Martin Schoeller

NEW YORK—“New Work,” Martin Schoeller’s latest show at Hasted Hunt, is a study in contradictions. The 29 portraits—almost claustrophobically cropped 50-by-60-inch head shots, mostly of celebrities—are flattering and unforgiving, personal and generic, monumental and intimate. The portraits present such luminaries as George Clooney, Joe Namath, Justin Timberlake, and particularly female stars like Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, as you’ve never seen them: unretouched, larger than life, wrinkles and sunspots and all. The remaining works, head shots of members of the Amazonian hunter-gatherer Piraha tribe commissioned by the New Yorker, call attention to the almost ethnographic nature of Schoeller's approach.

The German-born photographer’s background is more vocational than artistic—he studied at a small, two-year technical school in Berlin called the Lette Verein rather than at one of Germany’s reputable art schools—and he doesn’t seem to consider himself an artist: He wondered, in fact, whether he would be a good fit for ARTINFO. But the art and publishing worlds have embraced him: His current show at Hasted Hunt is his second there, and he’s shown at Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills and in Boston, Amsterdam, Milan, and Berlin. Te Neues published a book of his portraits, Close Up, in 2005. His photographs have appeared in Rolling Stone, W, Esquire, GQ, and Entertainment Weekly. And in 1999 he joined Richard Avedon as a contributing photographer for the New Yorker—which he calls the “best magazine in the world.”

ARTINFO visited Schoeller in his Tribeca studio, where we got a sneak peek at his latest series, relentless portraits of female bodybuilders, shot in 8 by 10—there’s no way this technically exacting, microdetail-oriented photographer is going digital—and printed 72 by 90 inches. The subjects are coiffed, bikinied, grinning, and greased, and the photos are so crystal clear that you can count every pore. A book of the series is to be published by Pond Press in September, and Ace Gallery will present a selection of the works in their second collaboration with Schoeller starting March 5. Plans are also in the works for the exhibition to come to New York and to be shown in Beijing during the Olympics.

Schoeller spoke with ARTINFO about his method, his influences, and why he lets celebrities “keep their wrinkles.”

Martin, your photos are technically impeccable. Did you learn most of what you know at school or on the job?

Technically I learned a lot at the school, which is great, because whenever I go to art schools, the students seem completely lost when it comes to anything technical. Having this background, I don’t have to think about the technical aspects of photography. It also got me my assistant work with Annie Leibovitz—I worked with her for three years.

What was it like to work with her?

It was very challenging. My English was not that good when I first came here, and she’s extremely demanding. She doesn’t have that much patience. I got along with her very well after about a year, but the first year was very intense and not very pleasant.

Now you split your time among assignments for a lot of different magazines. Is there one sort of work you feel is closest to what you want to be doing yourself?

Well the bodybuilders I did for myself, but how you make a living is photographing celebrities; you can sell those pictures worldwide for many years to come if it’s somebody people care about. But often a magazine gives you a location, clothes, and a pain-in-the-ass celebrity who doesn’t want to do anything. So I developed the headshots. They allow me to walk away with something for myself—a very honest, simple portrait that no publicist can say anything about. You can’t see what they’re wearing and they’re not having to do anything, so no red flags go up. Only three or four times have people refused to have a picture taken that close. But it doesn’t really feel so close, because I have a long lens.

But they’re so unforgiving, those photos.

They’re unforgiving in the sense that you are that close. But considering that they’re so close, the lighting is really nice and flattering and soft. You don’t see many wrinkles at all. Some people who have a crooked face look a little bit less flattering, but even a lot of people who aren’t really perceived as being that good-looking end up looking much better.