After opening in late October, the exhibit “Mario Testino: In Your Face”, located in the Gund Gallery at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, has welcomed thousands of visitors, anxious to experience the artwork that is the work of fashion and portrait photographer Mario Testino. The gallery, separated into several luxuriously dark and intimate corridors, invokes a sensory experience that appeals to both the visitor’s eyes and ears. From the multi-screen video presentation at the front of the exhibit, in which Testino’s work is edified by celebrities such as Emma Watson, Jennifer Lopez, Roger Federer, and Anne Hathaway, to the illuminated portraits on the exhibit’s walls that seem to leap out of an abyss to both attack and welcome the viewer, this gallery is unlike anything else the MFA has offered in recent years.
Testino’s work, pictures hung in dimensions so large that one can see the pores on the skin of the subjects, is at once disturbing and beautiful. His provocative use of color and dimension is unique and inspired, showcasing an understanding of the appeal of glamour to the general public. Testino uses his audience’s attraction to the decadent and the destructive to create art and advertisements that linger in the viewer’s mind long after he or she has left the exhibit. From monochromatic sartorial confections hanging from the limbs of pale models to black and white images of powerhouses such as Beyoncé and Anna Wintour, Testino plays with contrast to draw an emotional response from viewers.
This brilliant use of juxtaposition continues in pieces that illustrate the tension between strength and vulnerability in powerful figures. Supermodels, for example, standing seven feet tall in nothing but stilettos, call to mind the value of beauty, and how we define it as a culture. Of course, these models embody everything that we have been convinced is the epitome of beauty: symmetrical faces, Moroccan-oiled hair, and rail thin legs that run for miles. Their nudity draws us in as an audience, leaving us in awe of the (albeit photo shopped) perfection each well-coiffed woman oozes. One may question however, why this portrayal is considered by so many to be beautiful when, in truth, it is just another nearly pornographic desecration of the human body executed to enthrall men and demean women. Testino purposely toes the line between cherishing the vulnerability of the human body and the strength that bodily perfection can provide to those lucky enough to be born with 4-foot long legs. His artwork doesn’t degrade women, however, but somehow empowers them in the same way other photographers objectify them.
This particular collection of provocative photographs is refreshing; Testino’s work isn’t disrespectful, but honest. He has an obvious vision that aims to connect the beautiful and the ugly, the cherished and the marginalized, the pristine and the grungy. There is beauty in color, he says through the vibrant pigments splashed across Kate Moss’s face. There is fluidity in gender, he affirms in the multiple portraits of men in drag.
This genderlessness is one of the main themes of his exhibit; one of the most poignant examples of this is a half-silhouetted photograph of Josh Hartnett sporting ridiculously long false eyelashes coated in thick globs of mascara and running poppy-colored lipstick across his face. In this piece, Testino points to the confidence that gender neutrality can allow. Without being tied to a need to promote his masculinity or the insecurity encouraged by failure to do so, Hartnett’s gaze is taunting and self-assured. This is what Testino does; he takes what most people are afraid of and turns it on its head. He turns it into something beautiful.
Testino’s pictures are more than photographs; they are complex and, at the same time, more authentic than many of the portraits that rest within glossy pages of magazines. Each has a perspective; each tells a story. Many are indulgent, such as British model Stella Tennant channeling Marie Antoinette in a mint-tinted corset and feathered wig. Others are calming, such as a blue-heavy portrait of Madonna (very probably the only one in existence in which she doesn’t look terrifying). No matter the focus of the piece, however, Testino is able to capture his subjects so exquisitely and tenderly that one is able to examine the intricacies of his work indefinitely. The exhibit is free to BC students with your BC ID, so be sure to jump on the T and see it for yourself before it closes in January.
Photo Sources:
http://thepearlstitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/josh-hartnett.jpg
http://www.oliviapalermo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Mario-Testino-In-Your-Face.jpg