Aaron Stern On Photography, America, and a New Series Exploring Loneliness and Loss in the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
Aaron Stern is an artist and author living in New York City. His photographs, books, poetry, and curatorial projects have appeared in publications and institutions such as Vogue, Teen Vogue, The New York Times, Dazed&Confused, Purple Magazine, Interview Magazine, Index Art Fair (Mexico City) The Los Angeles Art Book Fair and the International Center for Photography.
Stern’s most recent book, I Woke Up In My Clothes published by Damiani, is a compilation of images shot on 35mm and medium-format film ranging from 2007 to 2013, tracing Stern’s wanderings through the dusty edges of Los Angeles to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in his hometown of New York. The monograph is suffused with a quiet sense of dispossession and longing, the fragile images of lonely landscapes and occasional portraits tinged with notes of emptiness and resignation, and at times, love, relationships, and hope.
Aaron Stern
Milk Gallery: In "Everyone Must Be Announced," (Link) your show at Milk in 2012, you focused in on the world of live music. Though you have broadened your lens, how does music still inspire your work? Do you have any plans for another series centered around musicians?
Aaron Stern: The book and show were more about the feeling of experiencing live music, less so about the actual music or musicians. But music was always the inspiration and still is for much of what I’ve been doing. Specific lyrics have inspired several projects.
The first two Girls albums were on in my rental cars over the years constantly while working on my second book, I Woke Up In My Clothes. I tend to get stuck on a lyric, which spurns an idea for a project. Song lyrics, poetry, word play etcetera… are all very much part of the process for me in creating new work.
MG: One aspect of your photography is your ability to find beauty in
everyday places and situations, such as an empty diner or traffic stop. Why do
you think you're able to notice beauty that most people would overlook or take
for granted?
AS: I’m not sure, I don’t think I could put into words why I’m drawn to certain things most people probably overlook. But most of what I’m doing is personal, reflecting a thought or time period that is permeated by an overwhelming mood. More so a feeling of emptiness, the notion that all relationships decay or self-destruct, that everything for the most part is not in our control. The pictures I take are, I think, usually in those moments.
From the series, I Woke Up In My Clothes
MG: "I WOKE UP IN MY CLOTHES" DEPICTS SCENES THAT ARE IMBUED WITH A SENSE OF LONELINESS AND DESOLATION. WOULD YOU SAY THAT THOSE ARE THEMES YOU ARE DRAWN TO, AND WHY?
AS: That’s probably what I was feeling. But less loneliness, more – what the fuck is the point of a lot of what we surround ourselves with, entertain ourselves with, distract ourselves with – including people. The idea of time and how our brains process it – I think our brains start to process it faster – years feel like weeks and at some point we decide how to spend it.
MG: YOUR FRIEND RICH APPEL HAS STATED THAT YOU WERE PERSONALLY DEEPLY AFFECTED BY THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE SANDY. HOW DID YOUR PERSPECTIVE INFLUENCE THE WORK YOU HAVE DEPICTING THAT PERIOD?
AS: After the storm I was out there with a lot of other people volunteering and I was upset by the lack of response or presence from the Red Cross or government in those first few weeks. A lot of people lost their homes and had nowhere to go. But an amazing thing happened – hundreds of New Yorkers went out to the beach to help, all types of people.
My friend Keith, a corporate lawyer, drove us out there; I saw musicians, writers, trust fund kids, agency types and everyday working class folks - out there in the cold trying to help their fellow New Yorkers, together. Both situations inspired some of the work – how relationships function or don’t for that matter, how they fade or end in a more strident way.
From the series, I Woke Up In My Clothes
MG: YOUR PICTURE OF HOTEL CALIFORNIA FOR LAURENCE VECTEN'S CALENDAR AS WELL AS YOUR PICTURE OF THE AMERICAN FLAG FOR "GOOD LUCK TO YOU" DEPICTS THIS HAZY BUT DARK DYNAMISM THAT SEEMS UNIQUELY AMERICAN. HOW DOES AMERICANA CULTURE INFLUENCE YOUR AESTHETIC?
AS: America, deeply flawed and yet the greatest country in the world, is an influence on me. Love, loss, time and how those ideas relate to landscape, the landscape in our minds but more specifically the landscape around us. The American landscape is unique and I want to explore how it relates to those themes.
MG: "INCREASINGLY LOUD & SHARP" COMBINES TWO PREVALENT THEMES OF YOUR WORK, AN "ON THE ROAD" BEATNIK VIBE AS WELL AS IMMERSIVE REFLECTIONS. HOW DID THE CONCEPT FOR THIS WORK DEVELOP? WAS IT A NATURAL EXTENSION OF YOUR OWN ADVENTURES ROAD-TRIPPING?
AS: It’s something I made for a group show that my friend Delia put me in back in March 2015. I scanned it all and made it into a zine. The word strident is defined as “loud and harsh; grating: his voice had become increasingly sharp, almost strident.” I thought that was a great way of defining what a moment might look, feel or sound like – a moment of love, loss, clarity, a moment of realization or defeat. Is that what the instance of that moment might look like? I drive around aimlessly searching for what I think might fit that image and try to create it. I guess in that way it is like being on the road.
From the series, I Woke Up In My Clothes
MG: IN ADDITION TO PHOTOGRAPHY, YOU'VE WRITTEN YOUR OWN POETRY AS WELL AS BRANCHED INTO FILM. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO DELVE FURTHER INTO THOSE MEDIUMS IN ADDITION TO PHOTOGRAPHY? ARE THERE ANY OTHER MEDIUMS THAT YOU'D LIKE TO EXPLORE?
AS: I’m working on a short film right now and three different book/zine projects. All have poetry or the use of words and phrases to express an idea. I am trying to finish the short film now – it is tied to a book about Ketamine.
MG: WITH "36 PHOTOGRAPHS & 20 POEMS," YOU PAIRED PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH POETS. HOW DO YOU THINK THESE TWO MEDIUMS OF EXPRESSION, PHOTOGRAPHY AND POETRY, INTERACT AND ENHANCE EACH OTHER?
AS: I’m always trying to express a thought, moment, lyric, stanza or use an image to explain or ask a question. When I read a poem or hear a lyric I’m always trying to visualize it. Jordan Sullivan (my partner in 205-A) and I have always thought photography and poetry could complement each other naturally and a collaborative book just seemed to make sense.
MG: HOW DOES COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ARTISTS FROM VARIOUS BACKGROUNDS INFORM YOUR OWN WORK?
AS: David Wagoner gave me the poem “Following A Stream” for my second book and we’ve been in touch every since. After it was published, after all the book signings and dinners, I felt pretty bummed out and I remember emailing David. He said, “When I was in my early twenties, I asked the English poet Stephen Spender whether he would keep on writing poems if he were marooned on a desert island. He said he didn't think so. I said I would, even if I had to do it in sand with a stick. He seemed annoyed. I've published 31 books--or is it 32? And sometimes it has felt like mailing postcards over the side of a cliff.”
I remember reading that email with my girlfriend at the time and laughing. David has had prizes, awards, fellowships, one of his books made into a film by Francis Ford Coppola – it was encouraging to hear that from him. He has been a force of inspiration for me over the last few years. Some of my friends are artists and some are in business and more than anything it is inspiring to see them succeed, accomplish great things that I have watched them develop from the beginning. Seeing people I admire succeed drives me to want to keep going.
From the series, I Woke Up In My Clothes
MG: HOW DO YOU APPROACH COMMISSIONED PORTRAITURE DIFFERENTLY FROM YOUR OTHER WORK?
AS: I just want the picture to look real. I really only care about the picture looking like there is some life going on.That the people I’m a taking picture of have something going on inside their heads.
MG: Do you have any upcoming ideas or projects that you can share with us?
AS: My next book is called Horizon Avenue. The majority
of the images were photographed last year in San Francisco.
I was on assignment for a story and had a day off before heading back to New York. It felt strangely familiar in SF and it was my first trip there. The wide streets and large pink limestone buildings reminded me of Washington DC, where I grew up. My father told me that afternoon on the phone that he had always wanted to live in San Francisco. A few years before I was born he said it almost broke my mother and him up and they wound up staying on the East Coast.
I couldn’t help but think what my life might be like had they moved. I often think of what that life might have looked like, similarly, had my parents chosen another path for their own lives. Would it all be different or are we built to be a certain person from birth? Horizon Avenue captures a narrative of a life that might have been. It features poetry from David Wagoner and lyrics from Donald Cumming.
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To see more of Aaron Stern’s work, visit his website.
