Q – Would you say that your ‘bad vibes’ sleeve photo is influenced by august sander’s famous joe louis portrait? I think many/most of your fans dont know that.
A – Irving Penn, actually. He did a whole series of portraits with the subject cornered.
“In his earlier work Penn was fond of using a particular device in his portrait work, replacing it with a fresh one from time to time. At one time he placed two backgrounds to form a corner into which his subject was asked to enter. It was, as Penn explains, a means of closing people in. Some people felt secure in this spot, some felt trapped. Their reaction made them quickly available to the camera.” His subjects during this “corner period” included Noel Coward, the Duchess of Windsor, and Spencer Tracy, most of whom complied readily.”