by Matthew Leifheit on October 15, 2013
Stephen Koch is the author of The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop, The Breaking Point and Stargazer: The Life, World and Films of Andy Warhol. He is also an educator and owns and manages the archive of the tortured, downtown photographer Peter Hujar. We spoke at length about Hujar’s life—his friendship with Fran Lebowitz, Susan Sontag, his relationships with Paul Thek and David Wojnarowicz, and even his strained relation with Robert Mapplethorpe. The interview touches on the work Koch has done over the past twenty-five years, raising the late underground hero from self-imposed obscurity to widespread recognition.
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by Matthew Leifheit on October 9, 2013
For the series New Natives, Joseph Maida solicited aspiring male models of ambiguous ethnicity, race, and gender through social media, and photographed them against the backdrop of their home state, Hawaii. After I saw his recent show at Daniel Cooney Fine Art, we talked about why he began making these photographs, how masculinity is performed for his camera, and what he considers to be a shift toward acceptance, evidenced by our current president.
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