mugshots – PopWars

I have been attracted to mugshots for a long time. I photographed my friends in 1971. In the mid seventies I worked as a graphic artist for the Rochester Police Department where I made flyers with real mugshots. And then in the late nineties with an early digital camera I photographed everyone in the Bug Jar on a Friday evening. Since then I have painted my faces from the local Crimestoppers page in our newspaper.

BLOOMINGTON MUGSHOTS 1971

In 1971 I posed six of my friends and me for mugshots with my Kodak Instamatic camera. These six 1971 Bloomington Mugshots were shown in the 2017 Rochester Biennial, “Witness – Paul Dodd Leo Dodd” at Rochester Contemporary Art Center.

Steve Hoy, Bloomington mugshots by Paul Dodd 1971

Rich Stim, Bloomington mugshots by Paul Dodd 1971

Dave Mahoney, Bloomington mugshots by Paul Dodd 1971

Kim Torgerson from Bloomington Mug Shot Series 1971

Jeff Reiter, Bloomington mugshots by Paul Dodd 1971

Brad Fox, Bloomington mugshots by Paul Dodd 1971

Paul Dodd, Bloomington mugshots by Paul Dodd 1971

Installation view of "Witness - Paul Dodd, Leo Dodd" at Rochester Contemporary 2017 — “Mugshots of Friends” Kodak Instamatic Prints 1971, installation view “Witness – Paul Dodd, Leo Dodd” at Rochester Contemporary 2017

BUG JAR MUG SHOTS 1998

Our band, Margaret Explosion, played a Friday Happy Hour gig at the Bug Jar for two years. Casey, the owner and bartender, brought in vegetarian food from the India House and Rolling Rock beer was a dollar a bottle.

One night, before the band began, I set up a stool, a light and a white canvas background in the back room. I invited whoever was there to sit for a photo. I remember not calling it a “mugshot” so that aspect wasn’t overplayed, but the setting dictated the pose.

I was using a one megapixel Kodak DC210 camera that my father bought at the Kodak Employee Camera Shop. I brought home about thirty photos that night and took them into PhotoShop where I converted them into black & white bitmap photos with a pronounced dot pattern. I created Quark documents to scale and printed tiled 8 1/2 x 11 pages on our laser printer. These prints were shown in the Bug Jar a few months later in 1998. The ten below were shown again in the 2017 Rochester Biennial at Rochester Contemporary, a show called Witness.

Invitation toPaul Dodd Mug Shot Showat Bug Jar 1998

INSTALLATION PHOTOS OF BUG JAR MUGSHOT SHOW 1998

Margaret Explosion live at the Bug Jar 1998. Jack Schaefer - guitar, Paul Dodd - drums, Peggi Fournier - sax, Pete LaBonne - bass. — Margaret Explosion live at the Bug Jar 1998. Jack Schaefer – guitar, Paul Dodd – drums, Peggi Fournier – sax, Pete LaBonne – bass.

Peggi Fournier and Pete LaBonne playing music at Paul Dodd Mugshot Show opening, Bug Jar, Rochester New York 1998

Installation shot at Paul Dodd Mugshot Show opening, Bug Jar, Rochester New York 1998

Installation shot from Paul Dodd Mugshot Show opening, Bug Jar, Rochester New York 1998

Rico at Paul Dodd Mugshot Show opening, Bug Jar, Rochester New York 1998

Paul Dodd at Paul Dodd Mugshot Show opening, Bug Jar, Rochester New York 1998

PHOTOS FROM OPENING OF BUG JAR MUGSHOT SHOW 1998

Art at Paul Dodd Mugshot Show opening, Bug Jar, Rochester New York 1998

Bug Jar Bobs at Paul Dodd Mugshot Show opening, Bug Jar, Rochester New York 1998

The Bug Jar Mugshots were shown again in the 2017 Rochester Biennial, “Witness – Paul Dodd Leo Dodd” at Rochester Contemporary Art Center.

Below is a video off the mugshot source material used in the 2017 Rochester Biennial, “Witness – Paul Dodd Leo Dodd” at Rochester Contemporary Art Center.