Rocky Schenck

Rocky Schenck was raised on a ranch in the hill country outside of Dripping Springs, Texas. At age twelve, he began studying oil painting and began selling his work professionally at age 13. In his early teens, he began writing, directing and photographing short experimental films and learning still photography while shooting production stills on the sets of his movies. His fascination with the art of filmmaking and photography motivated a transition to Los Angeles. Artists in the motion picture, musical, literary and theatrical worlds began approaching Schenck for their projects, thus creating a diverse portfolio of fine art, portraiture, film and theater work. A gallery owner in New York discovered Schenck's work and gave him his first one man photography exhibition, followed by a second exhibition a year later. Both shows were well received and reviewed by several publications, including Art in America, Artforum, and Aperture. Since then, Rocky has continued to show in galleries around the world and his work is now included in several prestigious museum and private collections. The Wittliff Collections in San Marcos, Texas own the largest collection of Schenck's work. In the music and entertainment world, Schenck has photographed several hundred album covers and has written and directed numerous music clips and short films. He has shot fashion, editorial and portraits for Vogue, Rolling Stone, Time, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, etc. He has collaborated with personalities ranging from Adele, Francis Bean Cobain, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Ray Bradbury, Ellen DeGeneres, Baz Luhrmann, Kylie Minogue, Nick Cave, P.J. Harvey, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Annie Lennox, T-Bone Burnett, Joni Mitchell, The Cramps , Tom Cruise, Johnny Mathis, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Josh Duhamel, Diana Krall, Brian Wilson, Donna Summer, Nicole Kidman, Gary Coleman, k.d. lang, Jerry Lee Lewis, Natalie Cole, Gloria Estefan, Neil Diamond, Larry Fishburn, Rod Stewart, Gladys Knight, Alice in Chains, etc. Director William Friedkin utilized Schenck's art photographs as massive sets in his production of the opera "The Makropulos Affair" in Florence, Itay, and also in the classic Bartok opera, "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" in Los Angeles. A collection of Rocky Schenck's photographs was published by the University of Texas Press in 2003, which sold out it's first and second editions. "The Recurring Dream" is the title of Schenck's second book of fine art photographs and will be published by the University of Texas Press in the fall of 2016. A collection of Schenck's portraits of artists, actors, musicians,, writers, eccentrics and the occasional nude model entitled "Portraits, Etc." will be available in 2017.