What is it like to sift through the archives of a cultural icon? That’s a question Don Fleming knows the answer to on a deep level. “There were all of these boxes in storage and nobody really knew what was in them,” Fleming says of his wide-eyed wonder. “So we’d go from box to box, all being opened for the first time in years. Some were not that interesting. Others were mind-blowing.”
Thus began seven years of work constructing the expansive exhibit that would eventually become Lou Reed: Caught Between the Stars. Launched last week at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, it’s the first large-scale exhibit focusing on the life and work of the indelible artist, writer, singer, guitarist, poet and New York City native. “This is a person who always pushed boundaries,” explains Fleming, a musician and producer who is a co-curator of the endeavor. “From the beginning to the end, he just never let up.”
