Julian Wasser: Pop and Burn
Julian Wasser’s earliest photographic compass was set by a singular figure: the legendary and self-styled Weegee the Famous. As a young photographer, Wasser briefly accompanied Weegee while the infamous press photographer was in Washington, D.C. promoting a book. Though initially repelled by Weegee’s rough appearance, Wasser immediately recognized the magnitude of his talent. Weegee had virtually invented modern crime and street photography, earning his nickname from the Ouija board for his uncanny ability to arrive at events before they unfolded.
That lesson in instinct and timing became foundational. In the early 1960s, Wasser relocated to Los Angeles, where he emerged as TIME magazine’s lead West Coast photographer. Like his mentor, he positioned himself at the center of history as it erupted: the Watts Riots, speeches by Martin Luther King Jr., the Manson murders, the explosive growth of the Los Angeles art scene, the music and nightlife of the Sunset Strip, and the Ambassador Hotel ballroom on the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Wasser’s camera moved effortlessly between politics, violence, celebrity, and everyday life. He photographed Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones, and was present in the studio while the Stones recorded “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in Los Angeles. He was also assigned to photograph a then little-known writer named Joan Didion—images from that session continue to appear on the covers of her books.
Pop and Burn reflects both Wasser’s visual language and the cultural ecosystem he inhabited. The title evokes the explosive crack of flashbulbs and the scorched immediacy of mid-century press photography—the same aesthetic shock that defined Weegee’s work and that Wasser carried forward, refining it into something sharper and more graphic. His photographs are defined by stark contrast, dense blacks, piercing whites, and compositions as forceful as newspaper headlines, all made in fractions of a second.
The exhibition moves fluidly between icons and unknowns. Alongside famous faces are images of anonymous young people: teenagers in nightclubs, workers in dress shops, kids drinking soda, blowing oversized bubbles of gum, smoking cigarettes, suspended in fleeting moments of anticipation. Fame and anonymity coexist under the same flash, bound by the same nocturnal energy and fragile exposure.
The exhibition’s original working title was Bubble Gum and Cigarettes. But one image demanded something more volatile: Aggie Underwood, the formidable editor of the Herald-Express, firing a pistol at her newsroom desk, smoke rising from the barrel. The photograph—absurd, aggressive, and unforgettable—embodies the tension, humor, and danger that define Wasser’s work.
Julian Wasser passed away in 2023, just months shy of his 90th birthday. Pop and Burn stands as a testament to a photographer who remained fiercely committed to the act of looking. He drove a 1965 Mustang convertible, wore his press pass like a uniform, followed news tips via pager, and adapted only reluctantly as technology reshaped journalism. What endures is the glare of the flash, the immediacy of the moment, and the unmistakable burn of images made exactly when life exposed itself.
About the Author
Julian Wasser (1933–2023) was an American photojournalist whose work defined the visual language of mid-20th-century West Coast culture. As TIME magazine’s lead photographer in Los Angeles, he documented pivotal political events, cultural icons, and the everyday lives surrounding them. Influenced early on by Weegee, Wasser developed a bold, high-contrast style marked by speed, precision, and an unfiltered engagement with his subjects. His photographs remain an enduring record of a period when news, celebrity, and street life collided under the flash of a camera.
Julian Wasser: Pop and Burn
November 29, 2025 – January 17, 2026
Craig Krull Gallery – Santa Monica, California – USA
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