PULLEN - Criticizing the Glamourization and Exploitation of Crime in American Culture

An exclusive interview with the artist: collection on display at ACE Gallery in Beverly Hills, CA.

by SIMONE KUSSATZ, special guest writer

"I'll get you some coffee," New York- born photographer Melanie Pullen offered, when we met on the patio of the ALCOVE in Los Feliz, California for our one-hour interview.

Dressed casually, Pullen seemed down-to-earth, although she was having a first solo-exhibit of "High Fashion Crime Scenes" in one of the biggest and most prestigious galleries in Los Angeles.

As part of Pullen's work can be still viewed until October 2005 at ACE Gallery in Beverly Hills, gallery owner and curator Doug Chrismas must have seen great value in the work, as well as in the international media attention that the 29-year-old photographer received.

Our interview had a dramatic yet comical ending when a car drove into a fire hydrant in front of the ALCOVE, flooding the streets within minutes.

Suddenly it seemed that a movie scene had opened up in front of our eyes that was similar to that of a crime scene. Hence, it seemed natural to see Pullen reaching for her cell phone first among the onlookers. "I'm always the one to call the police when something happens while people stand there," she said.

Kussatz: What was it like having your photographs exhibited in such a huge gallery, and to see so many people at your opening?

Melanie Pullen: It’s amazing to have several thousand people come to see your work. It really makes it worthwhile. I was lucky to have so many supporters such as Elle and all the amazing designers from the fashion end. But what nobody realizes (unless they’re also an artist) is how strenuous this also is. You’re working till the last minute with such unbelievable pressure. The whole experience is very surreal and probably always will be.

Q: Did you enlarge your photographs especially for ACE Gallery?

A: I was already doing photos that were larger than the standard size but it’s rare to find a gallery that gives you the room to make exceptionally large prints, and this was something that I had dreamt about doing for sometime. I followed ACE shows for years and that’s the terrific thing about the freedom you get as an artist with this gallery — you can really create without the limitation of scale, and when you’re in a zone and have a vision, the last thing you want to think about is… okay now I have to make it fit. It’s a terrible problem to have to reduce the size of your work because you don’t have space.

Q: So many critical things have been said about Doug Chrismas. For instance that women have not been presented in his gallery? That seems absurd now.

A: I don’t know why people have said that. I mean look at Tara Donovan, Mary Corse, Lauren Bon, China Adams, and many more over the years. He’s very supportive of artists he believes in. I don’t think being male or female really has anything to do with that.

Q: You put about 60 people to work for one shooting. How were you able to finance that?

A: People a lot of the time assume that to create a great movie or still photograph that involves big sets and crews -- that it takes a million dollars, which is just not true. You can make it happen for very little if you have the determination. I think it takes professionalism and drive. Everyone came on board working on the project for the experience… That’s the great thing about creating art, movies etc. If you’re working on a cool project and don’t have much funding -- people love to contribute. It’s not about the money… it’s about the experience of making something.

I was really lucky -- great people came on board and really made it possible. I worked with the stunt crews from movies and shows like “Kill Bill” and “CSI”, fashion models from large campaigns like Guess to big runway models, there were dedicated students that wanted experience etc. There really was never a shortage of great people around completely driven and making it happen.

Q: What about the material and the post-production?

A: I keep the costs to a minimum. I have all the equipment at home. I was hands on everything. The scanning and retouching came from me. The final products-- the printing and the framing -- were the most costly things. The clothes were donated to the project by the fashion designers. We had 12 million dollars in jewelry on hand for some of the shoots and sometimes if we had a shoot and nothing worked – I would just buy and return clothes. I always kept the firm policy that: nothing would stop the shoot from happening.

Q: You were mostly inspired by Luc Sante’s book ‘Evidence.’ Can you tell us more about that?

A: I was inspired by many people and things -- but Luc Sante’s book ‘Evidence’ (crime scene photos from the NYPD 1912 - 1914) was a great reference for my work. He really compiled great crime scene photos in that book. I came across the book about seven years ago. It affected me deeply and made me reflect on myself. I was fascinated by the scenes and people in his photographs… and somehow overlooked the horror as it took on a secondary nature. I think that a lot of the early crime scene photographers were artists so the composition and lighting is more apparent in early crime photography and is overpowering. With the sensibility of modern times, the news, movies, etc we’re pretty immune to it all. The series was an experiment in how far I could take it.

Q: The photographs in Luc Sante’s book were in black and white, but you chose to shoot your scenes mostly in color.

A: I wanted to distract the viewer from the actual crime. The fashion and the colors take away from the brutality of the scenes and give them a very cinematic feeling. The colors are highly saturated in many of the photographs or if it’s appropriate they’re black and white but it’s all part of making layers to distract and heighten the cinematic feeling.

Q: Your photographs mostly show women. Are they geared towards a female or male audience?

A: For both. Men’s magazines show women and women’s magazines show women. Women are a big draw and are completely exploited by the media everyday—I’m not saying women don’t enjoy being beautiful – I don’t think there’s one super model that would say that they were upset about getting the Guess campaign because it exploited her beauty – but we all know that advertising agencies exploit it everyday to sell products. So I played with the idea and used it as another distraction. I wanted to play with this to make it more surreal and give another surreal layer to the mix.

Q: Was there any particular reason you made your models look so lonely in your photographs?

A: I think when one ponders ones final moments there’s a fear of aloneness as you’re leaving everyone you know behind. These, however, are crime scenes that were filled with aloneness and mysteries, some of which were never solved.

Q: Instead of showing women in a strong and independent position with a voice, you chose to portray them in a vulnerable position. What was the response from feminists when they saw your photographs?

A: I got some very smart write-ups. Rather than being a bad thing, I got some very positive feedback. It was just one time that an older woman walked [into] a show and started screaming. This was for a benefit event I did with LACMA. But then there was another woman at age 90, and she just loved it – she brought her grandchildren and wrote me a nice letter. I was surprised. Of course some people walk the other way… but overall it’s gotten a great response.

Q: Did you choose Juliette Lewis because of her role in Oliver Stone’s ‘Natural Born Killers?’

A: No. It had nothing to do with it. I had a story all drawn up and ready to shoot -- suddenly I thought she’d be perfect for it. It was a whim. Five minutes later I called her manager and it all fell together.

Q: Why did you choose Rachel Miner?

A: We’ve been friends for a long time, but I was also looking for a woman with a doll like quality. She was the most amazing person to work with. We were in freezing water for 14 or 15 hours, going in and out. She was freezing but kept going despite almost getting hypothermia.

Q: When I looked at the photographs, I wanted to know the story behind them. Why didn’t you display the story next to the photographs?

A: I wanted the viewer to fill in the blanks and ask as many questions as possible. I took photos from before the1950’s [when] there were no longer personal attachments to them. I was very careful [to find] mysterious crimes that were [either] never solved or very out of date. I wasn’t interested in taking current cases, as there are family members and feelings to contend with. It would overpower the series to take that route. Damien Hurst a few months ago approached a family about recreating a crime scene with a family member that had just occurred. There was an incredible outrage because the family is still contending with the loss. He ended up not doing it because of this. It’s very difficult for the victim’s family.

Q: Was it eerie going to the locations, where people have truly been murdered?

A: Yes, it was very eerie, but then you got over it fast, because there were people around you that were alive and talking. It was fun as everyone is very alert. There was also a safety factor. People who lived there avoided us, because they didn’t know why we were there and the crime scenes looked very real, so people would walk or run in the other direction. Some of the neighborhoods were very dangerous.

Q: What’s your favorite image?

A: I think right now the ‘Phones’ and ‘Movie Theater.’ It changes all the time. I also love ‘Electric Chair’ and ‘Dorothy.’

Q: Apart from criticizing the glamorization of crime scenes, were your photographs also meant to be references to the dark spots in American politics or history? I am thinking about the death penalty or slavery.

A: Yes, that was actually part of it. I looked at a lot of early pictures of lynchings. I collected all these lynching photographs from the turn of the century. There was so much exploitation going on. They even charged people to take pictures in front of the bodies. The postcard industry thrived on this period too. It was really nuts. Also with the news in the 1940’s and 50’s they would have detectives dress up and pose with victims—as a sort of claim to fame. It was a very stylized period in the news. It was very ‘Leave it to Beaver’ in its innocence, and very strange.

Q: Were you criticizing crime scenes in general? Or did you make a distinction between crime scenes shown in the news, or features, or murders committed on innocent people, or culprits?

A: If you turn on the television at any given time you’ll be bombarded with the drama of some current homicide or unsolved case on the news, or the current episode of a million shows about this. It’s like oops there’s another murder on the block let’s grab the kids and make some popcorn. There is a huge industry around it. It’s fascinating that a murderer can become a superstar because of the news. This is a very strange time with the way the news depicts this. My criticism is more aimed towards the news and their approach -- It’s crazy!

Q: Your photographs have a bent towards film noir scenes. Do they also try to reflect on the general mood in American society as film noir did?

A: I think it goes beyond that. I am not interested in recreating film noir, although I like film noir. I am more into French New Wave in that raw cinematic style. I like the lack of fake movie lighting in them. The colors were beautiful and saturated. The period of French New Wave films are more focused on locations. They have a very raw, take-what-you’ve-got feeling.

Q: You choose unique angles in your photography. Can you tell us more about that?

A: I’m totally fascinated about lines and perspective. I like long shots in hallways, anything that has a depth to it.

Q: What kind of cameras did you use for the shooting of Fashion Crime Scenes?

A: I used a 35 mm Canon. I also used a Hasselblad H1 for the 10 foot photographs. I used underwater cameras and underwater housings for medium format cameras when shooting underwater.

Q: You worked with the photographer Aldo Mauro. Was there anything you learned from him that you applied in the shooting of Fashion Crime Scenes?

A: I was 19. I spent most of the time in the darkroom. I didn’t learn too much from him about photography. I learned a little about the darkroom. I really educated myself and learned from watching filmmakers work such as, Godard, Truffaut, Bunuel, and Kubrick.

Q: You spent some time in London. Did you receive any formal training there?

A: I stayed in London for a year, where I worked as a freelance photographer. I was mostly experimenting with photography. It’s a different mentality over there- the police don’t carry guns. It’s wild… a criminal is considered rude if he robs someone with a gun so criminals use little knives. The police and criminals alike have very good manners.

In Mexico violence is far more brutal than here. They show everything in full color on the front page. Gruesome journalism. The police carry rifles around. They don’t mess around.

Q: Where does your show travel to next?

A: To the Whitewall Gallery in Seoul Korea and then it goes to ACE in New York.

Q: After the London bombing, and your connection to the city, it would be interesting to see your work exhibited in one of London’s galleries. Why would you choose Korea over London?

A: Galleries can be booked for months or even years so its due to scheduling. I also have to make a trip to the UK to find the perfect gallery. I don't have one there officially yet.

Q: You come from a creative background. Do you ever discuss your ideas with your family?

A: Yes, I do. My grandmother was an editor for the ‘Audobon’ magazine. It’s a magazine about nature photography. My mother is a painter. My father isn’t an artist but is a great guy to discuss stuff with, as he’s very open.

Q: What is it that you do, when you are not working on your projects?

A: I watch the Discovery Channel and movies. I help friends with their projects. I travel a lot and shoot for magazines. I keep very busy.

Q: Will you tell us what your next project is?

A: It’s a secret.

Q: You once contributed to a benefit for Project Angel Food. Are you planning on doing anything for the victims in New Orleans?
A: Yes. I have been contacting people at the larger companies to donate what’s really needed right now amongst giving what I can. It’s crazy that this happened and to such a great city. I hope it all works out and the city comes back to life.

Simone Kussatz: Thank you for our conversation.

http://www.highfashioncrimescenes.com/