Photographer Todd Selby enters the homes of "interesting people" to take photos of said "interesting people" hanging out in their homes...This is an interesting enough proposal. Go to hip peoples' homes and capture them amidst their domicile and possessions. After all, you can only shoot so many rusted out Fords or African peoples; so why not let Selby document his idea of "interesting" people from New York to Sydney and everywhere (nearly) in between? And, in keeping with the 21st century art aesthetic, there are some suitably quirky ink and gauche illustrations. Which, under most circumstances would be enough for me to mentally to check out of Selby's book... Lo-fi illustrations are a dime a dozen these days amongst the very, very hip.
But... but... You have to appreciate Selby for venturing into Karl Lagerfeld's house to show us the extent of Lagerfeld's book collection. Wonderful! Or how he uses makeup applicators for his illustrations... How Jacques Grange has a bottle of Marilyn Monroe's sleeping pills at his place. How Olivier Zahm digs paperback erotic novels like Jackson Preachers Horny Billie Joe, with a girl on the front sucking her thumb.
Naturally, you have the inexplicable hipster cliche of a person, Lou Doillon, who collects taxidermy. I'm from Wisconsin: this isn't hip. If anything, it's slightly deranged. I see a deer head and I think of grizzled men in orange suits hoofin' through boggy marshes tryin' to kick up some bucks and blow a slug through their hearts--and the head is a trophy, a visual to remind all of the hunter's guests that he is still in touch with his inner early man. How does this become some vintage decoration for a Parisian? I do not know...
Ah... But who doesn't like seeing a little Helen Christensen at home? Thank you, Todd. Thank you very much. She's just cute as a button. A real dish, y'know? Who knew she was a painter? Her technique is taking photographs and making paintings based on those images. Not a new method, of course, but always a good one in my opinion. And one of the things she loves most about New York City is 'the river mist in the morning.'
Then it ends with a Laurel Canyon couple. Yippee! I wonder how they afford those digs on the indie musician and filmmaker salary?
Definitely worth a look, though, despite some reservations on the book's hip quotient.
1 comment:
An interior style guide for the hopelessly hip. They all seem to live in what may be euphemistically called 'a creative mess'. Makes me feel better about my own messy digs. Refreshing not to see interiors that come out of some popular design magazine. I wished he had included normal average working people, but I guess his subjects reflect the creative arty milieu he moves around in. I'm just retreating to my boring suburban home now.
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