NIKKI SIXX To Appear At The Annenberg Space for Photography

The Annenberg Space for Photography today announced musician/photographer/author Nikki Sixx (MTLEY CRE, SIXX: A.M.) will appear on Thursday, August 25 as a guest in their continuing IRIS Nights lecture series for their exhibition Beauty Culture.

As with Beauty Culture, SIXX: A.M.'s current CD, "This Is Gonna Hurt" (Eleven Seven Music) and single, "Lies of the Beautiful People", along with Sixx's book, "This is Gonna Hurt: Photography and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx" (HarperCollins/William Morrow),take the audience through themes of how beauty is defined, challenged and revered in modern society.

Sixx first picked up a camera in 1989. "This Is Gonna Hurt" explores how images influence our lives in both celebratory and disturbing ways, based upon Sixx's journals and for the first time in print, his photographs. It is these observations and accompanying photographs that will be the focus of his visit to the Annenberg.

As a member of MTLEY CRE, one of the most successful rock bands in the world, Nikki Sixx is a Grammy-nominated musician with over 80 million album sales to date. He is a New York Times bestselling author three times over with "The Heroin Diaries", "The Dirt" (written with his MTLEY CRE bandmates) and his current book, "This is Gonna Hurt: Photography and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx".

Sixx's band SIXX: A.M. has enjoyed success with its debut CD, "The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack" (over 300,000 copies sold),and single, "Life Is Beautiful", radio's most-played rock song of 2008.

SIXX: A.M.'s current CD, "This is Gonna Hurt", is the accompanying soundtrack to Sixx's book. It sold 30,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 10 on The Billboard 200 chart.

The band partnered with Hulu for a documentary series into the creative process for the "Hurt" project, including commentary from Sixx's book subjects who were the inspiration for the soundtrack.

Beauty Culture, open through November 27, features works from over 100 iconic photographers. In the IRIS Nights free weekly lecture series, visitors to the Annenberg Space for Photography hear first-hand from photographers and other professionals about their perspectives on photography's role in the definition of beauty.

The Annenberg Space for Photography is located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Los Angeles, California. With IRIS Nights, Sixx joins a lineup of top fashion, beauty and pop culture photographers and editors. The IRIS Nights lecture series takes place Thursday evenings in the Photography Space and is free to the public with advance registration. The full lecture schedule can be accessed via the Annenberg Space for Photography web site. Availability for Sixx's event will be posted shortly.

Stated Sixx, "I've always had an eye for the oddities in life. Even as a kid, I saw the world in my own way and thought most things that were different were beautiful and magical. My dream has always been to somehow show life through different colored lenses. It is an honor for me to have this opportunity with the Annenberg Foundation to share both my views and company with some of the most respected photographers in the world."

Pat Lanza, Director of Talent and Content for the Annenberg Space for
Photography, stated, "Our Thursday Iris Nights lectures present speakers whose work relates to the theme of the current exhibition. Nikki Sixx has produced a photography book on the subject of beauty from an unexpected viewpoint, so we wanted to feature him in our Beauty Culture lecture series. He is also a great lover of photography, as noted on his Facebook site in which he names many of his favorite photographers."