DON HERRON, TUB SHOTS, 1978–1993
“Don Herron’s “Tub Shots”, a series of portraits of underground luminaries pictured in their bathtubs dated 1978–1993. The black and white photographs create a complex landscape of the bohemian creative community circa 1980’s. Herron stated simply to the Village Voice in 1980, “I decided to do a series of photographs of people in containers. The bathtub was the logical container to use. I started with my friends and it grew from there”.
The viewer will discover iconic figures such as Keith Haring, Peter Hujar, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cookie Mueller, Peter Berlin, Charles Busch, Ethyl Eichelberger, Annie Sprinkle, Mink Stole and the legendary Holly Woodlawn among many others. Herron truly captured the camp, the glamour, the joy and the tragedy that the creative community experienced at this tumultuous time.
To create the images, Herron collaborated with his subjects to set the stage. Some simply sat in their tubs as they were, others created tableaux’s and costumes, some used water, some used packing peanuts and played shell games. Many expose themselves freely, others conceal themselves with mannequin limbs or bubbles. Herron expresses the fun and free spiritedness of the process with his collaborators. The show will be accentuated with provocative and poignant written memories from the subjects of their experiences being photographed and the time in their lives.” - Daniel Cooney Fine Art