"The graduation headshot or the police mug shot or my photos - they're all the same thing. It's basically, this is what the person looks like. I will tell you nothing about them. You can make up your own story about this person, because that's all the information you really have." This is what Neil Winokur told Tony Bannon, Director of the George Eastman House for 1000 Photo Icons, his book on the museum's collection.

In an age when reality TV images have all but subsumed the very American passion for celebrity portraits, Winokur's statement offers something to take away and ponder. And gallerist Janet Borden will offer Winokur's photographic view on the subject when her gallery opens a show of his portraits of downtown art world notables tomorrow night.

Left to right: Andy Warhol; Mary Boone; David Byrne. Copyright Neil Winokur, courtesy Janet Borden, Inc.

Starting in the early 1980s, Winokur created his life-size, super-saturated color head shots using a four-by-five camera and eye popping backdrops and what became his deadpan signature style. Among the boldface names he shot are Andy Warhol, Peter Hujar, Philip Glass, Cindy Sherman, Mary Boone, Robert Mapplethorp and Holly Solomon, whose portrait was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in the early 80s.

In an interview with Philip Gefter for an article in the New York Times, Winokur said, "When I started, my influence was the Hollywood glamour portrait. I thought if I did these very Pop head shots, the color background makes the person stand out. The photographs reveal every detail while telling you nothing about the person except what they present to the camera....In the late 1980s," he continued, "I began using Cibachrome paper, which made it possible to take these intense colors one step further, introducing a metallic, plastic look."

Plastic fantastic is a phrase that springs to mind - in a very good way. See for yourself at the opening, tomorrow night from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Neil Winokur: 1980s Portraits will run through November 25, 2009. Janet Borden, Inc., 560 Broadway, New York NY 10012. 212.431.0166.

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