Who's Who

Shawn MORTENSEN

(1966-2009)

He is for sure one of the big name of streetculture, his pictures are really became iconic thanks to real sens of humanity, he could give through his lens.

Growing up in LA, Mortensen was the archetypal self starter, writing for music fanzines when he was 12, hanging out with Jean Basquiat and Keith Haring in New York as a teenager, appearing in Pret-a-Porter at the request of Robert Altman, winning an MTV award and even co-creating the TV show High Octane with Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola.

He did photograph a stunning array of pop culture demigods in his 20+ year career including Keith Haring, Tupac, Henry Rollins, James Brown, The Notorious BIG, Bjork, Jun Takahashi, Leo Fitzpatrick, Christopher Wool, Mark Gonzales, Ed Ruscha, Vivienne Westwood, The Bad Brains, Dash Snow, Grandmaster Flash, Neil Young, MIA, John Lee Hooker, Nigo, Sofia Coppola, Agnes B., Sonic Youth, The Beastie Boys, Keith Richards, Chloe Sevigny, The Foo Fighters, Everlast, Kraftwerk, Wu Tang Clan, and The Sex Pistols...

Shawn Mortensen was also a successful commercial photographer who worked with clients like SUPREME (nyc connection) and NIKE, and publications like VIBE, SOURCE, and I-D Magazine, where his streetwise eye was a highly prized commodity. Within the artistic community of his homeland of Los Angeles, Mortensen was a local legend whose constant presence at weekly art openings was a staple of the scene, his favorite Polaroid camera always in hand.

At the time of his death, 43-year-old Mortensen was working on a series of new artwork titled “M.O.R.= Monsters!, Outlaws, & Renegades” set to debut at SPACE15TWENTY in Los Angeles in June of this year, and a collaborative photo-based T-Shirt line with Hollywood fashion brand BARRACUDA (from supertouch).