Published by MoMo Editions, The Iris Prints is a portfolio of 18 unbound 8.5” x 11” photographs produced as part of the 1996 exhibition, Elms Lesters Celebrates Bukowski. The two-week exhibition also included a series of previously unpublished photographs of Bukowski by Joan Gannij (later published in "The Cruelty of Loveless Love") and personal photographs selected by Linda Lee Bukowski.
The Iris Prints are digitally enhanced versions of photographs previously included in Michael Montfort’s book, "Bukowski Photographs 1977-1991". The artist behind the digital enhancement was Giorgio Moroder, a man who enjoyed monumental success long before dabbling in the art world.
Rather than paraphrasing his entire Wikipedia page (which I recommend reading), Moroder’s career highlights include being crowned the "Father of Disco" for his pioneering work on Euro disco and electronic dance music, as well as winning four Grammy Awards and three Academy Awards for best Original Score for Midnight Express, Best Song for "Flashdance...What a Feeling" from the film Flashdance, and Best Song for "Take My Breath Away" from the film Top Gun.
According to the Montfort biography sheet included in the Iris Prints portfolio, Montfort and Moroder became friends in 1974 and Montfort subsequently “documented Moroder’s rise to international super-producer for countless international publications.”
There is also made mention of “A Special Tree”, a film the two made together in 1995 prior to the Iris Prints. Surprisingly, the film is not mentioned in the IMDb database, but Turner Classic Movies described it as a 12-minute “computerized, digitized mystery about a father, daughter, and her new boyfriend which was constructed from hundreds of photographs.” According to the Montfort bio sheet, “Moroder digitally reworked hundreds of Montfort’s stills on the computer and put them together on film.”
While I’m no art critic, when I first saw the Iris Prints I thought to myself, “Great, someone went crazy with an early version of Photoshop.” And in my opinion, some of the images do seem a bit dated. But viewing them in person (and hopefully with better scans) you'll see that they are much more complex than someone simply using a filter or effect. What can’t be shared with a scan is the glossy, gelatin-like finish these prints have.
Beyond the prints and the biographical sheets (Montfort, Moroder, Bukowski), there are separate title, dedication and limitation sheets, the last signed by Montfort and Moroder. There is also a sheet signed by both Bukowski and Montfort, which is an overrun of the prospectus for "Bukowski Photographs 1977-1991". It has a tipped-in, unaltered photograph of Bukowski that acts as a bookend to the digitally enhanced copy in the portfolio. Both the limitation page and the prospectus are lettered.
In every Bukowski/Montfort collaboration there was always content by Bukowski, in this case two facsimiles of Bukowski poetry manuscripts. One is the poem “Something about the photographer”, which appeared in Bukowski Photographs 1977-1991. The second manuscript is the Bukowski classic “the shoelace”, a poem about all the little things in life that kills a man. Written in 1971, the poem was published in four Bukowski books, two magazines and five recordings.
By coincidence, while writing this piece I happened upon a copy of the Oktober 1996 German edition of Rolling Stone. Accompanying a feature on Bukowski are several Iris Prints, including one photo using a different technique than the one included in the portfolio. It‘s a classic photo of Bukowski walking in front of a liquor store he once frequented along Carlton Way.
There would be one more Montfort/Bukowski collaboration. Published by Black Sparrow Press in 2002, “Bukowski” would be the final book published by the press before John Martin sold the Bukowski catalog to HarperCollins. Only 110 copies were produced, none of which were offered for sale.
The Iris Prints
