Do the artists share some common element?
CHRISTIAN: No. I show artists who I think are amazing. That’s really all it’s about. I see something that turns me on… YVONNE: Matthias Vriens, who’s best known for his erotic Gucci ad campaigns, recently exhibited huge photos of nude men gripping their own large erect penises. CHRISTIAN: It was hot. I used to think that there were certain artists who should really be fashion photographers, but Matthias Vriens is an example of a fashion photographer who is an artist. Since the mid-nineties, there’s been a lot of mixing things up between media. Several photographers started saying that it didn’t make any difference whether an image is blown up on a gallery wall or appears in a magazine. Whether it be Wolfgang Tillmans or even Catherine Opie. YVONNE: In 1998 I produced Vanessa Beecroft’s show at the Guggenheim, and it was very much about that blend of things. What do you think about being considered a leader of the so-called new Harlem renaissance? CHRISTIAN: It’s like an ice cream sun
