NAU NUA: MARK ARBEIT

Emotions

Mark Arbeit

Although Mark Arbeit was born in Chicago and raised in North California, he admits that the beauty of Hawaiian landscapes where the ones that awakened his visual senses. His family moved to Oahu, Hawaii, when he was just 16. Just a couple of years later, he started his studies of art and photography at the University of Hawaii. Soon he decided to focus on photography and transferred to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. And that marked his career in a very strong way because during the third year he met Helmut Newton, who took him as an assistant. But Newton was not the only major figure of photography history that Arbeit found during his early years as a photographer. When he moved to New York after finishing his studies, he was hired by Irving Penn also as a studio assistant. After working with Penn, he moved to Milan and started an important career in fashion photography shooting for Linea Italia, Donna and Vogue Bellezza. But he wanted to expand his artistic boundaries and he moved to Paris in 1985 and along with other photographers he formed the group The Cauldron and shooting for Marie Claire, French Vogue, Forbes or People at the same time. Known for his female nudes, he also launched the project ‘Polajunk Constructions’: a collection of photomontages made of all the bits that come in a Polaroid box.

The Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin opens next 6 June the exhibition Three boys from Pasadena along with Newton's SUMO exhibition featuring works by George Holz, Just Loomis and Mark Arbeit who will show a new series of life-sized photograms of female models along with a series of small-format photograms of toy dolls–a visual homage to Helmut Newton and his passion for collecting such toy figures.

What does art mean to you?

If I can evoke an emotion, no matter what that emotion is, I’ve been successful in my art. If a young artist is inspired by my work and influences her/him to take it to the next level, I’ve been successful.

When did you start expressing yourself artistically?

1985. Having assisted both Helmut Newton and Irving Penn, I learned how these master photographers could change from shooting for Vogue one day, advertising the next and personal work the next day. I learned that it’s possible and extremely important. My first series was In & Out-of-Focus; where I had a flower in the foreground in focus with a nude model out-of-focus mimicking or playing against the shape of the flower.

Although you were born in Chicago and raised in North California, your family moved to Hawaii when you were a teenager. How important were the Hawaiian landscapes in your decision to be a photographer?

The Hawaii Island are amazingly beautiful, but it was the exotic woman of the islands that influenced the way I’ve always chosen models for fashion and beauty assignments. I was first introduced to photography in Hawaii via the darkroom. The first time I viewed a white piece of paper develop into a photo print, I was hooked! Until this day I have a big love for the darkroom, which makes sense why one of my most recent series has been photograms, which will be on display at the Helmut Newton Foundation. To make a photogram, in a darkroom you simply place an object on photo sensitive paper, expose the object on the paper to light and develop in chemicals. I’ve made some photograms as large as 135cm x 250cm, placing live models on photo sensitive paper and making multiple exposures with a flashlight.

Being still a student in the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena you met Helmut Newton. How was that meeting?

I had a client in Beverly hills (Fashion Boutique) which told me Helmut Newton would be coming to the boutique the following day. George Holz and I waited for Helmut all day until finally he came. We told Helmut we are photography students and would he look at our photographs. He invited us to come by the Beverly Hills Hotel to show our work. We called up Just Loomis and the three of us went over. After looking at our work Helmut said he would be location hunting for a big shoot and asked if we would be interested in driving him, “YES”! The next 4-5 days we drove up and down the California coast looking for locations, asking Helmut every question about photography we could think of. Afterwards he invited us to come along and help out on a five-day shoot for Stern Magazine. Soon afterwards we individually began assisting Helmut and continued a friendship for the next 35 years. We were eventually able to get Helmut to speak to our class at Art Center.

How Helmut Newton’s work influenced your photography?

For me, Helmut was my photo Guru, my photo philosopher. It was more about every aspect of photography; from lighting to technique to dealing with clients, both editorial and advertising and the importance of personal work, the relationship with the model, directing every aspect of a photo shoot.

Later you worked as an assistant to Irving Penn. How do you remember this period?

After leaving Los Angeles, I spent six months in New York before moving to Milano, Italy. Penn was difficult for me. I was so influenced by Penn’s technique and style, I loved everything Penn did and he has always influenced my work. You can see this in my Out-of-Focus series and my Torso series.

You have worked in fashion but at the same time always trying to expand your artistic boundaries, experimenting. What could you explain us about the group ‘The Cauldron’?

It was a group of mostly Art Center students living and working in New York. We met once a week and would bring in personal pictures that we had been working on. It was usually a tough critique, but we learned from each other. Out of the Cauldron came my Out-of-Focus series and later on my Artist Atelier series.

You are presenting some of your works in the exhibition 'Helmut Newton. SUMO / Mark Arbeit. George Holz. Just Loomis. THREE BOYS FROM PASADENA'. What does it mean to you?

George Holz and Just loomis are two of my closest friends and we all have decades of close friendship with Helmut & June Newton. It’s a great honour and thank June Newton for pushing the first and this second show to happen. June always said “Helmut would be proud of the three of you”. What I love is the diverse styles of George Holz, Just Loomis and myself. We each have a love for photography which continues to grow.

One of the works you present is the “Shoe#2, Homage to Helmut Newton”. It reminded me the work of the experimental filmmaker Peter Tscherkassky. How was the creative process of this work?

I started out making life size photograms (135cm x 250cm) in a darkroom. Afterwards I wanted to see if I could create the same feeling in a smaller size, so I decided to experiment with Barbie dolls and similar object used on the large photograms. The Barbie dolls didn’t look real, so I search and discovered a seamless doll that had a metal skeleton underneath the rubber skin and could bend in every way you could imagine. I decided to make my photograms an homage to Helmut because of his love of dolls and mannequins. I used Helmut’s Big Nudes poses and found miniature (very detailed) woman’s shoes & boots that Helmut loved. In the darkroom, I placed the doll and shoes on photo sensitive paper and made five exposures with moving the doll and shoes in each exposure of enlarger light. Adding cellophane to the last exposure giving the body a texture. You end up with a multi layered picture.

What are your future projects?

I’ve started working on a series of nudes with an old stereo (3-D) camera. The camera shoots two picture at the same time. I discovered these cameras are still available and have been shooting with 35mm and a medium format Russian camera. I had once seen an exhibition of the photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue at the Pompidou Centre in 2003, and thought it would be interesting to experiment in this direction.