I came across this picture, shot by Steven Klein and appearing in the National Portrait Gallery exhibition Face of Fashion

Kevin Federline, 2005

Steven Klein

The photograph started a rush of instincts and knee-jerk reactions, and then some deep thought. I got beyond my initial aversions to a) Kevin Federline, or specifically, pictures of him and b)pictures up people’s noses to decide that I really, really love this picture. Besides being gorgeous, it succinctly represents a real, tangible, profound element of our society—the becoming, worshiping and destruction of celebrities.
Then I read this quote, from Steven Klein: “To me, a portrait is a representation of a person and a slash across a throat is the equivalent of a brushstroke. It’s like a classical painting. The slash, the make-up, is a mask that reveals who the person is. For me, the break in the skin shows that all portraits are lies. To see through the skin is to see someone’s reality.”

Are all portraits lies? It is interesting to think about, although much too deep (what is the truth of a person?) and general to ever actually resolve. Celebrity portraiture, I’d tend to agree, though what do I know? Not celebrities, that’s for sure. Then, the next picture that popped into my head was this one, of Marilyn Monroe, by Richard Avedon, from The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Richard Avedon

And the story behind it goes:

“There was no such person as Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe was an invention of hers. A genius invention that she created, like an author creates a character. So when Marilyn Monroe put on a sequin dress and danced in the studio- I mean for hours she danced and sang and flirted, and did this thing. There was no describing what she did, she did Marilyn Monroe… And then there was the inevitable drop because she was someone who went very high up and very way down. And when night was over, she sat in a corner like a child with everything gone. But I wouldn’t photograph her without her knowledge of it. And as I came with the camera, I saw that she was not saying no.”

Then, I thought: Nowadays, you know who probably would be saying no? Her publicists. There would be an army of them, tackling Richard Avedon, all with a vested interest in keeping “Marilyn Monroe” being seen as “Marilyn Monroe”. Thankfully that didn’t happen, because this is definitely my favorite out of all the pictures of Marilyn Monroe. I love everything about it: her expression, her posture; down to every little detail from the sad glimmer of the sequins on her dress to the flyaway hair at the very top of her head.

Then, still thinking: I’m so glad I work with… what are they called? Real people? Non-celebrities? I am interested in people who idolize celebrities, and recently art directed a shoot, exploring the concepts of privacy, surveillance, and travel using the visual language that millions of people see their photos everyday, paparazzi shots:

Katherine Delgra

It was such a fun shoot, and I thought it could be used for a variety of usages… spyware computer software? platinum credit cards? security systems? identity theft protection? Anyway, we’ll see, that’s for our clients to decide…

So who is the model in the shoot? She’s a superstar, to me… Her name is Elizabeth, and I’ve worked with her several times - not only is she beautiful but she makes my job so easy. She has that model/actress look perfect for this shoot (sometimes Cate Blanchett-y, sometimes Giselle-y, there’s even a smidgeon of Princess Di), and she’s so much fun, always laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. She’s the first one to wake up no matter how early the call time, to help the photographer’s assistant carry equipment, or to grab an iron and iron out the wrinkles in clothes. (Paul, the male model in the photos, is amazing as well, although he talks way too much. Really, just goes on and on and on and on and on… Love ya Paul!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 1:16 am and is filed under celebrity, privacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.