The photographer shares his many sources of inspiration and reveals his personal abhorrence for bad design, as well as for a certain president.
1. Show us a sample of your work.
1. Outsiders (Working Title), 50x50in, 2017
3. Strip Malls, 30x40in, 2013
3. Working it Out, 40x50in, 2014
4. Race Car, 20x30in, 2017
5. Like me love me, Photo blanket, 40x60in, 2013
2. What research is currently most informing your practice?
Anything I see on the streets of New York / in the news / movies / music. For example if I notice a piece of architecture, or pattern, or color outside, or an odd advertisement, I may incorporate that into a piece or try and use a certain materials found on the street. Sometimes my work is merely visualizing changes in culture. I see something in the real world happening and it goes through my process and pops out the other end.
3. Which photograph are you obsessed with right now and why?
From John Edmonds’s Paragon of Style. Everything is sitting perfectly, visual poetry, great light + really captures a time period.
4. What video can you not stop watching?
5. Can you give us five links to things you think we should know about?
1. http://www.theworldsbestever.com/
2. http://www.newtownradio.com/
3. http://www.theblaaahg.com/
4. BoJack Horseman – S03E04: Fish Out of Water (Netflix)
5. Why Are More American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering From Severe Anxiety?
6. How many photos do you have right now on your phone? Please share one
…and feel free to give us some context if you feel like it.
I got thousands of pictures on my phone; this was in chinatown last week- I liked the way the blanket was cut out revealing slices of the sky & background.
7. Can you send us a pic of your desk/workspace?
8. What is the most coveted photo book you own and why?
Love and War, by Guillaume Simoneau — Full package! A really amazing project, nice book design with personal yet relatable and seductive imagery.
9. What concerns you?
Our dickhead president destroying things for generations to come. Immediate satisfaction, in the sense that we can have so much so fast it changes the way the brain behaves. And bad design, it’s really sad, whether it’s poor urban planning or terrible logos and colors, it’s pollution.
10. What makes you happy?
Playing poker with my funny friends, making things, riding bikes, seeing/reading/hearing really good movie/tv show/art show/music/article, and scoring a goal!
About Charlie:
– Born in New York in 1986
– Foam Talent Award (Amsterdam) in 2013
– Published “Strange Paradise” with Conveyor Arts in 2014.
– First solo exhibition in 2015 with Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles.
– Commissioned work for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vice, Cultured Magazine + W Magazine
– Works in the collections of the MoMA Library, Henry Art Museum (Seattle), and other private collections.
– Other endeavors: yo-newyork.com and neighboringwalls.com
– Live and work in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, New York City.
– more info: charlierubin.com & instagram.com/charlierubin.nyc