September 3, 2011 |
Oh that Jeff Burton can snap, yes he can, and we don’t mean his fingers in a z-formation, we mean with a camera, though come to think of it, he can turn his hand to anything, from shooting ‘mazing editorial for 10 Magazine, to the kind of art photography which makes curators from the Barbican and the Guggenheim constantly knock on his door, begging to exhibit.
1. Jeff Burton first became known for his documentary photography of the Hollywood sex scene and porn industry in the 1990s.
2. These early photographs feature copulating couples and toned figures which are treated as almost incidental, out of focus or cropped out as the camera is trained on an object or the environment, such as bed clothes, a pot plant or patterned floor.
3. In other shots the bodies form their own topography, caught in close up by the camera, mountains of shoulders and bums rivaling the Hollywood Hills.
4. Often faces are caught in rear view mirrors or seen only through distorted glass, often they are covered, cropped out or don’t appear at all. Those who are captured look surprised to be seen, or stare out of shot, ignoring the viewer completely.
5. Burton’s use of highly saturated colour parallels porno, but is beautiful rather than grotesque.
6. He has published three monographs, Untitled (Composite Press/Hougado Corp., 1998), Dreamland (powerHouse Books, 2001) and The Other Place (Twin Palms Publishers, 2005).
7. He is not to be confused with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car driver of the same name.
8. Burton has translated his distinctive style into numerous advertising campaigns for brands such Tom Ford, Yves Saint Laurent, Wrangler Europe and Kris Van Assche, the latter praising him for his “unique and radical” approach.
9. He also contributes to publications such as French Vogue, Vogue Hommes International, Domus, Arena Homme +, Vanity Fair, Fantastic Man, Numéro and The New York Times and of course 10 and 10 Men.
10. In the new issues of 10 and 10 Men we are lucky to include some of Burton’s Polaroids from 1990s film sets, combined with some choice words from Mr Burton and Max Blagg.
by Zoe Wulfsohn-Dunkley
