Steven Klein and Postphotography

Sonesson poses the question, "But is there really a world after photography?"

Many of today's emerging photographers have offered a response to this question, and Sonesson offers his own explanation as well:

"The postphotographic world can only exist in the same sense in which we have long lived in a world after painting: a world in which the meaning of painting has been modified by the advent of photography. But now the meaning of photography and painting alike are in the process of being thoroughly changed by the emergence of computer-pictures....But the computer may also be an instrument of creation: it is not only one of several possible means for mechanical reproduction, but it is also a means for digital production. And this is where we enter the domain of postphotography."

Enter Steven Klein:

On his website, he offers a response to the notion of these categories that can not be interpreted in isolation, and why there is a necessity to define them based on their predecessors:

"There is a desire to link photography with painting. My background is painting and I feel there is no connection between the two. It is as if the camera is linked to a sin, producing a bastard art form that we feel we must link to the past in order to give it credentials. I don't want those credentials. I have no need to apologize for photography."

Many of you may be familiar with his work in fashion photography, particularly in W magazine (which is where I first became acquainted with his work). I found an interesting article on his website that I thought captured the discussion quite nicely:

"For some time now photography has existed in an expanded field that includes fashion, advertising, music, cinema and virtually every other aspect of the culture we live and breath every day. And while there are those who denounce this as a contamination of its ability to report accurately on the world we live in, there are others for whom this very impurity is a saving aesthetic grace. Steven Klein might be one such photographer and X-STaTIC Pro=CeSS, his collaboration with Madonna, is just such a cross-fertilization of talent, medium and genre."

In my opinion, like every art form, and not even limited to art but life in general, things naturally evolve and change, and those who take advantage of this in the appropriate ways and contexts can benefit immensely. I thought Steven Klein was one photographer who was a great example of an artist who is delving into evolving techniques in his art and is not afraid to blend ideas and see what works. With that I will leave you with one last quote that illustrates his involvement with this:

"To this end many of the still images of X-STaTIC Pro=CeSS have been animated with CGI, just as the moving images are often edited in such a way that they appear to be composed of sequenced stills. In doing so he has created a strange hybrid that is neither one nor the other yet draws on both."