able to gather a true community of photographers around the Deadbeat Club.
The core members that joined Woodside from the very beginning – Deanna and Ed Templeton, Devin Briggs, Grant Hatfield and Nolan Hall — could already exemplify the nature and diversity of this community. They are from different generations, have different styles and directions, but at the same time these photographers — together with the many more that joined the group in these years — share a strong common ground. Embracing a return to analog technology, sharing a fresh and new take on street-photography and coming from either a world of punk music or skateboarding (or both), these artists have formed in time a cohesive and recognisable group. To the extent that one could dare to call this a new movement, or school.
With this idea in mind, the different works composing this exhibition acquire a new force by juxtaposition. The tanned beach characters and unfiltered portraitures of the youth (and not only) populating the works of Devin Briggs, Deanna and Ed Templeton acquire another depth when placed next to the celebratory, epic and carefree pictures by Andrea Sonnenberg, Grant Hatfield and Molly Steele. A lone surfer and a broken arm by Nolan Hall gain new meanings if seen across a subtle diptych by Tobin Yelland. The sometimes desolate images of the American suburban landscapes by Clint Woodside, Jason Vaughn and Dan Monick are somehow echoed by the abstract photos by Thomas Campbell and the pictures by Cheryl Dunn, which are creepy and dreamy at once. In these works the stereotypes, legends and triumphs of the United States of America stand next to the unfiltered depiction of their failures. The dreams and hopes of the rebellious youth pair with their disillusions, to form an astounding portrait of the American society today.
This exhibition revolves around the idea of community, focusing on the group that Deadbeat Club was able to gather in these six years. All united by their shared origin as misfits and punks grown up in the American suburbia, with their diverse stories and artistic paths, these artists are meeting in the special and democratic place that Clint Woodside’s fanzines created for them. Deadbeat Club: We Are All In This. Together is going to be the first—ever exhibition in Sweden by this group of artists and part a world—touring exhibition which places Gothenburg between shows in London and Tokyo. This is an occasion for witnessing some of the most astounding achievements in the American photography of nowadays and — maybe — an even more unique possibility: to observe a new artistic school in formation; the Deadbeat Club.
Deadbeat Club is a Los Angeles based independent publishing house, founded by photographer Clint Woodside in 2011. The project has now published more than 50 titles and collaborated with a broad group of photographers which includes some of the most recognised and influential American artists of the last 20 years. Out of the simple necessity to create a tangible output for photography, Woodside was able to celebrate the importance of fanzines and independent publishing as a democratic response to the fast- fruition of images nowadays. At the same time, his project has not only managed to regularly produce outstanding publications and collaborate with some of the most important worldwide events for printed matter, but it has been able to gather a true community of photographers around the Deadbeat Club.
The core members that joined Woodside from the very beginning – Deanna and Ed Templeton, Devin Briggs, Grant Hatfield and Nolan Hall — could already exemplify the nature and diversity of this community. They are from different generations, have different styles and directions, but at the same time these photographers — together with the many more that joined the group in these years — share a strong common ground. Embracing a return to analog technology, sharing a fresh and new take on street-photography and coming from either a world of punk music or skateboarding (or both), these artists have formed in time a cohesive and recognisable group. To the extent that one could dare to call this a new movement, or school.
With this idea in mind, the different works composing this exhibition acquire a new force by juxtaposition. The tanned beach characters and unfiltered portraitures of the youth (and not only) populating the works of Devin Briggs, Deanna and Ed Templeton acquire another depth when placed next to the celebratory, epic and carefree pictures by Andrea Sonnenberg, Grant Hatfield and Molly Steele. A lone surfer and a broken arm by Nolan Hall gain new meanings if seen across a subtle diptych by Tobin Yelland. The sometimes desolate images of the American suburban landscapes by Clint Woodside, Jason Vaughn and Dan Monick are somehow echoed by the abstract photos by Thomas Campbell and the pictures by Cheryl Dunn, which are creepy and dreamy at once. In these works the stereotypes, legends and triumphs of the United States of America stand next to the unfiltered depiction of their failures. The dreams and hopes of the rebellious youth pair with their disillusions, to form an astounding portrait of the American society today.
This exhibition revolves around the idea of community, focusing on the group that Deadbeat Club was able to gather in these six years. All united by their shared origin as misfits and punks grown up in the American suburbia, with their diverse stories and artistic paths, these artists are meeting in the special and democratic place that Clint Woodside’s fanzines created for them. Deadbeat Club: We Are All In This. Together is going to be the first—ever exhibition in Sweden by this group of artists and part a world—touring exhibition which places Gothenburg between shows in London and Tokyo. This is an occasion for witnessing some of the most astounding achievements in the American photography of nowadays and — maybe — an even more unique possibility: to observe a new artistic school in formation; the Deadbeat Club.
