Robert Stevens, after 25 years as a photo editor at Time Magazine, and currently a professor of photography at the School of Visual Arts, has published his first book of 83 photographs made on the streets during his years as The Flaneur who strolls and wanders without deadlines, like any good Flaneur.
The book titled, Unintentional, is his response to years spent in art museums around the world, absorbing the art that got his attention. His point of view is the result of seeing other people’s artistic creations.
Over these years he has been influenced by art works, starting with Franz Marc’s The Large Blue Horses, that he saw at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis when he was 13 years old. Later art by Picasso, JMW Turner, Jean Tinguely, Kazimir Malevich, Joan Miró, Francis Bacon, Henri Rousseau, Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Dieter Roth, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer and others around the world forged what would resonate for him on the streets.
He started using his camera on the sidewalks of New York City as well as in other city streets in 2010. At first, he recorded things to show his college students, how our visual society is shaped. Later, he started to record certain lines, shapes, colors and objects that got his attention and resembled art he had seen in museums. But on the street, the “art works” he discovered had not been created with the usual intention of being accepted by a museum or gallery. They were just unintentional marks that became artistic expressions through the eyes of The Flaneur.
His way of seeing has been greatly influenced by two mentors: First, his graduate school professor in Rochester, New York Nathan Lyons, who is legendary for his record of our visual world. Second, by James Nachtwey, the celebrated conflict photographer he edited for 20 years at Time Magazine. From Nachtwey he learned to watch every background detail to make sure they are in harmony with his subjects.
BOOK SIGNING
Robert Stevens will launch his book with a signing at the Foley Gallery on Wednesday 23rd of March from 6-8pm, after which he will decide how to distribute the book.
Foley Gallery
59 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
United States
http://www.foleygallery.com
