Spotlight: Steven Klein

January 26, 2017

Background
Since the 90’s, Steven Klein has made it his mission to bring light to the darker side of fashion and celebrity photography. With credentials of having Brad Pitt knocked out or to Madonna twisted around a stripper pole not to mention the robots, horror movie gore and the artistic nudes. Steven Klein has been producing hyperrealism, pin sharp quality with the essence of sexuality in his photography. Klein’s spark for photography ignited at the age of 10 when he built his first darkroom in his basement. Klein was born in Rhode Island when he began studying paintings at the state’s most prestigious school, Rhode Island School of Design. Klein has his hands in all forms of art such as glass blowing, sculptures, and even pottery before finding his fame in photography. Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon’s work still influence Klein today.

How Klein Started In Fashion
Klein’s first professional job after school was shooting a 1982 Christian Dior mascara ad campaign in Paris. Klein once said, “I thought I was a bad painter and I needed to make some cash” was the incentive to drive Klein to take on his first campaign for Dior. From there, Klein work on a wide variety of campaigns for clients like Calvin Klein and Dolce & Gabbana. In 1994, Klein photographed his first Vogue portfolio titles Nude Study and debuted his first titles solo exhibit at the Staley-Wise Gallery New York in 1997. Klein has been a leader in fashion photography since his name hit the market with his first professional job shooting a Christian Dior.

Work

• Kleins most famous photo ran in 1999 for W Magazine featuring brad Pit in his role for Fight Club.
• In 2000 for Arena Homme Plus of David Beckham was the first to display a soccer player as a fashion icon.
• In 2001 he depicted a bloody, tough looking Justin Timberlake taking his career from boy band to leading man.
• Klein went on to shoot one of Alexander McQueen’s first ad campaigns in 2002.
• Apart from photography, Klein has dabbled in multimedia by making music videos for Madonna, Lady Gag, Rhianna and Brittany Spears in both photo and film. In 2003, he collaborated with Madonna to create an installation exhibit named X-STaTIC PRO=CeSS which she later continued to use in her Re-Invention tour.
• In 2015, Klein teams up with NARS and creates a holiday collection creating makeup pallets that play on fantasy to the extreme. NARS x Steven Klein.
• 2016, Klein spearheads a new campaign called Equinox, showcasing the tagline “Commit To Something.” This new campaign is all about dedication, whether it be glamorous breastfeeding in public or defying stereotypes as an award-winning male cheerleader.

Key Clients
Klein is regularly called to shoot campaigns for Balenciaga, Alexander Wang, Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton , Roberto Cavalli , Chanel, Christian Dior, Emporio Armani, Calvin Klein, Tom Ford and Dolce & Gabanna. Stevens’s work can be seen in fashion publicatiosn such as Vogue, W Magazine, GQ, L’Officiel, and Interview magazine.

Style of Photography
Steven Klein’s style of photography falls under narratives. All his editorial and portraiture is always telling the viewer a deeper story to what is seen in a cinematic style. Klein’s work can also fall under fantasy and avant-garde by distancing the viewer from reality into the future as well as pushing the boundaries of your common editorial looks like visually.

What Klein Is Known For
Steven Klein’s work in editorial has become a renowned ability to transform his themes or models into very powerful visual statements with popular conceptions of an individual idea behind a story. “You give him a dress and he will give you a girl in a dress with a robot in a garden,” says Anna Wintour. Klein has always had the ability to show its viewers that things are never what they appear to be. Cleaver, conceptual, ultimately lyrical with a gentle sense of sadism are keywords for Klein’s body of work. Not only is his work known to make strong visual statements, he has also been able to capture unseen sides of celebrities and actors through his portraitures.

Steven Klein’s phenomenal success in the industry is proof that sincerity, dedication, and hard work are just as necessary as talent.