I believe Bardem had just begun shooting No Country For Old Men with the Coen Brothers at the time of this image. He was extremely cool and relaxed, game to do just about anything. He has a great personality, focusing wholly on the situation at hand and performing with complete abandon. It's fantastic!CURATOR'S NOTESI’m honored to introduce Christian Witkin to the UGallery community. As a student of the world, Christian seeks to capture the unguarded, true nature of his subjects. His portfolio spans continents and decades, granting us access to indigenous tribal cultures in Ethiopia, Thai Ladyboys and the likes of Martin Scorsese, Steve Jobs, and Tiger Woods. Each of his photos tells a very personal story. This image of Javier Bardem fascinated me. Christian said it was taken during the filming of No Country for Old Men, and it feels like looking at the actor both in and out of character. On one side we see the calculated protagonist, and on the other, the artist’s self-exa
Christian Witkin Javier Bardem, Actor, New York C
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Size: 20x24 in.Christian Witkin
Christian Ryder Witkin was born in Manchester, England in 1966 to a Dutch mother and an American father, painter Jerome Witkin. They lived in various European and American cities until 1972, when after his parents' divorce, Christian moved to Amsterdam and lived there until 1984. At 17, he returned to the US to live with his father and began a full time study of photography at Syracuse University. In summer of 1988, Christian moved to New York City to assist many noted photographers, such as Bruce Webber, Peter Lindberg and Annie Leibovitz. After 5 years of assisting, in 1993, Christian launched his independent career receiving instant recognition as an important and fresh voice in the photographic and art world communities of early 90's New York. His work immediately gathered critical and editorial acclaim. Major campaigns and awards followed.With a noted artistic father and uncle, Joel-Peter Witkin, Christian grew up exposed to the cutting edge of visual expression, allowing for his visual development as an artist to begin at an early age. Christian's continuing desire to deconstruct his world to its most basic parts has much to do with his search for the truth. He strips things down of all artifice until what is before you is the pure essence of the subject. He aims to explore the light and dark places of the human psyche.His subject choices are atypical; his aesthetic hearkens more to the streetwise Diane Arbus and anthropological August Sander. He has a ceaseless and constant desire to explore the unknown and eliminate boundaries. Humans legitimize his wandering eyes.His current projects include a massive 20-year study of the people of India; his body of work in Ethiopia spanning 10 years; his work on the Thai Ladyboy; and the newly completed prototype for his first book, Ordinary Beauty, the culmination of 25 years of portraiture of women.Christian's work appears in major magazines such as the