JESSICA CRAIG-MARTIN - STANDARD EXCESS

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Sun, 2012-04-01 11:14

JessicaCraigMartin,Photography,StandardExcess,GalerieAndresThalmann,Zurich,2012

International photo artist Jessica Craig-Martin surprises her audiences with her offbeat glimpses of our consumer society. She holds up a mirror that -unlike the usual glossy magazines- reveals snippets of the reality lurking beneath the glamour of a jet-set party... as we say at eternal-optimist: All those small details that lie beneath the surface! It is always amazing when reality reveals itself in all its "glory".

Craig-Martin's fame has gone far beyond her hometown, New York. She has made headlines with international exhibitions ranging from Madrid to Tokyo. Her first show in Switzerland features a selection of seminal works created over a period of several years. It's title "Standard Excess" is typical of the artist's witty and intentionally ambiguous on the world of VIPs.

Hamptons Tan (Southampton Hospital Benefit Gala), 2007.

Real Beauty (AmfAR Benefit, Cannes), 2008.

"One is never so naked as when dressed for a party", artist Jessica Craig-Martin notes. It is a statement immediately reflected in her subjects. Her works depict scenes from social events -cocktail parties, charity fundraisers, and glamorous galas at the Cannes Film Festival or the Venice Biennale. Her precise and detailed photographs show extravagantly attired guests at exuberant parties. In contrast with published photographs in glossy magazines, however, Craig-Martin has an eye for the grotesque, toying with aspects of fashion, taste and wealth.

As a press photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair, among other publications, Craig-Martin has been able to photograph different inaccessible scenes. She reveals unsuspected vulnerabilities. Air Kiss, captures the awkward grimace women habitually make to avoid lipstick smudges...

Air Kiss, (Cancer Benefit, Southampton), 2006.

"I am not interested in individuals. My camera wants to eradicate the personal. I see my works as abstract studies of sequins, evicted mollusks and air-conditioned mink. Vanity, excess, vulnerability, arcane social ritual. Failed armour. Glamour is a mirage. As you approach, it evaporates". Craig-Martin plays with our voyeuristic habits, and with the world of VIPs; she shows us the ungilded side of a luxurious lifestyle, and its social dictates of vanity. Elements of still-life as in the finger food exquisitely presented in Catered Caviar and Private Party. Akin to the flamboyant opulence of early 19th-century still-lifes, her compositions aim to display symbols of extreme wealth and conspicuous consumption -the jewellery; the Christian Louboutin Mondrian platform sandals; the spectacular chandelier...

Catered Caviar (Southampton Hospital Benefit Gala), 2007.

Private Party (Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires), 1998.

Mondrian Teacup Pug (Watermill Center Benefit, Watermill), 2007.

Ms Jessica was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1963. She was raised in London and New York by artist parents, surrounded by art and the art worlds of both sides. She moved into a career in fashion editorial, working for British Vogue and the Sunday Telegraph in London , and then as Associate Features Editor in New York. Later she studied anthropology, merging her extensive travels with her studies. In the pursuit of camera skills for a planned book about Asia, she found subject matter closer to home that gripped her and has held her interest ever since: Excess and luxury in all its forms. Her work was noted by Anna Wintour, who hired her to photograph the night life of New York. The access this provided was her key to the world of glamour as it is presented for the world's consumption, and to a behind-the-scenes look at the facade.

Arrival Lipstick (AmfAR Benefit, Cannes), 2008.