The Art Newspaper
September 2003
Commercial Photography Shows
New York
Chosen by Sarah Douglas
Juergen Teller: Daddy You’re So Cute
Lehmann Maupin
London-based German fashion photographer Juergen Teller has been well respected in fashion circles for at least a decade, and is now a star on the fine art circuit. Last spring, while his touring museum retrospective was in Bologna, he won the prestigious Citibank prize. From a confrontational shot of naked model Kristin McMenamy, her chest emblazoned with the Versace brandname, to his unassuming "Go sees," a series of seemingly straightforward shots of unsuspecting London girls who came calling at his door in hopes of a modelling career, to his diabolical portrait of haute couture designer Yves Saint Laurent, Teller has displayed a complex visual sensibility that goes beyond the entrenched language of fashion photography. Like that of clothing designer Helmut Lang, for whom Teller has worked, his aesthetic is stark, a reaction to the überglamourous 1980s. His relationship with the scrappy "grunge" sartorial style of the 90s is anchored by an early portrait of the late grunge rocker Kurt Cobain. For his current show at Lehmann Maupin (13 September – 18 October) Teller turns to matters autobiographical: a few bluntly tell-all self-portraits (right), some family pics, and eerie views inside a cave he explored as a child.