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Framing Helena
December 16, 2008
Just because Helena Christensen likes to take a picture now and then, that doesn’t mean she has to take her freaking camera everywhere. That’s according to the supermodel herself, by the way. But at last night’s opening of her new photography show
Far From, Close at Neil Grayson’s Dactyl Foundation, Christensen noted that in today’s advanced technological age, not having a camera is merely a formal opportunity disguised as a challenge. “I took them on a phone,” she explained of the series of slide-size photographs (pictured here) in the front room at Dactyl. “You can’t print too large with the phone photos,” she added, “but anyway, I like the small.” Meanwhile, gallerygoers including
30 Rock star Judah Friedlander, Jeff Koons, Todd Eberle, and Christensen’s boyfriend, Paul Banks of Interpol, craned their necks at the tiny prints and squinted. However, sweet relief for the eyeballs could be found in the back, where the large-format prints were hanging and where Christensen pals Yelena Yemchuk and Michael Stipe were hanging out. Judging by the landscape shots, Christensen had managed to pack her camera on a few trips—to the Catskills, to Cuba, to Canada. But she wasn’t packing, so to speak, last night, which means the Christensen set’s post-opening journey to new It spot Macao will have been documented only in memory, or perhaps on camera phones.
Far From, Close’s next stop is the gallery at Chanel’s Ginza boutique next year. —Maya Singer