REAL VS ROLE
Three Photographers Explorations In Portraiture

EMILIANO GRANADO
ANOUK KRUITHOF
JULIETA SANS
Curated by CLAIRE J DONOGHUE

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NY PHOTO FESTIVAL RECEPTION
THU MAY 17th 2012 7pm
33 WASHINGTON STREET
BROOKLYN, NY 11201
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Rabbithole Gallery is pleased to bring together the work of three photographers: Emiliano Granado (Argentina), Julieta Sans (Argentina), and Anouk Kruithof, (the Netherlands), who each bring to their work a very different investigation into portraiture. All three artists explore and deconstruct themes of performance, pose, and role-play. Reception with the artists on Thursday, May 17 (7pm), coinciding with the New York Photo Festival.

Anouk Kruithof the recipient of this year’s ICP Infinity Award in the category of “Young Photographer” presents two portrait projects: “Becoming Blue” and “Daily Exhaustion.”

In “Becoming Blue,” the subjects are dressed in blue and posed against a plain blue background. Blue is a color generally associated with calm and serenity, yet Anouk turns this expectation on its head when she catches her subjects unawares as she simultaneously presses the shutter release. As a result of this element of surprise, they have not been able to present the expression, pose or gesture they had planned and may have preferred. Anouk deconstructs how her subjects subconsciously/consciously present themselves for the camera.

“The Daily Exhaustion” is the artist’s self-described ‘newspaper-zine’ of self-portraits in which she appears to be physically spent, her face glistening with sweat as she photographs herself over and over again. The close up portraits stretch across a double page spread, bisected through the center of each face by the folds in the newsprint on which the images are printed. This creates a set of disjointed masks as the magazine is pulled apart and spread over one wall. Anouk’s exhaustion replaces the affectation and posing we develop in front of the camera into something more real.

Anouk Kruithof was born 1981 in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. She studied at St. Joost Art Academy in the Netherlands. She is educated as a photographer, but considers photography more as a starting point of various possibilities. She makes photo, video, and spatial installations as well as social-in situation-works, and ‘take away art.’ She is perhaps best known as an obsessive artist bookmaker who has published six highly original books that each embodies a frenetic energy. Artist website: www.anoukkruithof.nl

‘Mark’ by Emiliano Granado

Emiliano Granado shows a selection from his portrait series “Time for Print,” which was on view at the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago last year. Emiliano spent four years photographing subjects from the Model Mayhem website which connects photographers with self-proclaimed models. Model Mayhem asks for only a handful of requirements from applicants and currently has over half a million ‘models’ on the site available for shoots. The understanding between the photographer and model is that no money change hands. The models give their ‘Time for Print,’ receiving portfolio prints in return for their time. Emiliano compulsively shot hundreds of hopefuls, providing minimal direction, and often no explanation of the purpose of the shoot, thus allowing the subject to bring their own ideas in terms of clothing, set and poses.

“It was important to get a sense of who they were and how they represent themselves,” says Emiliano. “One of my goals was to try to understand the fascination with celebrity and exhibition. After four years of working on this project, I’m still not sure I understand. My interest in other peoples’ obsession with being seen is still very much alive.”Emiliano uses the Polaroid, traditionally a discarded lighting test device for studio portraits. Here these Polaroid portraits are elevated to beautiful one off art objects in their own right.

Emiliano was born in La Plata, Argentina but has lived most of his life in the US. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, and is a graduate of Amherst College. He works out of Miami and Buenos Aires seasonally. He was included in the American Photography 23, and was chosen as one of PDN’s 30 in 2008. His S/S 2011 Converse campaign was selected as part of PDN’s Photo Annual. Artist website: www.emilianogranado.com

‘Montjuic’ by Julieta Sans

Julieta Sans‘ young female subjects are often actors and artists, always on the edge of ‘becoming’ something. She allows them to become the character they want to be. Some play out their ideal acting role, some become their favorite character from a novel. As they draw from a history of recognizable roles for their performance in front of the camera, Julieta explores the area between what they are trying to show us, and what they inadvertently expose.

The subject of one of Julieta Sans’ portraits, Esmeralda, 27, an amateur actress from South Los Angeles writes: “I have a dream role, two dream roles really. One is to play Wonder Woman and the other would be to play a woman who is striving to be the best that she can be, whatever story that may be that is relative to Mexican roots or a woman who just didn’t have the power at first and then she comes into power at the end.”

Julieta was born in Buenos Aires in 1979 and lives and divides her time working between London and Buenos Aires. She studied Photography at EFC in Buenos Aires and Central Saint Martins in London. Her work is shown internationally, and she has received the following recognition: Renaissance Photography Prize 2012, Flash Forward Award 2010, Prix de la Photographie 2009 and 2008, International Photography Awards 2009, and most notably 2nd winner at National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prize 2007. Artist website: www.julietasans.com

For more information, to receive artwork to accompany a review or feature, and to organize interviews with the artists or curator, please contact: Andrea Smith, 646-220-5950; andreasmith202@gmail.com

And a few months later, we have this tearsheet! That’s how it works kids. You show people a personal project. The editor likes it. Their magazine has a project that can be informed by your project. And you get yourself a check (well, still waiting on that, actually. Wink wink!).

Check out this month’s Men’s Health Magazine for some hot Polaroids! Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot.

**NOTE: Some words and names have been left out of the following anecdote to protect Top Secret-ness of this project for Client X. Don’t worry, I have permission to use this image in this context. Thanks for your concern.

I have no idea who this guy is. He was at _______ Hot Springs in _______ earlier this year when I was there photographing a project for _______. After camping the night before, we planned on waking up super early to catch the sunrise at the Springs. Can you say “best idea ever?” I can! The sun had just started to rise above the mountains when we walked up to the springs. The air was still cold, so when this gentleman walked out of the hot spring, the hot air from his body turned to steam. He looked like a human fog machine. The early morning sun lit the steam up in this miraculous glow. I’ve been in the presence of photographic magic before, but this was the first time that I had seen a photographic miracle. I was speechless for about 20 minutes. I still don’t have many words to describe the moment.

What can I possibly say that the photograph itself doesn’t say already? I want to be here every day. Forever. That’s it.

Ok, so I’m going to cheat a bit here. I’m posting two images for this one. I can’t decide between the two, so screw it. As most of you must know at this point, I do a lot of work for Outlier Clothing and their main focus is clothing that performs in the outdoors as well as in the city. Tailored performance.

Besides really loving the images, I’m proud to continue working with Outlier so closely. They are constantly creating new products and rely on strong visuals to sell them. They’ve been trusting me to create the photos and continue refining and evolving “the look” for over two years. When thinking back on the great accomplishments of 2011, having Outlier trust me to create the majority of their visual branding ranks among the very top.

Plan all you want. Meter a million times. Make as many notes as you want. Research. The best photos will always be the ones that surprise even you.

I became a photographer so I could experience the world more profoundly. To have an excuse to walk out my door everyday and observe. To be surprised. So when this negative came back from the lab, this technical “mistake” surprised the shit out of me. And I loved it. I have a whole bunch of correctly exposed versions of this, but I always come back to this one.

Surprises are good.

This photo is directly related to Number 5 from yesterday. After the races were done, I had built in a few extra days in the travel plans to get some post-race photographs of the cycling teams, or (preferably) drive around France and Belgium. The teams were getting on planes almost immediately, so I was left to wander around the coast of Normandy. Besides filling up on WWII history and driving through beautiful small towns, I tried to stop at every little beach I could. One of these beaches required a short hike and climbing down a ladder to get to the water. On the way back to the car, this couple was heading to the water. I stopped them and asked them to take their portrait. Something about the red and the green in the scene that jumped out at me. As a result of this photo, I’ve noticed that I’ve taken many, many red/green landscapes in the past.

Besides just really liking this photo, there are two morales to the story. One, always try to plan some time to get lost and find stuff while you’re on assignment. Two, it seems like I secretly enjoy Christmas colors.

Anyone that follows cycling will know immediately what this image is. This photo was taken during the 2011 Paris Roubaix race. It is probably the second most important and famous race in the world after the Tour de France. To some fans, it is THE RACE of the year. Cyclists must race over these cobbles (pave) for many miles. This years race was warm and dry, but it’s more likely to be cold and wet, and those conditions makes the cobbles T-R-E-A-C-H-E-R-O-U-S. They are feared and respected like almost no other obstacle in professional cycling. Do some youtube research – it will make any non-cyclist a fan.

Well, I was there. And I had press credentials. Yup, I was in a car behind the peloton. This is like being on the sidelines for the Super Bowl. Cyclists around the world spend thousands of dollars to travel to this race. Many more will never experience it in person. And at most, they’ll see the peloton ride by once or twice in the day. With press credentials, I saw them at the start, 6-7 times during the day, and I was at the finish line to see the victor. An amazing day.

What you can’t quite appreciate from this photo is the speed at which these guys come through. No amount of photographic training prepares you for the stress of those 2-3 minutes of bikes and dust and fans and elbows being thrown and beer being spilled. Pre focus, check meter a million times, pre compose shot, stay calm, stay calm. . . . .  BOOOOOM. All that shit goes out the door and you’re firing away hoping you get SOMETHING. Oh yeah, this was all on film. Medium format. Twenty shots to a roll. What was I thinking? I literally sat in front of my ziploc bag of film at the end of this trip and said, “I hope I get at least 10 shots. I have no idea what this is going to look like.”

In many ways, 2011 was the year that I connected to the outdoors more than I ever have. January started with a camping/mountain bike road trip to Arizona. This trip was pitched as a project to an outdoor brand so in a sense it was a “job.” But really, all it amounted to was 7 friends with bikes in the middle of the desert for 4 days. No client, no producers, no script. In fact, that was kinda the point. The photographs were supposed to feel like a real life road trip with sprinkles of branding tossed in.

For me, the photo above captures that spontaneous road trip spirit. When you get a flat with only a mile to go to reach the car, you improvise. “You sit on the saddle, and I’ll stand up the whole way.” And while you’re at it, I’ll photograph you one-handed with a Mamiya 7 while trying not to hit any cactus. We must have looked really silly to anyone watching.

We had chosen Arizona for it’s warmth at that time of year, but a cold front had moved in and record lows were recorded over the 4 days we were there. Temperatures were in the 20-30° range at night. Plus 20-25mph gusts. Not ideal camping conditions. While it was pretty brutal and we talked about getting hotel rooms, it seems like that trip set the tone for 2011 – Mother Nature always wins.

Over the summer, I traveled South with a good friend visiting from Argentina. We drove from NYC to New Orleans stopping everywhere in between. I’m pretty sure the photo above was in South Carolina. On my loose lists of things I wanted to show my friend was a dirt track. Seeing as how we were in the middle of NASCAR country, I thought it would be pretty easy. As we were driving on the highway one day, I see a hand painted racetrack sign that says they race every Saturday. Lucky us. It was Saturday and they were starting within an hour.Keeping a loose running list of things I hope to see is always helpful. While no project is a failure if I can’t cross off everything on my list, having thought through what I want to accomplish and what sorts of things I want to see is always helpful.

The light that day was incredible. Everywhere I turned, a photo appeared. I spoke to the track manager and he let us get into the infield and get up close – we literally got pelted with dirt. The moment I remember most is this photo above. The National Anthem being played on the crackly PA system, the sun setting, and the round-and-round noise of a single truck flattening out the track. It was a perfect moment in small town Americana.

I took this photo while on Assignment for Travel + Leisure earlier in the year. The assignment was to profile the new Americano Hotel and the hip neighborhood around it.  I wrote about that assignment previously on the blog here. The bottom line here is that the magazine trusted me to wander around the neighborhood for a couple days and just find cool stuff. When you have a camera in hand and keep your eyes open, you’ll find stuff. Trust your instincts and stay loose. Little miracles, like this triangle of light, happen all the time. Be ready.

This photo was shot while working on my year-long project Manual for Speed. I wrote a previous post about how this project came to be and what it’s about. Basically, it’s a photographic documentary detailing the behind-the-scenes lives of two professional cycling teams – Team Exergy and Garmin-Cervelo. The photo above was taken during the USA Pro Cycling Challenge race in Colorado. I was embedded with Exergy for 8 days and when it came time for me to return home, Hurricane Irene canceled my flight. I was stuck in Colorado with a rental car for three more days. I was torn between staying in Denver and finding a virtual office (ie Starbucks) to work from, or to hit the road and see what I see. Easy choice!

I drove around the state basically following the Race map. My goal was to get some beautiful and serene photos of the roads that had been taken over by fans and the peloton only days ago. I wanted the photos to serve as a contrast to the colors and noise of the race. The photo above is just outside of Denver. On race day, it was packed with thousands of fans in skin-tight lycra, costumes, bells, bull horns, etc. but I like to remember it this way.

At the time, I was really annoyed about the extra three days that I was “losing” in Colorado. But now I see that having all that time to myself to make these photos was a gift from Mother Nature and Jetblue.