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Dean Chandler
I
know nothing about photography. To be honest, I never thought
there was much to it. You point. You click. End of Story.
With this attitude, I embarked on an interview with a gentleman
by the name of Victor Skrebneski. I
was told he was one of the great ones. I was told he was famous
all over the world. I thought, "So what?" I thought that like
every person in
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depth
or texture is missing. How does your work differ?"
"You
are correct. Most everything in photography has been done.
You can only do so much with the lighting. I focus mostly
on the subject. Whether it is fashion or a landscape or whatever,
the subject is what is important." I
fire back, "So, hypothetically speaking, you would cover someone
in mud and take that . . ."
He
knew where I was going and replied, "Yes, it"s been done before.
There is one picture I did of Muddy Waters, where I covered
him in slime and goo and he"s holding a frog." I have seen
this picture. I love this picture.
In
his career, he has shot celebrities for Warner Brothers and
celebrities for magazines, but
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the
"Arts,"
this guy Victor was just waiting for someone to get him into
a discussion, almost coax him with one question. This was
my plan. I would open up with something hard-hitting like,
"So, do you ever forget to take off the lens cap?" Then I
would just sit back and do nothing while he blathered on in
self-important tones.
Seconds after the tape began to roll, Victor"s first statement
was calm, soothing, and fantastic: "I don"t talk about my
photography." I knew then that I was wrong . . . about everything.
Here begineth the lesson.
Victor Skrebneski is about to celebrate his fiftieth; fifty
years ago, while in high school, he began working as a photographer.
"I started getting serious in "49 and opened my first studio,
where I am now, in "52." Next year, Abbeyville will be releasing
his anniversary book. "The first major retrospective will
be here at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia
University of Chicago."
Victor Skrebneski speaks in a tone of voice that is rhythmic÷a
warm baritone that continues on a level path. He speaks as
if he knows exactly where he is going and exactly where he
has been. It appears as if nothing escapes his view and nothing
comes unexpected. Confidence and wisdom coat every word.
Continuing on about his exhibit, "From there (Chicago) it
goes to L.A., and then wherever they decide to put it. It
keeps going. It will keep going through museums and galleries
until the year 2000." Forget about most people's "fifteen
minutes," this artist is going into the new millennium. Clearly,
I was in over my head. To stay afloat, I tossed out a question,
"Why photography? Why in high school?"
"Well,
being a young person, not having your mind set most of the
time, photography was occupying most of my time. I was also
an actor and I actually wanted to become a sculptor/painter.
That was my main interest. I went to the Art Institute for
art and went to the Bau Haus in Chicago after the War (World
War II) and stayed there for about four years. That is my
background." Clearly his background is brighter than most
people"s foreground.
"The
only thing you have control of
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most
recently he shot the newest supermodel duo, the Brewer twins.
"They are fantastic boys. Very pleasant to work with. They
posed for a poster for my book and they were the nicest of
gentlemen."
When Victor is not covering great jazz musicians with mud,
photographing modeling surfers, or finding solace in a museum,
you might find him in front of a class of aspiring photographers.
Many of his friends are teachers and, knowing that he doesn"t
talk about his photography, they enlist him to stand in front
of the class and force the students to ask questions. I was
curious, "What is the first question they ask you?"
"Well,
most of the young people, the first question they ask is:
"How do I become successful?"" He continues, "Well, I
tell them÷and I believe it was Nietzsche who said it÷"Work,
Work, Work!" That usually gets a laugh and then it goes from
there." He paused for a moment and then said, "All photographers
today÷and I believe I am correct in saying this÷have their
work sent to labs so they have no idea of the process. They
are interested in becoming famous fast. The questions are
not about the work but about how to become famous fast, and
I think that is true about most young people today." I couldn"t
have agreed more. I want to become famous, but the way Victor
speaks of it he is not placing blame. This is not someone
who is faulting anyone.
Victor finds his way back to New York on a regular basis.
He still lives in Chicago where he has been since his start
with Marshall Fields. I ask him if he ever returns to his
old stomping grounds in Greenwich Village. "The only place
I continue to look for is this one bar we used to go to."
"Did
you ever find it?"
He
assures me, "Oh yeah, but my stomping grounds are more the
Guggenheim, The Met÷that is where I like to go, and New York
has so many museums that I have not been to them all."
The same thing might be said of Victor Skrebneski"s work.
He has done so many things that you could probably never see
them all. He currently has five traveling
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is
your life," Victor explains to me. "I spend my time, days,
in museums. I love art. You could say that it (going to museums)
is my habit."
"You
never know how much time you are going to have in this life,"
he says later after I lamely try to explain that I have all
of these remarkable plans to travel and write, blah, blah,
blah. It was my attempt to gain some respect, to show that
I might be able to approach his level. It wasn"t necessary.
To Victor Skrebneski, there are no levels÷just people.
"Most people are terrific people," he assures me. I trust
his opinion on this because he has worked with so many people
from so many backgrounds. Victor started his fashion photography
career shooting for such names as Marshall Fields. He realized
then that getting paid for doing something you love to do
is not bad at all and continued to do so, working for such
magazines as Glamour and Esquire .
"There was this one magazine, Glamour,
that"s defunct now÷probably due to my photographs," Victor
comments (I assured him that it is back).To each subject he
brings his passion: art. "I view everything as a painting,"
he explains. "I"ll be looking at whatever I want to shoot
and say, "Oh my, that looks like a painting by whomever!""
He continues, "About ten years ago, on the cover of my retro
book, I had the male nude in flecks of gold, while the female
was in all white. It was lovely."
I ask him, "Most fashion photography is "flash" fashion
photography, wherein it is just for the fashion. It is just
kind of attitude and style and often the
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exhibits in his warehouse that can be shipped at any time.
One has just traveled through Italy. The exhibit was of photographs
in the style of Francis Bacon.
If his exhibits are doing a lot of travel, Victor
is too. He loves Paris. "It is the best place for me," he
says of Paris, in a passionate tone of voice. "I just love
the architecture and the antiquities. It is just a great place."
I knew better than to ask him if he would ever stop or slow
down. After fifty years, fifteen publications, and countless
exhibitions, why would he stop? Perhaps it is his responsibility
to continue. We are in a time of quick fixes, one-hit wonders,
and flashes in the fashion pan. Success for most is fleeting,
and the passion for art is even more temporary. The contemporaries
of our time shouldn"t be blamed for the desire to be successful,
but this success should be fueled by their desire to "work,
work, work!"
"I
am not a contemporary person," Victor reflected.
He certainly is not. He is an artist, a success, a photographer,
and a teacher. Here endeth my lesson.
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