By VAUGHAN HANNIGAN | Published: May 21, 2013
Martin’s cover for New York Magazine was the subject of a post on The Six Floor, a New York Times blog. Arem Dupliessis was intrigued by the cover and reached out to New York Magazine’s Director of Photography, Judy Quon, to get an insider’s perspective on the project. We have included an excerpt below, but head to their site to read more.
What was the initial inspiration behind the image?
We wanted only to hint at Michael-meets-Liberace, since a little goes a long way. Martin Schoeller, the photographer, loved our concept, agreed with the level of subtlety that we thought made sense. Martin’s unique portrait lighting and graphic sensibility made for a terrific combination of reality meets fantasy/artifice.
The touch of makeup above his left eye is subtle, striking and beautiful all at the same time. How did you decide on that approach?
We experimented with the makeup and built it up as we made pictures to see how it was reading in camera. We spoke briefly about which eye, and determined the better eye to be the one on camera right, which would wind up on the right side of the cover — the sweet spot — where a reader’s eye naturally lands. But aside from that it was pretty straightforward.
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