Nirvana was playing, New Yorkers were still looking around and not at their phones, and
supermodels
were beginning to live their golden moment.
In
1993
, the atmosphere was charged with a certain electricity, an
energy
about to explode.
At least, in the creative universe that
Steven Meisel
had built.
The soundtrack upon entering Battery Dock is the same.
The emotion, similar to then.
The photographer admits that
he did not know that he had worked so much during that year
(when he first set foot in London), although he accepted practically all the jobs that his agent urged him to take.
A Walk
Through Steven Meisel 1993: A Year in Photographs
, the first exhibition that compiles the work of one of the most outstanding photographers in recent history, confirms the obvious: that he did not stop and that he gave birth to some simply emblematic images.
"Steven Meisel's work has always fascinated me," says
Marta Ortega Pérez, leader of Fundación MOP - The MOP Foundation,
organizer of the exhibition and in charge of placing A Coruña on the map of fashionable cities through photography.
That she is the promoter of this exhibition is no coincidence: when she met Meisel personally through Inditex (she has carried out several campaigns), Ortega began to have "deep admiration for the magic that she creates with his photographs." .
"Steven is so much more than a photographer; he's a visionary and a perfectionist,"
she says.
Reason, it is not lacking.
The tops of the 90s, portrayed by Meisel.DR
Meisel's crush on the sector in which he has developed his career came even before his love for photography;
It is one of the few certainties that are known about the mysterious New Yorker.
It is also known that he began his career as an illustrator and that it was an Elite Model agent who encouraged him to take his first professional photos, but the myth had begun to take shape earlier, much earlier.
Specifically, when
he skipped classes to look for models on the street and photograph them
, something, apparently, simple at that time.
"He did it often," admits the photographer who, at that time, always carried an Instamatic with him.
Although it's tempting to think of photography as frozen spontaneity, Meisel's work is far from casual:
he is drama, sensitivity, and lots and lots of preparation
.
He is a creator of beauty that transcends the mere click.
Portrait of Linda Evangelista in 1993, one of the key works in the Steven Meisel exhibition.
The meticulousness is also appreciated in
the images of Linda Evangelista
, who, yes, smiles genuinely, but after hours of careful editing on a set that the photographer was always under control.
Those who have worked with him affirm that he
masters all parts of the process like no one else, including makeup and hairdressing.
His vision of his beauty is projected into every detail;
Perhaps that is why
in 1993 they did not stop calling him
: he made 28 Vogue covers and more than 100 editorials, including a 60-page men's fashion special for Per Lui, a publication in which he also immortalized the renowned
Hamish Bowles
.
His images of women have marked milestones, but those of men are not far behind: the 1987 work (from the late 80s, there are a few) that includes Curt and David Moore with bodies, is the perfect example of this.
However,
one cannot speak of Meisel without his women, without his muses
.
It is bold to say that he invented some models, but the truth is that he greatly influenced some of the careers of those who hang on the walls.
Linda Evangelista is one of the best known, but Stella Tennant
cannot be ignored
.
"She didn't want to be a model, but he talked her into it," comment
Michael Benson,
director of Photo London and editor of the exhibition catalogue, and
Jimmy Moffat,
director of Meisel's studio.
The Steven Meisel exhibition can be visited at Muelle de la Batería, in A Coruña.DR
The feeling while looking at the photographer's work is the same as when wearing a good suit: that what prevails is the personality, even when "he is very inspired by fashion", as Moffat says.
"Steven is the most sensitive person I know.
In the studio there can be dozens of people working and he's at his table, and suddenly he raises his head and says:
'What will happen to him? He's very sad'; and when I ask him who, he answers me that the assistant to the styling assistant.
That is, he notices everything, and knows how to communicate it, and that is why
his work is relevant in 1993, 2003 or 2022
, "he explains.
"For Steven, gaming is the purest form of creativity," says Moffat.
"He wants everyone to enjoy."
The public, of course, will.
Meisel 93 can be visited free of charge from November 19, 2022 to May 1, 2023 at Muelle de la Batería, A Coruña, Galicia.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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