Customer Reviews

Beat

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Christopher Felver is a photographer of great accomplishment and I've long dug his work capturing the souls of hipsters on film. His new photo and ephemera collection is called BEAT and is published by Last Gasp. Here's 200 pages of Beat Generation poet/writer/artist heroes like Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and many others. It includes those who didn't strictly belong to that generation but who made art of some kind with first allegiance to the art, not commerce. Ed Sanders, John Sinclair, Hunter S. Thompson, and Ken Kesey are four younger-than-Beat heroes in Felver's book who did not pimp out their muse.

For all the drugs, alcohol, suicide, and profuse misery justifiably associated with sensitive artists, Felver captures his subjects at the moment they are getting a joke. Many are already laughing. The ability to capture this precious instant proves that Felver is at the same high watermark as his subjects. One cannot purchase the ability to get the joke, but if you're searching for smiles, you'll find them a-plenty in BEAT.

It's near-impossible to be a proper art-for-arts'-sake artist in 21st Century America. Cheap rents in major cities have disappeared. One apparently needs an arsenal of technology to create in the cyber age. Mechanized transportation is becoming prohibitive with the price of fuel and reality of global warming. Constant awareness is no longer merely an artistic state, but mandatory for the survival of the planet. Recognition of the absurd and the laughter that accompanies it will help beat off the squares and their Apocalypse. We can, in part, thank Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Chris Felver, and Anton Rosenberg.

Chris Felver's creative look at the writers who make up the Beat Generation offers a visual perspective that is new and exciting but with the timeless skill of a Robert Frank. The authors are captured for their individualism. Additionally, Felver has interwoven text and original manuscript material throughout the book. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the great poet, is editor of Felver's boyish enthusiasm. Felver is able to transfer the passion that he felt to his story and the photography. He makes an emotional connection to the reader and to the photographs with his own transformative story.

Felver uses an old Leica and the sliver gelatin print to capture the texture and character of the artists and writers. As Amiri Baraka states in the intro, he gets the shots because he is a "photo terrorist" willing to take risks and be with people in places to where other photographers would not venture.The book ends with a powerful photograph of Corso laid out in his coffin. Implying the circle is of life is finite but never ending. The book works on a number of different levels and is high sophisticated experience.

If you are a follower of the Beat movement or just a fan of a writer or two of the period, do not hesitate to buy this book. I could not put it down and found myself mesmerized by the photography and Felver's story. Unlike other books that portray the Beats, Felver invites you in to be a part of his journey. You get to know the writers and photographers, artists, and musicians and him. Beat is an important achievment by this talented and innovative photographer.

DEAR AMAZON,WE REPRESENT THIS ARTIST IN BRASIL. IN ADDITION TO BEING A FANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHER. HE IS AN
AWARD WINNING FILM MAKER LOOK AT HIS WEB PAGE chrisfelver.com WE WOULD APPRECIATE IT FROM THE BOTTOM
OF OUR HEART. THIS BOOK IS AWARD WINNING.WE ARE DOING A MUSEUM EXHIBITION IN BRASIL ON THE "BEAT GENERATION"
ON WHICH THIS BOOK IS ABOUT.BIG HUG, MELTON

Christopher Felver's stunning coffee-table book BEAT is the definitive Beat Generation Photo Book, and thankfully even more than that. What makes Felver's photography in this book so special is the fact that he was driven to bring Beat Generation images to life from the vibe and spirit and resonance of the writers and artists themselves, captured so dramatically through his camera lens. BEAT is Felver's life-journey tribute to the entire realm of spirit/vibe he started relating to and embracing as showcased in his book The Poet Exposed. BEAT didn't come to be on account of a photographer on assignment...this book exists because Felver happens to be a true cohort in the creative craft with the fine-artist talent to put together a masterpiece. If you're into the Beat Generation and you have a coffee table, this book must be on it.

I love what critic and art historian, David Shapiro, said about this book:

"No one can underestimate the clear lens of Christopher Felver. He's the master of an entire generation of poets, artists and thinkers. Like Darwin he believes in the universality of the face and documents the Beatific City of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Diane DiPrima and all the branches of this new freedom and criticism that a generation extolled. He experiences it like a dharma bum on a mountain plateau surrounded by friends with a smile for the whole adventure. This series is like Robert Frank on joy or David Amram playing six musical instruments at once. Moreover, Felver is a late member of this resistance which is a permanent revolution. He is a man with many arms and eyes."