Charles Gatewood interviewed by V. Vale
In 1975 Charles Gatewood made SIDETRIPPING, one of the greatest photography books ever made, with text by William S. Burroughs. That alone should bring him canonical status. This biography sketches the life of the behind-the-scenes artist who has taken some 100,000 photographs, many of them too outrageous to be exhibited in art galleries and museums. A truly underground documentarian, Charles has been living in San Francisco the past thirty-plus years, doing exactly what he wants to do: accurately and beautifully chronicling those pushing the boundaries of artistic and ritualistic bodily expression, regardless of societal disapproval or censorship. His work lives up to the name of one of his hardbound monographs: Forbidden Photographs…
Some fifty photographs include: William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Andy Warhol, Luis Bunuel, Ornette Coleman, Bob Dylan, Paul Krassner, Larry Clark, Abbie Hoffman, Diane di Prima, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, S. Clay Wilson, Ron Turner, Jimmy Page, Joan Baez, Mark McCloud (LSD Museum), Jack Micheline, Etta James, Sonny Rollins, and others. 176pp. 4″x6″.
