Malkovich, Malkovich, Sandro!

What Makes It Great? / Featured / December 3, 2014

Could you enjoy some serious fun? Chicago-based advertising photographer Sandro Miller has joined forces with his long-time muse, actor John Malkovich, to re-create the photographs that have been the most meaningful and influential to him. They include some of the most iconic pictures taken by the most famous photographers of the 20^th century, starting with Irving Penn’s 1957 portrait of Picasso that Sandro credits with igniting his own career. If you love photography and admire the appreciable talents of cult hero John Malkovich, you should find your way to Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago before January 31, 2015. This exhibit stands at the intersection of daring academic exercise, technical chops and roaring good fun.

“Irving Penn’s Pablo Picasso, Cannes, France, 1957 (2014)” by Sandro Miller (courtesy of the artist and Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago)

The idea started seriously enough, with Sandro Miller’s desire to test his mastery of technique in a rigorous homage to his photographic heroes: “I wanted people to get reacquainted with the classics,” Miller said. “Because there are so few big ideas in photography now. Billions of photos a month are being sent by iPhones with no ideas behind them and I wanted people to understand how much thought and planning often goes into a photograph…(I chose ones that) changed the way I thought about photography over the years, pictures that remind me a strong portrait of someone can change the way we think of a person.”

“Annie Leibovitz’s John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1980 (2014)” by Sandro Miller (courtesy of the artist and Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago)

With the resources only a successful commercial photographer could muster, Sandro led a sizable team of background researchers, set designers, lighting specialists, and hair, make-up and wardrobe assistants to shoot this entire series of thirty-five images in four, 15-hour sessions at his Chicago studio in April, 2014. Typically, there were four different sets in various stages of production going at once – a marathon mission executed with the intensity of an advertising campaign and the fanatic dedication of groupies. However, the outcome is anything but serious.

“Arthur Sasse’s Albert Einstein Sticking Out His Tongue, 1951 (2014)” by Sandro Miller (courtesy of the artist and Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago)

However admirable, Sandro’s homage contains an undeniable element of farce. And for farce to succeed, you must play it straight. Sandro went to great lengths to replicate the methodology behind each image. If he’d merely hired models to people his accurate imitations, we might be very impressed with his technical prowess, but it would also be a big “So what?”; every art student is first tasked with reproducing the Masters of the field. By employing the formidable skills of a single model, no less the malleable cult hero John Malkovich, Sandro instantly propelled his work into an entirely new realm and quashed any lurking accusations of “appropriation.” An ingenious combination of originality and craft assures its universal appeal. While some may not consider it fine art, it is undoubtedly high camp. And, oh what fun!