Alan Vega

BOB GRUEN (B. 1945)

Alan Vega, Suicide, England, 1978

signed, titled, and dated 'Bob Gruen Suicide 78' (lower margin); stamped with the photographer's copyright (on the reverse)

silver gelatin print

7 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches (18.4 x 24.1 cm)

Executed and printed in 1978. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed and dated by the artist.

Alan Vega of Suicide, photographed by Bob Gruen during the band's 1978 European tour — the run on which Suicide were famously bottled, abused and disrupted across the Clash's UK tour dates, and during which Vega reportedly threw himself into the audience to confront hecklers.

Suicide's transatlantic standing — Marty Thau's Red Star debut had been released in December 1977 — by 1978 already placed them alongside Television, the Ramones and the Heartbreakers as one of the foundational acts of American punk's first wave; their European reception was, by contrast, openly hostile. Vega and Martin Rev's stripped electronics, vocal histrionics and refusal to play to expectations made them the band most other punks weren't yet ready for.

PROVENANCE:

From the studio of Bob Gruen