When I saw the painting in the Louvre, I noticed a correlation between that tragedy and the eight years of George W Bush’s administration. I think Bush would have been a wonderful president of the Baseball Association. But he had no talent for the job of president of my country.
The photograph took a month to put together. It’s a tableau, based on a series of my drawings. I believe in building photographs. I don’t like the unpredictable – I have a clear idea of what I want long before I click the shutter.
First I needed a double for Bush. I contacted an agency for famous lookalikes in Los Angeles. They had a bunch, but the rates were enormous. This one chap, who looked and sounded exactly like Bush, wanted $20,000. Another guy, who worked in Malibu zoo, only charged $1,000. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, so had to fly him in. My Barbara Bush – George’s mother, who can be seen above him – was a retired nurse. She caught the same flight, though they’d never met before, and I put them both up in a hotel.
I spent a long time looking at the original painting, but decided to add something: a crown of lights on Bush’s head, to represent his little thoughts. And I had his hand fondling the breast of someone who I thought might be Condoleezza Rice, his secretary of state.
The other people were all locals. The day before the shoot, I had them gather in my studio. I showed them a reproduction of Géricault’s painting, reiterated my reasons for making the photograph, then told them to try out their places. The next day, I took the photograph with a Linhof 4x5 camera. I printed it myself because that, for me, is the decisive moment: you can change the meaning of a photograph by how you print it. I have to be part of that process.
I’ve been making photographs since I was 11. When I was 16, the New York Museum of Modern Art chose one of my photographs for its permanent exhibition. From that point on, I knew what I wanted to do. I finished high school, worked in photography studios, then joined the army as a photographer.
I remember we put brownish makeup on the Rice model and wax on her nostrils, to make her look more like her real-life counterpart, who was always a mysterious figure. Rice was obviously very smart, but a Republican. To me, anyone who is a Republican – it’s a spiritual problem rather than a mental one.
Joel-Peter Witkin’s CV
Born: New York City, 1939.
Studied: MA and MFA at the University of New Mexico.
Influences: The highs and lows of western civilisation, Albrecht Dürer, German expressionism, August Sander and Diane Arbus.
High point: Realising I was a photographer at 16.
Low point: The sad state of art today, especially photography.
Top tip: See with your soul, not with you eyes.
Studied: MA and MFA at the University of New Mexico.
Influences: The highs and lows of western civilisation, Albrecht Dürer, German expressionism, August Sander and Diane Arbus.
High point: Realising I was a photographer at 16.
Low point: The sad state of art today, especially photography.
Top tip: See with your soul, not with you eyes.
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