Desert Valley Gallery is set to host a free three-day exhibition of rare, limited-edition John Lennon photographs taken by May Pang, the woman who was Lennon's companion during his famously chaotic Lost Weekend. The show opens next Friday and runs through the following Sunday at Tivoli Village, and Pang herself is expected to be on hand throughout the weekend to meet visitors and talk about the images.
The exhibition, titled The Lost Weekend – The Photography of May Pang, runs Friday, Nov. 6 through Sunday, Nov. 8, according to vegas24seven.com. The photos were captured by Pang during Lennon's legendary Lost Weekend, which stretched from 1973 to 1975, and guests will get the chance to meet Pang over the course of the weekend as she shares the stories behind her photographs. All of the artwork will be available for purchase, and pieces can be signed by Pang during the exhibition, per the same report.
Las Vegas Weekly lists the event as taking place at Tivoli Village, kicking off Friday at 3 p.m., and categorizes it under community events and Las Vegas Weekly's Beatles listings, noting it is open to all ages. The outlet lists the exhibition's address as 400 S. Rampart Blvd., while May Pang's own exhibition site lists the Desert Valley Gallery address as 410 S. Rampart — a discrepancy that remains unresolved between the two listings.
Hours Vary Depending on the Source
According to the official schedule posted on maypangphotography.com, the gallery will be open from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with shorter Sunday hours of 1 to 5 p.m. A separate listing from KNPR describes the event running from 3 to 8 p.m. every day through Nov. 8, which conflicts with the official Sunday hours posted on the exhibition's own site. Admission is free regardless of which hours apply, maypangphotography.com notes.
Pang was Lennon's companion and lover during the Lost Weekend, an 18-month stretch during late 1973 through 1975 that has become one of the more talked-about chapters of his post-Beatles life, according to maypangphotography.com. During that time, she took candid photos of Lennon in a comfortable, relaxed environment, capturing him away from the spotlight in ways few others could. The same site notes that a collection of these private photographs is currently touring art galleries throughout the country, with Tivoli Village being one stop on that circuit.
A Creative Stretch Behind the Camera
The Lost Weekend period wasn't just personally eventful for Lennon — it was also one of his more productive creative stretches. In those 18 months, Lennon recorded the albums Mind Games, Walls and Bridges — which featured his only solo No. 1 hit, Whatever Gets You Thru the Night — and Rock and Roll, according to the East Bay Times. The Las Vegas exhibition includes candid images featuring other music icons from that era, including Paul McCartney, Elton John, Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr, per vegas24seven.com.
The Tivoli Village stop follows a string of similar appearances Pang has made at galleries around the country this year. She appeared at the Peabody Gallery in Menlo Park from Sept. 11 through Sept. 13 to sign prints and share stories about her Lennon photographs, the East Bay Times reported. That exhibit reportedly included images shown publicly for the first time, including the only known photograph of Lennon signing the contract that dissolved The Beatles and one of the last known photographs of Lennon and McCartney together, taken March 29, 1974.
Pang has also made in-person appearances tied to similar exhibitions in other cities. At the Stravitz Sculpture and Fine Art Gallery, an event description invited attendees to meet photographer May Pang in person and take a peek into her intimate relationship with John Lennon, according to stravitzartgallery.com. A Santa Barbara stop at The Tamsen Gallery similarly scheduled Pang to attend both days, meeting customers and telling stories behind the limited-edition photographs, according to The Santa Barbara Independent.
For Las Vegas fans of The Beatles and Lennon's solo era, the Tivoli Village stop offers a rare chance to see unpublished glimpses of one of rock's most mythologized periods — and to hear the stories firsthand from the person who was there with the camera.
