William Klein + Brooklyn
William Klein + Brooklyn, an exhibition at the Howard Greenberg Gallery, features 50 new colour photographs by one of the 20th century leading photographers. The photographs by William Klein have been exhibited in Paris and London and have now arrived in New York.
The images depict the summer of 2013 and is marked by Klein’s motto “no rules, no limits, no holding back” as they capture the vibrancy of Brooklyn life. From the West Indian Day Parade to the beach life, William Klein + Brooklyn portrays Brooklyn in all its cultural diversity.
Klein was commissioned by Sony to shoot Brooklyn exclusively for the company’s Global Imaging Ambassadors program. The program is known to be an initiative uniting top photographers from across the world with the objective of storytelling.
In a short film by Sony, the photographer notes his fascination for the city as he approached the project. “We were over in Brighton Beach, and I photographed a store, which was Pakistani, and then the store next to it was Russian, and the store next to that was Mexican, and one store said ‘Islamic Beauty.’ This is amazing.”
For numerous weeks Klein roamed Brooklyn’s streets, the beaches of Coney Island and Brighton, as well as he photographed from the window of his car, working days and nights to capture the essence of Brooklyn. The result is an animated depiction of Brooklyn marked by Klein’s masterly style.
Klein’s legendary career includes photography for Vogue, the publication of numerous photo books as well as the production of several films. The artist is known for revolutionising fashion photography by bringing model’s out of the studio and onto the streets, capturing beauty and the grotesque together in wide-angled and telephoto shots. His photo books are known to depict themes and places in brutal honesty and his wide range of films carry on his artistic abilities into moving pictures.
The artist’s work is showcased in the collections of various institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
The William Klein + Brooklyn exhibition will be on display at Howard Greenberg Gallery from Thursday 19 March – Saturday 2 May 2015.
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