Smoke and Mirrors
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| © David Drebin |
New York
City-based photographer and multidisciplinary artist David Drebin presents the
“Smoke and Mirrors” solo exhibition that opens next June 29th in
the Only Art Club gallery in Hamburg. David Drebin was born in Toronto, Canada,
and graduated at Parsons School for Design in 1996. David’s career began
in commercial photography and quickly made a name for himself advancing into
the world of contemporary fine arts.
He is associated
with several important galleries around the world, including Camera Work in
Berlin, Fahey/Klein in Los Angeles, Guy Hepner in London, Young Gallery in
Brussels, and Contessa Gallery. He has shot international ad campaigns for
companies such as American Express and Davidoff and has contributed to
magazines ranging from Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, GQ,
ELLE, Rolling Stone and National Geographic. He has also made portraits of
Charlize Theron, John Legend, Sandra Bernhard, Kevin Bacon and Diane Von
Furstenberg . Drebin's first monograph, “Love and Other Stories”, was published
in 2007. Since then he has published four more photobooks always released by
teNeues, "The Morning After" (2010), "Beautiful Disasters"
(2012), “Chasing Paradise” (2015) and “Dreamscapes” (2016).
Epic, imaginative,
smart, sexy, elegant, funny and cinematic, are some of the adjectives that
often are used to describe his work, but dreamy is possibly the most accurate
one. Drebin’s photography leaves open the door that connect our deep wishes
with reality, that one that we always try to ignore.
Why did you choose
photography?
I didn’t
choose photography, it chose me. It became an outlet for my imagination,
creating magic in the form of a photograph that stops time.
What is your
artistic purpose, do you try to portray reality or to build a new one?
My artistic
purpose is to constantly cater to my demanding imagination. Everyone should
listen to their inner voice or it may backfire on them one day. Distorting
reality and being creative caters to my highly active imagination that never stops
asking to be catered to like a child.
How important is
the world of dreams in your work and your life attitude?
It’s all
about dreams and imagining possibilities. Anticipation, reality and reflection
often dictate life for me. My images are almost always about what is about to
happen or what just happened.
Women use to play
a main role in your work. What do you search in women’s spirit? Is it just an
ideal of beauty?
I love
dangerous beauty, and love is a dangerous game. Women intrigued and fascinate
me in how they can be both nurturing yet dangerous.
Since I am a
man and have deep understanding of our needs, I constantly try to understand
the complex beauty of a women. Making images with and of them often helps me
understand this riddle of danger and beauty, both on the outside and on the
inside.
About your photo
sculptures, do you think 3D images is the next step in photography?
3D is just
another dimension of innovative and creative expression. Over the years,
photography has evolved from film to digital and now to 3D printing. Uniqueness
has always fueled my drive and I wanted to create a new wave of photography
using advanced technology. With the photo sculptures, we go from
two-dimensional photographs to three-dimensional 360 degree sculptures a viewer
can view at all angles. Whether a camera or a 3D printer, these tools are
nothing without the vision and ideas that utilize their means to an end.
Dream, tears,
love, desire…it is easy to describe your work as romantic. What is the sense of
romanticism in the 21st century?
Never thought
about that. I am intrigued (as are most people whether consciously or
subconsciously) by love stories and dreaming about the process of "falling
in love" and on the contrary, with the reflection of "what just
happened exactly?" The work is about all kinds of feelings everyone goes
through at some point or another ;)
About your neon
installations, love is very present too, but it seems more like the consequence
of a lack of communication. What was the intention behind this sentences in
neon?
I made the
neon installations in order to diversify my portfolio and as a compliment to
the photographs. An extension to the family of creativity and imagination.
Similar to the images, the neons are disarmingly blunt and intensely intimate,
mostly with an underlying theme of “love” or “love gone wrong.” These pieces
illuminate hidden aspirations and secret thoughts of the femmes fatales who
inhabit the elusive world of my photographs, and articulate many truths that
are often imagined yet not always shared.
One of your series
is “Dreamscapes”. How would be your dreamscape right now?
Dreams and
dreamy destinations that are imagined and experienced.
How would you
describe the works that feature in your current exhibition “Smoke &
Mirrors”?
A compilation
of works from the past decade that illuminate the concept of “smoke and
mirrors.” Love and sex and the promises made or broken. How a person feels
during the entire process of courtship including the beginnings and endings of
relationships. Nothing is perfect, it’s all just “smoke and mirrors” :)
Could you explain
us a dream that you have while sleeping?
Dreaming of
being able to fly…only to wake up and realize it was just a dream...
David Drebin . Smoke & mirrors
Exhibition at Only art club, Hamburg
30.06.2017 - 10.09.2017
A selection here
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Photo owned by and courtesy of David Drebin
daviddrebin.com
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