Frank Ockenfels 3: Introspection | Fotografiska
© Frank Ockenfels 3, TRAIT POR 2020, Courtesy FaheyaKlein Gallery
Written by Madeline Lerner
Photo Edited by Lyz Rider
For more than three decades, Frank Ockenfels 3 has been capturing uniquely raw and imaginative photographs of Hollywood’s A-listers, musicians, models, and other prominent figures. Spanning two floors at Fotografiska New York, Introspection is a sweeping retrospective of the photographer’s remarkable career to date. The exhibit displays his innovative usage of light, paint, collage and the camera, compiling a body of work that displays his ability to reconstruct portraits into creative, sometimes dark reflections of the human psyche.
© Frank Ockenfels 3, FREEZE...2020, Courtesy FaheyaKlein Gallery
Ockenfels was born in 1960 in Westchester, Pennsylvania, and moved to New York City in the 1980s to study photography at the School of Visual Arts. In his early career, he found success in the field of fashion photography, shooting for magazines like Rolling Stone. He later moved into directing music videos and promotional brand campaigns as well as other commercial photographic endeavors. Through his early Rolling Stone role and other assistant photographer jobs, Ockenfels had the opportunity to photograph famous musicians and actors, launching him into a career of celebrity portraiture. His career inspired a unique artistic style that often blurs the lines between commercial photographic subjects and art.
© Frank Ockenfels 3, OBAMA 2008, Courtesy FaheyaKlein Gallery
© Frank Ockenfels 3, CENIT #2 2016, Courtesy FaheyaKlein Gallery
“I’ve never been happy with perfection, I’ve always found it to be boring,” Ockenfels says in a film screened in the exhibit. Showing aspects of his artistic process and some of its final products, the film gives viewers a peek into his anything-but-boring, experimental process. Using photography, collage, painting, and other mediums, the artist creates work that pushes the boundaries of what portraiture can and has been. In some of his works such as “CENIT #2,” and “OBAMA,” his play with light and motion creates a surreal, almost cinematic quality, offering intimate introspections of the subjects’ personalities. In others, such as “3RD EYE,” his alterations and collage may create unique characters out of his models, adding new dimensions to the portrait. What remains constant through Ockenfels’s myriad of styles and approaches is the creative and dreamlike quality that pervades all his work. The intimate photographs he produces reveal both him and his model's personalities, culminating in a highly recognizable and distinguished portfolio.
© Frank Ockenfels 3, 3RD EYE 2019, Courtesy FaheyaKlein Gallery
The exhibit includes both his most recognizable pieces as well as new, unique work. Among framed photographs are new mediums of expression including skateboards, newspaper, and scrap metal. Ockenfels gives the viewers a peek into his inner thoughts by scattering pieces from his collection Journals. These are outtakes from his personal journals which he used throughout his career for everything from jotting down new ideas to documenting lighting for shoots. The journals display Ockenfels’s creative growth over the course of his career and successfully tie together the entire exhibit.
© Frank Ockenfels 3, 42-43, 2019, Courtesy FaheyaKlein Gallery
“In this time in our lives, everyone’s trying so hard to be original, and I think that that's a mistake, it's better just to create for yourself and then find your audience,” Ockenfels says in the exhibit’s film. The artist has created a stunning body of work, and there is no doubt that he has found an adoring audience. Introspection will be on display at Fotografiska in New York City until March 2024. For more information, visit the museum’s website.
