The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea

[gusgusterson]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea



I'd love to see more Penn, Steichen, Hoyningen-Huené, Horst, and Beaton exhibitions. I'd love it if I never saw another Patrick Mimram billboard.

[Seventh]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea



I find myself veering towards the middle path with the Sartorialist's photos as well. I think he provides a service to a lot of people interested in fashion (showing what a certain group and class of people are wearing, filtered through his own taste in fashion) and does it well. I also think he has been pretty consistent with the type of photographs that he has taken, I don't think he has changed what he is interested in since he started.

Some of the comments critical of his work border on snobbery. His pictures are professional and well composed, lit, etc. Having a digital SLR camera does not make the technical end of things that much easier. His audience is much more mainstream than most of SZ's readership, so it makes sense that a lot of the pictures he takes are bit boring or irrelevant to our interests.

I agree that the comment section is pretty masturbatory, but it is pretty standard in this day and age, and probably helps to fulfill a certain fantasy of stylishness and attainable sophistication that both his fans and himself indulge in (heavily).

One point, I would like to make is that the subject of the pictures is the clothes. He is not that interested in providing a deeper identity of the person wearing the clothes, other than making them look good. The work is extremely commercial, as Moralveneer mentioned, no one image particularly interesting on its own. It only make sense in a NYC gallery, because it will sell or at least give the gallery publicity. As art it is pretty banal.

Finally, the one thing that makes me angry is his self-promoted comparison to August Sander. Completely different f-ing leagues... Sander work has so much depth, sensitivity and interest of the subject, Sartorialist just skates across the surface. The only thing similar about the two is that they photograph people. It is an idiotic comparison and inherently makes me dislike the guy for his arrogance.

[dontbecruel]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea

I absolutely agree Seventh that the comparisons to Sander are preposterous. Also that he is basically a commercial photographer (not a bad one) and showing in a NYC commercial gallery is completely appropriate.

[Fuuma]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea

[quote user="Seventh"]


I find myself veering towards the middle path with the Sartorialist's photos as well. I think he provides a service to a lot of people interested in fashion (showing what a certain group and class of people are wearing, filtered through his own taste in fashion) and does it well. I also think he has been pretty consistent with the type of photographs that he has taken, I don't think he has changed what he is interested in since he started.

Some of the comments critical of his work border on snobbery. His pictures are professional and well composed, lit, etc. Having a digital SLR camera does not make the technical end of things that much easier. His audience is much more mainstream than most of SZ's readership, so it makes sense that a lot of the pictures he takes are bit boring or irrelevant to our interests.

I agree that the comment section is pretty masturbatory, but it is pretty standard in this day and age, and probably helps to fulfill a certain fantasy of stylishness and attainable sophistication that both his fans and himself indulge in (heavily).

One point, I would like to make is that the subject of the pictures is the clothes. He is not that interested in providing a deeper identity of the person wearing the clothes, other than making them look good. The work is extremely commercial, as Moralveneer mentioned, no one image particularly interesting on its own. It only make sense in a NYC gallery, because it will sell or at least give the gallery publicity. As art it is pretty banal.

Finally, the one thing that makes me angry is his self-promoted comparison to August Sander. Completely different f-ing leagues... Sander work has so much depth, sensitivity and interest of the subject, Sartorialist just skates across the surface. The only thing similar about the two is that they photograph people. It is an idiotic comparison and inherently makes me dislike the guy for his arrogance.

[/quote]

I'm pretty much in agreement with this. I do believe it can be classified as art, but most art is, at best, mediocre and so are his pictures, especially compared to a giant like Sander. On the other hand he does have a pretty interesting blog if you see it as just plain old fashion photography blog. The comments are heavily edited, by his own admission, because he mostly photographs fashion insiders and wants gentle criticism as heaims to maintain a relationship and encourage his "models" to adopt arelaxed and positive attitude about the whole thing. I hardly follow it because I'm not that much into fashion insiders, preferring street photography andnow that he's "owned" by Condé Nast the whole thing will get lamer and lamer as they have a sort of reverse midas touch that is sickening to encounter.

Not really articulate todaybut to sum it up; its intresting to the right audience and who cares about the comments, it's art just not great one (at least yet) and I predict major suckage cause Condé=bullshit.

[philip nod]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea

sart's got a new ABSOLUT VODKA fun map on this website. yar she BLOWS!

[Fuuma]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea



[quote user="philip nod"]sart's got a new ABSOLUT VODKA fun map on this website. yar she BLOWS!
[/quote]

Condé rears it's ugly, but perfectly coiffed, head?

[philip nod]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea

how that guy lives w himself i'm dunno...its the speed at which he bends over (at his age) which is mindblowing

[Faust]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea



[quote user="philip nod"]how that guy lives w himself i'm dunno...its the speed at which he bends over (at his age) which is mindblowing
[/quote]

ouch! no pun intended.

[iSuck]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea



I'll just dip in for a sec to air my well known grievances.

I think the blog was really great and I enjoyed it when I was living in LA. Now, he is basically the CondeNastialist and just a photojouranlist at Fashion Shows.

Perhaps it is just me and either A) knowing or B) seeing many of the people he photographs from shows around NYC; but, I just find it to be very stale. Perhaps if I lived in Missoula, Montana and was fashion deprived then I would feed off of it. As for his "eye" for fashion, I feel that when you are trolling around Bryant Park, Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks that finding someone with style to take a picture of is like shooting fish in a barrel.

But, I don't think he captures NYC anymore and he really won't admit that (but, yes he is making much more money now and getting to travel on someone else's dime).

Also, the gross regulation of positive:negative comments on the site is really disheartening. I'm sorry Scott; but, just because you choose to take a picture of it does not mean that it is automatically God's gift to the fashionable Earth. But, when every comment you allow through is "OMG she looks amazing!" it is easy to help wrap yourself in that little bubble of self-satisfaction.

And as for being "art" in a gallery, I am very skeptical of this and I am curious about his sell-throughs.

[gerry]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea

As someone who is much more interested in mainstream fashion than the majority of people on this forum, I can honestly say that the only reason I still look through Scott's stuff is because his blog is one of the few streetstyle blogs in which you are actually able to see the "real clothes" in full and clear detail. The man isn't brilliant. He doesn't have an eye for proportion bestowed by Jesus, Buddha, and the Virgin Mary. But compare his work to photos from blogs like facehunter and fashionhunter... the man becomes a fucking genius.

[Faust]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea



who will provide the gallery? that is the question.

gerry, what you say is true, but it seems like ever since he's started globe trotting there has been less street pix and more fashion insiders pix? although, not that it's that bad, i guess.

[gerry]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea



That's definitely true, but I feel like that's where the demand on his blog is going. Notice that everytime he takes a picture of a fashion editor (however junior), models, and the like, half of his comments have this funny little "oh, Julia Von Boehm always looks great" sort of comment which seems to me like a little bit of self-petting, if that makes sense. I don't think its necessarily bad, but fashion editors don't exactly have wardrobes like the average person, which kind of takes away from the entire streetstyle idea...

I think Scott really missed the point of his blog (being real people versus celebrities, in my mind) when he posted pictures of Kayne West...

[Faust]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea

/\ hahaha, i didn't see that (haven't looked at the blog in a long time, to be honest).

[xadam]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea



kanye by sart

Agreed that this is a bad direction for Scott; he's just paparazzi here.

[iSuck]

Re: The Sartorialist Exhibition in Chelsea

The Sartorialist said ... (3:24 PM) :


I don't think of kanye as a celebrity I think of him as an artist

and i think he addresses the issue of his attitude and growth very well through his lyrics.

I am not a hip-hop fan but i think Kanye has moved past that genre and into a universe of true self-expression

go go Kanye

[74]