Steven Klein

“Men work on their bodies. They want to be looked at.”

“I was digging in the backyard to get my own clay and making pottery. And then I started taking pictures and built my own darkroom. I would go out at six in the morning and just take pictures.”

“I think what happens is that you do the project first, then you think about what it's about. Years later, you figure out why you've done things.”

“The funny thing is that I almost find it more difficult now to take a still picture than to be behind a moving camera. I'm just so much more inspired and comfortable and confident when I have that whole operation going. I feel more connected. Snapping a moment doesn't seem relevant to me anymore.”

“There was a mental institution near my house, and I would donate time teaching mentally ill patients how to do ceramics. I photographed them as well. So those were my first pictures.”

“I like what's obscure.”

“I don't see men or women as my sexual objects. I keep myself out of that equation.”

“I didn't do so well in the academic world, so I think the only way I could express myself was through visual art - anything I could get my hands on, whether it was glassblowing, sculpture, painting, or photography. I always wanted to be a painter. Or a farmer.”

“I like to show subjects inside a sealed veneer. There's a sense that you can't get in.”

“I was a loser, a bad kid, I wasn't really into anything, and then someone gave me a camera and I found that this was the thing I wanted to do.”