New Exhibition “Document”

Edward Gajdel has spent most of his career photographing celebrities. He is a genius at distilling the harried and complicated lives of celebrities, their handlers, and all of the baggage that fame entails into extraordinarily beautiful portraits that speak of an essence of their human character. His subjects radiate ease at being who they are in the presence of his camera. For decades Gajdel’s work has taken us through the gamut: the beautiful and glamorous the famous, the notorious, the elegant and the fashionable. In recent years he has taken this same alchemical skill and donated his efforts to charities and fundraisers benefiting mental health, homelessness, and child-centred issues. Gajdel has made new work especially for this exhibition. In this series of black and white large-scale Polaroid photographs he has turned the camera inward, reflecting on his own journey and celebrating those who have passed through his life in both body and spirit. The photographs he has made represent the beginnings of an archive of inanimate objects – the objects are specific to those who have borne a spiritual affect and had an effect on Gajdel’s life. These objects speak to photographer and viewer alike, they are universally understood in the same way that one does not need to know all of the signs and symbols in 17th century still life paintings to understand that they are paintings about perfection and the eventual demise that is embedded within being human, and being mortal.

Posted by Edward Gajdel October 2008

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