1.3: Images From my Phone

Description

During a trip in 2007, Joel Grey found himself in a small museum, filled with objects that he wanted to capture. Without his camera, he opted for the next best thing - his mobile. He had never had any use for the camera function on his Nokia 133 before but, to his surprise, found the same familiar perspectives and joy in taking pictures as always. The limitations of the format, such as aperture control and focus proved a thrilling new challenge. He spent the next eight months working with his phone to create a collection of diverse, gritty and reflective visual work.

In a theatre career that was launched in the early 1950s, Joel Grey's credits include Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (Roundabout), Anything Goes, Wicked, Chicago, George M! (Tony Award nom.), and Cabaret (Tony Award). He was Ned Weeks in the Public Theatre's original off-Broadway production of Larry Kramer's seminal play, The Normal Heart, in 1986, and co-directed the Tony Award-winning Broadway premiere in 2011. Film credits include Cabaret (Academy Award), Buffalo Bill and the Indians, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Dancer In the Dark, The Seven Percent Solution, and many more. Joel is also an internationally exhibited photographer with four published books, Pictures I Had to Take (2003), Looking Hard at Unexamined Things (2006), 1.3: Images From My Phone (2009), and The Billboard Papers (2013). His work is part of the permanent collection of The Whitney Museum of American Art. His memoir, Master of Ceremonies, was released in 2016 (Flatiron Press).

"Whenever I see something I don't quite understand--a shape, a color, an odd juxtaposition of the real and the abstract--nine times out of ten, it's my reason for taking a photograph. For me, taking pictures is like asking questions." -- Joel Grey