The
artwork of James B. Salter is reflective of his lifestyle, that is, a
magical combination of rock n’ roll happenstance and passion. Walking
into his salon in Jericho, Oxford is akin to entering a Tracey Emin
tent where his entire life defined by drawing, sculpture, photography
and hair is on display for evryone to see - the curious locals,
scientific boffins, visiting voyeurs and James’ own cult following. What does one encounter within the adorned walls of his salon-cum-gallery? A physical extension of the artists’ aesthetic spirit lit up by an eclectic mix of guitars, sunglasses, action figures and cowboy paraphernalia, a music studio and dark room in the basement, the famous chopping block where he scuplts and styles the hair of a black book worthy clientele, all coming under the business name Cowboymod.
And of course, thousands of rock star shots since 2002 when James became a rock photographer to the likes of Oasis, Paul Weller, Damien Rice and The Stereophonics.
Then, in November 2003 a record company rang asking James to head to Reading to take some passport photographs of Morrissey. He was out the door in a flash armed with four cameras loaded with film. At first the session ran a bit standard, with Morrissey posing, changing shirts, removing the picture on the only white wall in the room. But when James joked with him that, ‘he hadn’t saved his life at college’, the mood lightened, the conversation flowed between them as James clicked away.
A few years later, at one of his gigs, James handed a bag full of passport sized Morrissey images to a young homeless girl who was sitting outside the theatre. One punter purchased loads of them and got Morrissey to sign one of them. Morrissey came out to the front of the theatre, found the girl, signed one of the pictures for her and thanked her for showing so much initiative.
The resulting images will be on display by CAW gallery.
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