Steven Klein Heats Up Sao Paulo
By
August 5, 2011
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
Photography is a broad craft—and when it comes to delineating photojournalism from portraiture and fashion from high art, who better to elucidate than a master at blurring boundaries? So it’s no surprise that the Iguatemi Photo Series—the aim of which is “to present the public with photography that goes beyond journalistic witnessing, beyond the iconographic register of classic photography, and beyond its value as a medium”—would set its sights on larger-than-life auteur Steven Klein for its fifth installation.
Housed at MuBE, the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture in Sao Paulo, Klein’s “USAnatomy” will feature 30 large-scale works alongside 30 original Polaroid shots, all curated by fashion producer Chico Lowndes. From those infamous shots of Brad and Angelina “playing house” to an impossibly contorted Madonna to a bloody Justin Timberlake—boy band status, begone!—Klein’s rigorously conceptual, ceaselessly erotic images embrace theatricality and intimacy alike to cast a darker, more raw light on America’s celebrity culture. Klein’s exhibition is sure to be the latest success in a line of critically acclaimed shows—MuBE has previously hosted “A Message for You” by Guy Bourdin, “Heaven and Hell – Beauties and Disasters” by David LaChapelle, and “Chop Off Their Heads,” by John Rankin.
