Introducing Christopher Clary as featured in Gay Men Play curated by Chris Boot.
As a photographer, CHRISTOPHER CLARY is thoughtfully provocative with the imagery he creates. Below, the American University graduate and Brooklyn-based artist discusses his process, Walter Benjamin, and the one thing that catches his eye. Don’t miss his 3-D presentation and slide show, Sunday, May 17th, glasses included!
NYPH: Describe your photographic approach. How is it unique?
Christopher Clary: I’m a hobbyist —one of millions collecting and taking pictures. My installation for the New York Photo Festival perfectly illustrates how I’m both participant and observer. I try not to get too caught up in the craft of taking pictures so I can stay close to how the general public uses photography. But at the same time, the industry has become so advanced and automated that it’s virtually impossible not to take a good picture. But the bad ones are good for exactly that reason. Maybe I find these moments more real, where the technology isn’t performing as it should. Mistakes are exactly what I plan for when I’m not using found images. My sessions are simple. Two men. One in front. Me behind. The camera is set to autopilot and the work ensues. For my artist talk, I plan on sharing one such session—80 images of AA Bronson that closely approximate the original slide show. This won’t be the actual art object. But that’s the funny thing about photography, and something academics have been struggling with since Walter Benjamin penned The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Whatever the form, photography isn’t just an image. It’s a slide show, website, book, print, wallpaper or even a Viewmaster reel (another series I plan to “approximate” at my talk with 3D glasses). My art is as much about process as getting the image and object, and ultimately the space, to play as one.
What do you like to photograph? Do you find yourself returning to the same subjects
People. I love portraiture in all its various forms. Personally, I’ve worked with a few guys over several years. Sometimes it takes a long time to orchestrate that mistake.
Is there any one thing that always catches your eye?
Unruly neck hair sprouting over the top of a man’s shirt. What? You want me to say “his eyes” … com’on.
What do you hope to achieve with your images?
Sometimes we don’t always have the luxury of an audience. And I really do believe good art exists with or without one. So I’m a bit selfish here. I push myself to see anew and hopefully learn something about myself or others that just wasn’t possible without the work.
Why are Festivals, like the New York Photo Festival, important venues for photographers to exhibit their work?
The New York Photo Festival is unique in how it brings together the hobbyist and the professional, the participant and the observer, and the top and the bottom. What? Who doesn’t love the power play behind and in front of the camera…back to your question. Where else can you leaf through a porn magazine or family album, consider a mix of historical and contemporary photographs and then hear a real debate on these issues. All within a six-block radius.
—Tami Mnoian
