Soldiers & Saints
Christopher Makos and Paul Solberg
May 18 - August 17, 2018
inquire for pricing
In Soldiers & Saints, artists Christopher Makos and Paul Solberg explore the liminal spaces beyond normative culture and the communities that live there. Selected from his series WHITE TRASH, Christopher Makos’ gritty black and white photographs chronicle New York City’s emerging punk scene in the 1970s and feature iconic figures like Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Patti Smith, and many others. Photographs from Paul Solberg’s Service, a collection of intimate portraits of military in the United States, Russia, and the Ukraine, provide a counter balance to the unapologetically raw vitality of Makos’ portrayal of punk counterculture. Solberg’s soft, atmospheric images imbue the anonymous soldiers with a haunted, otherworldly presence. Both exploring concepts of stigma, identity, and otherness, the juxtaposition of Makos’ and Solberg’s work creates a delicate tension between two artistic interpretations with equal resonance.
about the artists:
Christopher Makos was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, grew up in California, and moved to New York after high school. He studied architecture in Paris and briefly worked as an apprentice to the photographer Man Ray. Makos also collaborated on artistic projects with close friend Andy Warhol, who referred to him as "the most modern photographer in America." His photographs have been exhibited in galleries and museums such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Tate Modern in London, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the IVAM in Valencia (Spain) and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. His pictures have appeared in magazines and newspapers, including Paris Match and Wall Street Journal. He is also the author of several books, including the volumes Warhol/Makos In Context (2007), Andy Warhol China 1982 (2007) and Christopher Makos Polaroids (2009).
makostudio.com
Paul Solberg (b. 1969) was born in Minnesota and currently lives in New York. Originally known for his exquisite still life portraits, the same sensitivity is seen in his human subjects, photographing today’s legendary artist Ai Wei Wei, and his haunting portraits in Service (2010), which resides in such collections as the Elton John Photography Collection. Solberg has exhibited his work internationally in museums and galleries including La Casa Encendida (Madrid), Subte (Montevideo), Galerie Catherine Houard (Paris), Galerie Sho Contemporary Art (Tokyo), Galerie Hiltawsky (Berlin), Christopher Henry Gallery (New York), and Karl Hutter Fine Art (LA), and Casa de Costa, New York. His work has also been featured in publications such as Wall Street Journal International, CNN Travel, Interview Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, and New York Daily News.
paulsolberg.com