The A.galerie in Paris is showing the famous Scottish fashion and portrait photographer whose portraits make the covers of the top magazines. The gallery’s owner, Arnaud Adida, talks about one of the world’s twenty most influential photographers.
I won’t stop repeating it: the great photographers are the coolest! Those whose work and creativity have brought something new to their art, those whose career is successful, those who no longer have to prove anything to anyone, those who are the most delightful, the most easy-going and bring me the greatest pleasure. Their kindness and humility makes me happy. The greats that I’m talking about and with whom I’ve had the chance to work are artists like Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, Elliott Erwitt, Steve Schapiro and, of course, Albert Watson whom I’m showing at the A.galerie at the moment.
On the other side of the coin, my job has recently given me the chance to work with a young photographer full of doubt and stupidity who made my life hell. Close brackets, let’s get back to Albert.
What more can be said about this Scot, blind in one eye, recognisable by his cap on backwards and his white beard? He is a technician without peer and a creative crammed with talents who has always insisted on doing his printing himself, whether in the time of film or that of digital. His career of half a century commands respect: films for ads (Chanel, Levi’s, Gap etc.) innumerable video clips, Hollywood movie posters, not to mention the hundreds of covers for Vogue, Rolling Stone, Time etc. For PDN (Photo District News) he is one of the twenty most influential photographers in the world. And Taschen wasn’t mistaken in offering to publish Kaos, a book the size of a Sumo wrestler, covering all the years he had his finger on the button waiting for the perfect image. Some of Mr Watson’s photos have gone around the world of magazines, publishing, auction sales: Kate moss, nude, in Marrakesh in 1993, the black and white portrait on the Steve Jobs biography, the completely yellow poster for Kill Bill with Uma Thurman, Alfred Hitchcock with a dead chicken in his hand etc.
For the Kaos exhibition in Paris, our choice was for black and white: some of Albert’s famous photos but also some new unseen images, published in the Taschen book. The collection has a crazy elegance: a wall with Prince, Bowie and Darth Vader, a top model wall with Naomi, Kate, Christy and Laetitia, then some other surprises going from romanticism to surrealism, from still-life to landscape. Albert knows how to do everything and even when he did his book on Las Vegas (Strip Search) he kept his style.
At the opening, you could see the great photographer: available, generous, not blasé, open to debate, to encounters, to sharing, talking about his past, unveiling his new projects. A great guy, this Watson. And I feel happy with the work we’ve done for him, although he’s used to four hundred print retrospectives in the world’s museums, he feels good in our gallery and he finds that nice, he said, and, despite thirty images doing battle in the gallery, Watson is as happy as a clam… We are, too.
Arnaud Adida
Arnaud Adida is the owner of the A.galerie in Paris.
Albert Watson, Kaos
Exhibition from 25th January to 17th March 2018
A.galerie
4 Rue Léonce Reynaud
75116 Paris
France
