Last days of summer; heat’s grip has a punishing way of keeping itself inside the top rooms of Zak Krevitt’s three story walk up. Panting and in need of water he is so welcoming that it doesn’t even matter. The front door flies open and you are sincerely embraced. I’ve only just met Krevitt, yet he makes me feel like it’s been years. He is a young photographer, but don’t let that fool you. What few years he has, he makes up for in practice, expression, and passion. He is one of the most driven youngsters out there. One year out of school, he is successfully finding his way into the photography world. Five minutes from his Bushwick apartment he has a (shared) studio with some of the most beautiful avaliable light there is. Think Edward Hopper. This is where he works, with people he considers family. The intimate play he puts into his work oozes genuineness – it’s incredibly important to him. He and his work excite in many ways.
“I’ve always been very active in the world around me, and I’m very passionate about the queer and LGBT community.” That photographers make images from what is immediately around them is inescapable. Beyond what can be put in front of the camera, Krevitt’s journey becomes a little situational and a whole lot revealing. In his case reveling in sexuality. Skirting around sex, for some photographers, can become a conversation in pornography, sensationalism, if not total exploitation. There is no doubt in identifying Krevitt’s influences. He is in no way imitating the likes of Mister Richardson. Looking at Krevitt’s work, and the treatment of his subjects, conjures the work of Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, David Armstrong, and Robert Mapplethorpe. The work becomes less about sex or nudity and more about documenting emotional connections, and tracing subcultures within a community of people.
There is an innate and languid quality in the work. Open and revealing, there is a recognition of sensitivity. Warm tungsten, revealing flash, and tender eye contact. His subjects aren’t performing for the camera; they bare themselves to it. “Photographing these queer communities has always compelled me. There’s something about their absurdity, and energy.” Krevitt is thinking critically about sex, often capturing that moment just before, or allowing space, to think about what comes next. The images are compulsive and very often questioning, leaving a bit of space for creative interpretive confusion.
This anthropologic study of queer culture compels Krevitt. However he is fascinated by anthropomorphic qualities of art. He’s fascinated by the exchange of that control. Some things are inexplicably human. Regardless of the medium, he is interested in making works slightly incorrect. “Queering,” is the term he shares with me. Queer is beyond identity, as it refers to anything strange or odd. Krevitt himself, is strange and unusual. It’s his thirst for photographing and his passion for others that makes the work totally irresistible. His rejection of a conventional universe, so he can create his own, holds a line of vision and engages. His future is in allowing his work to have a life of its own.
To see more work by Zak Krevitt click here for his website, or click here for his tumblr. Krevitt is also beginning to work on gif’s and cgi that you can checkout here.
Efrem Zelony-Mindell is an artist who lives in New York. For more of his work click here …
Header Photo by: Thomas McCarty
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