Longtime Paper friend Henny Garfunkel, who has been letting us post her fabulous celebrity portraits from various film festivals on our website for years, has an exhibition of photos opening at Modern Appeal Clothing in San Francisco tomorrow night. The show's title, "Sleeping in Public With Fabulous Old Ladies, Big Butts and Some Celebrities," is, well, awesome. Though Garfunkel's career has been split between editorial work, photojournalism and still photography for films by John Waters, Todd Solondz and Pedro Almodóvar, she mostly considers herself to be a street photographer. The show, which features Garfunkel's work from 1983 to 2012, documents the many people she's encountered through her daily life in New York City and her travels around the world. Per the press release, Garfunkel explains her show's inspirations: Fabulous Old Ladies: "When I first went to Miami Beach in 1981 I saw two incredible things: crumbling deco buildings that were inhabited by the most colorful and amazing women I'd ever seen. Their husbands were dead, but their spirits were alive. Neither of them are there today."
Big Butts: "A friend and I decided to put an ad in the Village Voice offering free portraits to overweight people who wanted to have their biggest asset photographed. Accidentally I gave people a chance to show off a body part that they're normally shy about. As it turned out, everyone's an exhibitionist."
Sleeping In Public: "In our 24/7 world, everyone's tired and catching a few winks anywhere they can."
Celebrities: "The photos shown at MAC are from the ongoing 'Signed Polaroid' series in
which I take a Polaroid at the end of a photo session and then give it to the talent to sign
and play around with. I've always seen myself as a bit of an outsider, and I enjoy photographing people who society also considers outsiders. When I think about it, celebrities are also outsiders, and so its perfect."
The exhibition's opening party tomorrow night is from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. and Henny's photos will be on display through December 29th.
Modern Appeal Clothing,
387 Grove Street, San Francisco