Reception and Lecture with Fine Art Photographer Michael Childers July 29, 2007

Sun Deck Gallery to Present 'Rockin' Hollywood' Exhibit through September 3 Featuring Childers' Images of Classic Rock, Movie, TV and Art Icons

A free public reception and lecture with fine art photographer Michael Childers is scheduled aboard the Queen Mary in the Sun Deck Gallery on Sunday, July 29, at 2:00 p.m. Childers will discuss his "Rockin' Hollywood" exhibit, currently on display in the Gallery through September 3, and conduct a narrative tour of the exhibit followed by a question and answer session with guests. He will also be available to autograph exhibit brochures, posters and prints that will be available in the gallery shop.

The exhibition is part of a year-long 40th anniversary celebration of the Queen Mary's 1967 arrival in Long Beach. Childers, one of the entertainment industry's most renowned and highly respected portrait, fashion and fine art photographers, began his career in the sixties, and continues to influence the world of art photography today. "Who better to feature in our gallery during this anniversary year than Michael Childers," said Queen Mary President and CEO Howard Bell. "He has been Rockin' Hollywood (thus the exhibit title) for years with powerful, insightful, insider photography of his friends, and his body of work reflects the same 40 years that the Queen Mary has been here in Long Beach," Bell continued. "Childers' images of art, film, TV and rock stars perfectly capture the popular culture of the era."

"My work has always been difficult to categorize," Michael Childers commented, "because I never stuck with one genre of photography. There are so many areas that I explore on film - movement with great ballet dancers, explosive moments from great theatre productions, portraiture, nudes, flowers and interiors among them."

Movies were the photographer's childhood passion and infused his dreams and fantasies. Early in his career he was invited to work for Sir Laurence Olivier's National Theatre in London, an experience that allowed him to work alongside and observe some of the greatest acting talent of the last century. Shortly after that, he documented the extraordinary explosion of artistic expression in fashion, music and film in New York City in the early 1970s as one of the founding photographers of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. Also in the '70s in Hollywood, he photographed a group of unique, young talents with very strong and different personalities, his friends then and now, who have become our current generation of film legends.

To quote artist David Hockney, "Michael Childers has created a living record of Hollywood people he actually knew and admired. An insider on the edge - a good position to be in."

The 80 photographs included in the Rockin' Hollywood exhibit cover a wide spectrum of Childers' portraiture from Mae West to Natalie Wood and Lily Tomlin, from Henry Rollins to Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Andy Warhol, Ringo Starr, George Hurrell and David Hockney. A very special image of Sir Laurence Olivier aboard Natalie Wood's yacht shows the Queen Mary in the background. Arnold Schwarzenegger as a young man at Muscle Beach is also included alongside Al Pacino and Mel Gibson. Grace Jones, Cher, Demi Moore, Raquel Welch, Michelle Pfeiffer - the list goes on and on.

The Exhibit was curated by Dr. Lou D'Elia of Pancho Barnes Enterprises who also produced the Sun Deck Gallery's first exhibit, "Lights! Camera! Glamour!" - featuring the pioneering work of Hollywood glamour idiom photographer, George Hurrell. Architect Michael Salazar of Pancho Barnes Enterprises designed the flexible, new exhibit space that will premiere with the Rockin' Hollywood show.

It is the mission of the new Sun Deck Gallery to present unique exhibitions of fine art photography. The Gallery is open daily to the public free of charge, and hours are Noon until 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and Noon until 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Gallery is located high atop the Queen Mary on the deck of the same name, convenient to historic exhibits, tours, shows and entertainment, fine restaurants, Sunday Brunch, unique shops and leisurely promenades with panoramic views from the open Sun Deck that surrounds the Gallery. Parking is validated for RMS Foundation members (call 562-499-1696 for membership information) as well as Sunday Brunch, Sir Winston's, and Chelsea Restaurant patrons. For those who wish to spend the night aboard, the Hotel Queen Mary offers accommodations in original first-class staterooms.

Official Website: http://queenmary.com/index.php?page=news_release&news_id=151