Syd Barrett Photographer Mick Rock Releases Never Before Seen Portrait
Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Mick Rock/EMI
Photographer Mick Rock has released a never before seen image of Syd Barrett.
Nicknamed by reverent acolytes as “the man who shot the seventies”, Rock captured several of the decade’s definitive images.
Foremost amongst his subjets were Queen, Blondie, and Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie.
The most striking of all Mick’s though was unquestionably Syd Barrett, a former roommate and friend of the London photographer during the 1960s.
Rock’s moody portraits of Barrett offer a stark chronicle the Pink Floyd visionary’s rapid decline following his exit from the group in 1968.
Rock lost touch with Barrett after 1974, but not before providing the cover work for Barrett’s solo album Madcap Laughs.
“In his flat at Wetherby Mansions, Earls Court, London in the autumn of 1969,” Rock writes of the new image, taken from the Madcap sessions. ” I was there to shoot his album cover for ’The Madcap Laughs’. This was the third time we had planned this, but this day he had woken at a reasonable hour.”
“I didn’t live far away at the time,” he continues, “and was able to catch him before his attention wandered elsewhere! He was still in his underpants when I arrived. His girlfriend who we all called ‘Iggy The Eskimo’ answered the door naked and that set the tone for this magical session!”
“There was no furniture in the room,” the photographer recounts, “just a mattress and a record player. First I shot with him and Iggy on the turquoise and orange floorboards that he had recently painted. Then I shot him solo on the mattress. These were the most personal and intimate images and Syd told me they were his favorites. But everyone else was most drawn to the floorboard photos.”
Alongside four other never before seen photos of David Bowie, Kate Moss, Bryan Ferry, Freddie Mercury, Rock has released the image of Barrett to be sold as prints via London art dealer West Contemporary.
The art organization was initially set to exhibit Rock’s work in London, however, the event has now been postponed due to tot he coronavirus pandemic.
In the wake of the viral outbreak, rock has shared that 20% of the profits from his photos’ sales will go to the #MasksforNHS fundraiser, which will aid the British National Health Service to procure much-needed face masks.
“The NHS have always been there for me growing up in the UK and for all members of my family,” Rock shares of the donation, “which is why I want to donate 20% of sales of my new works to this amazing fundraiser West Contemporary have set up. If this virus is a reminder of anything, it’s how much we need the NHS. They are our lifeline. We owe them every effort we can think of to protect their own lives whilst they are protecting the lives of others.”
All prints can be ordered here.
