Born june 17, 1949, in Pomona Ca., Edward Curtiss Colver was named after his twelve times removed great grandfather from Cornwall, England who came to the U.S. in 1635. he's a third generation southern Californian. his father , Charles, was a forest ranger for 43 years in charge of a 17,000 acre experimental forest.upon his retirement, Charles was presented with the Theodore Roosevelt conservation award presented to him by George Bush Sr. at the white house.
Edward briefly attended citrus community college, took classes at Mt. San Antonio Community College, and took night classes at UCLA, where he studied begining photography with Eileen Cowin. Edward is essentially a self taught artist. largely influenced by dada and surrealism, he was most impressed in his early years by the art of Southern Californian native, Edward Kienholz. in the late 1960's, Edward's perspective on life and art was changed by his exposure to composers such as Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki, and John Cage. Three months after he began taking photographs, Edward had his first photo published, an image of artist Johanna went, featured in Bam magazine.
Edward started going to shows from 1978 through 1983, witnessing over a 1000 shows and through it all, captured many of the images that made their way to magazines of the day, forever immortalized on some 70+ albums. Records like Dead Kennedys, CH3, Black Flag, 45 Grave, Circle Jerks, Social Distortion, TSOL and Bad Brains just to name a few, where his photographs appeared, now symbolize an important part of American music. One the most iconic images from the Wasted Youth album, a guy flipping into the crowd, has forever represented the wild, unrestrained and nihilistic nature of the early days of the Los Angeles Punk Rock scene.
Edward briefly attended citrus community college, took classes at Mt. San Antonio Community College, and took night classes at UCLA, where he studied begining photography with Eileen Cowin. Edward is essentially a self taught artist. largely influenced by dada and surrealism, he was most impressed in his early years by the art of Southern Californian native, Edward Kienholz. in the late 1960's, Edward's perspective on life and art was changed by his exposure to composers such as Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki, and John Cage. Three months after he began taking photographs, Edward had his first photo published, an image of artist Johanna went, featured in Bam magazine.
Edward started going to shows from 1978 through 1983, witnessing over a 1000 shows and through it all, captured many of the images that made their way to magazines of the day, forever immortalized on some 70+ albums. Records like Dead Kennedys, CH3, Black Flag, 45 Grave, Circle Jerks, Social Distortion, TSOL and Bad Brains just to name a few, where his photographs appeared, now symbolize an important part of American music. One the most iconic images from the Wasted Youth album, a guy flipping into the crowd, has forever represented the wild, unrestrained and nihilistic nature of the early days of the Los Angeles Punk Rock scene.
