In the best way possible, I’ve always found Marlon Rabenreither’s photography to be really elusive and indefinable. His images kind of hold as many secrets as a gay monk.
Anyway, he send over an exclusive set for Platform and I asked him to explain what’s behind each photo, not necessarily to dispel any mystery but just to get a little insight into the eye of the L.A. born and London-bound 19 year old Marlon.
Jesse
This was taken one evening last August in Los Angeles,California at a friends house near Wilshire / Fairfax (Biggy Smalls was gunned down at this intersection in 1997). This was the possibly the best summer of my life and the photograph has a charmed quality to it that reminds me of LA. I remember carving my name in this tree later on that night.
Out (The Blue)
This image was captured on a very clear evening somewhere outside of San Louis Obispo. We borrowed my mothers car and drove north all along Highway 1 (CA State Route 1) This must be themost beautiful highway I have ever seen. Also known as the Blue Star Memorial Highway- Route 1 runs along the Pacific Coast Line and has some incredible views. We were driving to the Madonna Inn Hotel to take pictures, one of the images from the Madonna Inn made it onto The Sugarplum Fairie’s last album cover “Chinese Leftovers”
The Best Blow Job In Berlin
Last winter me and my girl went to Berlin. I must have taken 50 shots of this damn river. I discovered some strange beer and was drunk for like 8 days. This was probably the last roll of film taken from my favorite Nikon before it broke.
Death Is Hanging Over Me
I think this is some sort of a tree in my friend Asher’s garden. The title is taken from a Nikki Sudden and The Jacobites song. It took me a long time to figure out what is going on here – it feels like it was taken under water.
The Set Up (An Apology)
Pretty flowers in Camden Town
The Wild Gift
This is a photograph of Rebecca Pauline. She is my favorite person to photograph and was a lover of mine for a long time. I find that her hands are very ghostly in this image. This was probably taken in 2007 in her backyard. I have spent a good portion of my life in that garden. I love how her glittery nail polish is chipped – on her left wrist you can vaguely see the letters “mr” in her own handwriting. She had gotten my initials tattooed on her wrist.
Wild Boys
One of the studio’s at Goldsmiths. Framed photographs of cute boys cut out of magazines.
Into The Groove(y)
I am not certain about where this photograph was taken but I think it is a close-up of a painting made by Brandon Smith. He had rigged his studio at Pasadena Art Center to hang a a freshly painted canvas from the ceiling directly above a blake canvas – The painting above created this image itself by dripping paint heavy with medium from a few feet above.
Seven Sister Blues
Taken in South Eastern Austria – Steiermark or Styria. This is a frozen pond where my cousins and grandparents live. I come here once or twice a year. You can see tracks in the ice where we were throwing stones and sliding around. It was very cold and the ice was frozen several inches in the center of the pond. This was also shot with the Nikon Fe.
Get Down (The Magnificent)
I have a series of 27 photographs (so far) taken in London. They capture color and texture found mostly in Tube Stations on the London Underground – This one was most likely taken in Old Street or London Bridge station. The images are created by the removal of years of postering advertisements atop one another. Some of posters have as many as 15 visible layers and are actually quite dimensional. This one is interesting because it was shot in Black and White – Most of the images in the series rely on vibrant colors to create an impact or an abstraction whereas this one makes the layers of postering more legible (you can make out the text and graphics better) and highlites the compostion and the texture of the original. I am currently working on making large-scale acrylic paintings of these photographs.
The End.
P.S. Marlon is showing some work at the Chapter One Gallery in London as part of the “New Moves” exhibition curated by Sweet and Sound (it’s until January 8th). Me like. And so should you.
