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Clockwise from top left: London Dress Shop, Hollywood Party, Three Trees, Restoration, Shack and Tulips, and Dresden |  |
 | … Back in the deep thick of what was the punk/new wave scene in late-Seventies Austin, when our home was Raul’s, we first came across Rocky Schenck. Most folks had multiple roles — they played in a band (to use the term “musician” might be a stretch), they made movies, they wrote, they painted. One of the most talented was Tom Huckabee, who played with two of the most infamous bands, the Huns and the Re-Cords, and was the auteur behind The Death of Jim Morrison (shot by Will Van Overbeek). One day he showed up with a friend, Rocky Schenck. |
| Schenck had two movies that he had made. They were stunningly beautiful, filled with potent images shot in electric black & white. I was in the minority who thought these movies stunning but devoid of meaning. My friend Ed Lowry thought I was an idiot; in these movies the medium was the message, I was looking for too much.
Over the years, there was the occasional word about Schenck, he was shopping a film, he had shot a video. But mostly the story was of wonderful photographs. We heard Wittliff was collecting him and then we heard about this show. Bill Wittliff and Rocky Schenck, two photographers and their work … what we offer here is just a sampling. — Louis Black | |
This article appears in November 27 • 1998 and November 27 • 1998 (Cover).