Fresh-faced Vice photographer and boulevardier Jonnie Craig has his first solo exhibition outside his native England opening this Saturday in Stockholm at Galleri Hangups, Rutger Fuchsgatan 5.
Below, Vice UK’s editor Andy Capper has a chat with Jonnie about the accompanying book and his early work for us.
Vice: We met when you were 18 after Ryan McGinley recommended you.
Jonnie Craig: Yeah, and the first thing I did was shoot the Black Lips at the bar.
And then it was the Streaking In The City thing for the magazine.
Yeah, that was the first complete shoot, the first editorial ever. I was so stressed out about that. I remember sitting in the office with people who I’m close to scared of saying anything to, for fear of being harshly judged and you are there like, “So I think you should go to Piccadilly Circus and get one of your friends to stand naked in the fountain.” I was like, “I can’t do this… But I can’t say no.”
I didn’t sense that at all from you.
It was like 10 million times out of what I would have called a comfort zone.
But you just thought, “Fuck it”.
Yeah.
Comfort zones are the death of life.
I saw it as a chance to do something and it ended up being one of the most fun nights of my life.
I like how it turned out a lot and how you just kept taking this gang of nude kids around the West End every night until you got something good. I’m sick of all these kids pitching photos and not wanting to have fun or do something out of the ordinary.
I learnt quite a lot after that shoot.Like what?
I learned more about people and my friends. And meeting Graham, the homeless guy who got naked with us and ran around the West End with us, that was fun.
Looks it. How many of these books are you doing?
It’s a small edition of 750, all hand numbered.
And what is the purpose of this book? Is it to become a millionaire? Because this idea of selling them at £250,000 a pop seems quite expensive. You should consider lowering the price.
I’m in talks of upping it. I feel it’s just slightly too cheap.
The higher you price something, the more it’s worth to people. It’s a good tactic. Especially with “art”.
Yeah that’s what I hear. It’s called something like “high art” these days.
It’s impossible to say anything about “being high” without sounding like a dick.
It’s near impossible to say anything without sounding like a dick.
The exhibition at Galleri Hangups will only be up for the weekend. Jonnie is bringing 30 signed copies of his book that you can buy for a special price on the opening night. It’s also available online at www.morel-publishing.com or dokument.org.
For more Jonnie Craig, go to www.jonniecraig.com
Jag kommer! Love Jonnie C.
Posted by: Art fart | 01/10/2009 at 17:22
Oooo wish I could go.
Posted by: Joel | 01/10/2009 at 19:51
gotta go
Posted by: Jennnn | 01/10/2009 at 22:48
Gud vad kul!
Gillar bilden när de springer in i natten
Posted by: Fanni | 02/10/2009 at 10:24
Well done to her for defending her huabsnd and standing up for the rights of people in the UK to? be in a safe and secure environment. Rights of the people of the uk? You mean defending the man whose empire was trying to exploit and invade the privacy of people whose loved ones were killed in the London bombings? Sure. The only thing she was defending was her meal ticket. She doesn't give a damn about the people of the UK anymore then her morally bankrupt huabsnd does.
Posted by: Jefri | 07/05/2012 at 08:35