Steven Klein | Perfect Dolls and Fishnet Stockings

Madonna is wearing a bizarre mask, an oriental-looking rag and fishnet stockings as she kneels on the stage. A coyote has been chained to the stage next to her and there is a burning wedding dress on the right side of the image. The photo bearing it is currently on display at the CWC gallery as part of a cross-section through the oevre of Steven Klein, a fashion photographer who has been creating editorials with international stars since the 1990's. But his depictions blur the faces we seem to know so well behind a veil of surreality and distraction that Klein conceptualizes in cooperation with his models.

The exhibition features excerpts from Klein's “Valley of the Dolls” series among others, which revolves around Tom Ford posing next to doll-like bodies. It is Klein's attempt to hold a mirror up to the beauty industry and its ideals.

Another picture shows Kate Moss in a claustrophobic room with long laced up boots, laced gloves and a draped hat with a veil that obscures her face. The patterns in the wallpaper and Moss' clothing seem confusing, almost like a view through a caleidoscope. The picture radiates a drab and sinister atmosphere. In “Case Study” from 2005, Klein stages Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a suburban 1960's couple. Set up like a film, it shows Pitt and Jolie in the garden with three little kids playing in a paddle pond. Daddy's got a champaigne flute in his hand. Mommy is trying to look perfect on a beach chair.

If you have enough time and are starved for more celebs, you might also want to check out the Peter Lindbergh exhibition on the second floor. It contains mostly black and white portraits of well-known faces like Demi Moore, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.

(ms)