{"id":8283,"date":"2015-11-20T11:51:27","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T10:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/camernew.klienci.052b.com\/marta-balaga-nie-byc-jak-john-malkovich\/"},"modified":"2015-11-20T11:51:27","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T10:51:27","slug":"marta-balaga-nie-byc-jak-john-malkovich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/marta-balaga-nie-byc-jak-john-malkovich\/","title":{"rendered":"MARTA BA\u0141AGA: (NOT) BEING JOHN MALKOVICH"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Think the world populated by the hordes of Malkoviches, as glimpsed in Spike Jonze\u2019s 1999 cult classic, was a one-off folly? Think again. With the help of the ever-elusive actor, Sandro Miller decided to recreate some of the most iconic portraits in the history of photography and there is only one way to describe the experience: Malkovich Malkovich. Malkovich? Malkovich!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about Piss Christ<\/em> by Andres Serrano<\/strong>. Or let\u2019s not, for as they say \u2013 the clue is in the title. \u201cSerrano put a crucifix in his own urine, but of course I couldn’t do that with John<\/em>\u201d \u2013 says Sandro Miller<\/strong> and everyone breathes out with relief. \u201cWe had this full-sized crucifix built and we shot him crucified. Then I put the print of the shot in a huge fish tank and, trying to stay true to what Serrano did, I filled it up with my urine, which I have been saving for 3 weeks. I had to stick a straw in it to blow bubbles!<\/em>\u201d And to think that some people still find this job glamorous. <\/p>\n

Although mostly self-taught, the creator of Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters<\/strong>, which just opened at the Tumult gallery<\/strong> in Toru\u0144, has been photographing people all his life; be it a Spanish matador Joselito or Cuban athletes. And then, something happened: \u201cFour years ago I came down with cancer<\/em>\u201d \u00ad\u2013 he admits openly. \u201cI was going through a moment in my life when I didn\u2019t know if I would ever return to photography. I started to think about my inspirations and all the master photographers who really, really, really influenced me. I guess I just wanted to say thank you.<\/em>\u201d In order to do that, he came up with a rather unusual idea. And when you come up with a rather unusual idea, who ya gonna call? That is, right after the new female Ghostbusters?<\/div>\n

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Sandro Miller;<\/em><\/div>\n
Sandro Miller Archives<\/em><\/div>\n
Ever since they met over 18 years ago during a photo shoot for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company<\/em> in Chicago, Sandro Miller<\/strong> and John Malkovich<\/strong> have worked together on many projects, including a Nikon ad campaign and Miller\u2019s<\/strong> short films: Malkovich Butterflies<\/strong><\/em><\/span> and Ecstasy<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. \u201cWhen John saw the portraits I took of him, he just fell in love with them. He thought I captured him in a way he has never been captured before. We knew from that very moment this is going to be an on-going, continuous collaboration.<\/em>\u201d \u2013 admits Miller<\/strong>. \u201cHe has always been open to my ideas. He would walk into my studio and be this beautiful white canvas that says: paint on me. Is there anything off-limits for John? If there is, I haven\u2019t found it yet.<\/em>\u201d Not many did. After all, the guy did say yes to Transformers 3, didn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n

In 2012, Miller<\/strong> and Malkovich<\/strong> set out to complete a series of 41 images by such renowned photographers as Irving Penn<\/strong>, Dorothea Lange<\/strong>, Robert Mapplethorpe<\/strong>, Annie Leibovitz<\/strong> and many others. Their secret to success: painstaking attention to detail. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t any room for mistake. When you know that people are going to put these images side by side\u2026 you really have to get it right. I just had to kill it \u2013 otherwise, I could have easily become a laughing stock of the industry. I researched every single image \u2013 I would google it, learn its history, I would look at the images that were shot before and after to see where the photographer was at that day. I only had John for 5 days \u2013 I couldn\u2019t try to figure all this out while he was there.<\/em>\u201d<\/div>\n

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Bert Stern _ Marilyn in Pink Roses (from The Last Session, 1962), 2014<\/em><\/div>\n
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Arthur Sasse _ Albert Einstein Sticking Out His Tongue (1951), 2014<\/div>\n
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Such emphasis on getting it right brought on some interesting discoveries \u2013 after spending 9 months dissecting every part of the photos with his team of experts, Sandro<\/strong> found out that Arthur Sasse\u2019s<\/strong> iconic shot of Albert Einstein<\/strong> sticking out his tongue was taken\u2026 in a London cab and that Bert Stern<\/strong> used to loosen Marilyn<\/strong> up with martinis. Yep \u2013 that\u2019s what professionals used to do in the 1960s. \u201cWhen he took that picture it was 3 a.m. in the morning \u2013 there were probably some very flirtatious moments going on when she took off her top and put that scarf in front of her breasts. So when we shot I became Bert Stern and all of a sudden, in a second, John would just become Marilyn Monroe. Become Migrant Mother. Become Salvador Dal\u00ed.<\/em>\u201d Forget eating an imaginary apple – now that\u2019s an acting exercise. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe viewers might look at these photos and say: Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich. But it\u2019s also about these very important photographs<\/em>\u201d \u2013 states art educator Terry Barrett<\/strong> and he might well have a point. \u201cSandro is a humble guy, but I think he is underappreciated. He is renewing interest in some very important images that we tend to forget because we are a throw-away society.<\/em>\u201d That\u2019s right \u2013 as Miller<\/strong> puts it, the series was created to encourage people to go back and re-discover the originals. \u201cThese images have continued to move me throughout my whole career. I may have seen those shots a hundred times and if I was to open a book today and see Irving Penn\u2019s Picasso, my knees would still get weak. So many of us think that we have this potential in our lives that we want to reach. I don\u2019t believe in that anymore \u2013 if we reach further and try harder we can do anything we want.<\/em>\u201d Or be anyone we want. After all, what\u2019s the fun in being just John Malkovich<\/strong>?<\/div>\n

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Marta Ba\u0142aga<\/em><\/div>\n
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Sandro Miller’s Camerimage exhibition;<\/em><\/div>\n
photo by Sylwester Rozmiarek<\/em><\/div>\n
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Think the world populated by the hordes of Malkoviches, as glimpsed in Spike Jonze\u2019s 1999 cult classic, was a one-off…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wiadomosci-camerimage-2015"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}