Montreal photographer JJ Levine
I first came across the photographs of Montreal photographer JJ Levine in the pages of Maisonneuve?s Summer 2012 issue, where Levine parodied prom-style portraits, and then again just days later in the 10?10 Photography Project: 100 Portraits Celebrating LGBT People in the Arts, during Gay Pride at Toronto?s Gladstone Hotel this past summer.
That exhibit featured 10 photographers, but it was Levine?s portraits that caught my eye ? and many of those are also featured in Levine?s solo show Queer Portraits that is currently on display at Montreal?s RATS 9 Gallery in the downtown Belgo Building until November 5.
?I was so excited preparing this show but I?ve been taking these [portraits] since 2006,? says Levine. ?I?ve probably taken over 100 [portraits]? in this series by this point. I photograph my friends and people around me, so there really is no decision-making process [about who to photograph]. It just comes to me when I?m interacting [with others] in my daily life.?
But it?s not as easy as it looks.
As the RATS 9 Gallery press release states, ?Each portrait is taken in a different domestic setting, characterized by saturated colours and often discursive backgrounds. Using professional lighting and a medium format film camera, Levine creates a studio within each home environment, and intentionally places every piece of furniture and object that appears within the frame. These settings are intended to raise questions regarding private queer space as a realm for the development of community and the expression of genders and sexualities that are often marginalized within the public sphere.?
Heady stuff. But when you look at Levine?s portraits, it?s easy to see why the Montreal-based genderqueer artist?s work has been exhibited across Canada, the United States and Europe.
?A selection of my 2012 Queer Portraits have been exhibited in Toronto and in the United Kingdom recently, but never as a larger series, and not yet in Montreal,? Levine says. ?Most of the portraits that I will be showing at RATS 9 Gallery are from the last eight months of my art practice, and many will be exhibited here for the first time. It?s so rare that I have an opportunity to show [my work] in Montreal ? and this is the city where I work and where my models live. Now I can actually share the work with those who give me so much. That?s why I?m so excited about having this show in Montreal.?
Queer Portraits runs at the RATS 9 Gallery on the 5th floor of the Belgo Building (372 Ste Catherine Street West, suite 530) until Nov. 5. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.
Click here for the RATS 9 Gallery?s official website, here for the Facebook event page, and here for JJ Levine?s official website.
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?Jesse 2012? photo by JJ Levine
?Ali 2012? photo by JJ Levine
?Cam 2012? photo by JJ Levine
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