Nick Zinner- Crowd, Brooklyn, May 2007
It has been an especially busy week for artist and musician Nick Zinner as two events culminate; a photo show opening last week at Anastasia Photo and an upcoming experimental musical performance, 41Strings. This might seem overwhelming to the average person but if Zinner is overwhelmed at all, his mild-mannered demeanor doesn’t make it known. Perhaps playing music since the age of six and shooting photos since high school doesn’t hurt either.
Zinner’s candid, documentary approach not only captures engaging images but also reveals a tender sentimentality with simply wanting to “remember a situation or a person or a time.” Last week, Anastasia Photo presented “Nick Zinner,” a series of large-scale crowd images captured at his band’s, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, shows. Generally, he prefers anonymity when shooting his subjects. However, these crowd shots are taken at his own shows sparking my curiosity to whether or not that factor affects his relationship with the content because in a sense they are watching him watching them watching him. Zinner detaches from the crowd, even conceptualizing a completely different set of circumstances for them:
I never think that they are there for me. It’s more a case of documenting the people who are there for one event, together and in a formation that will never be repeated. I’m not the singer, so most of the time people are not watching me, and if I’m sneaky enough, I want to try to create a frame with as many faces as possible, ideally all equally interesting to look at. And at the same time, I like to try to imagine that you can remove the context of a rock show, specifically my band’s rock show, and maybe think about different situations that those people could be gathered for.
Nick Zinner- Crowd, Tuscon, March 2004
The Anastasia Photo gallery connects its exhibits with philanthropic initiatives. For this show, Future of Music Coalition and JOICFP, a Japanese organization committed to helping tsunami victims are apropos selections with music being obvious and Japan with current global relevance. Japan is also one of Zinner’s favorite countries to play and this is only one of several of his efforts in contributing to its recovery, including JAPAN: RISING. “Nick Zinner” at Anastasia Photo is up until June 4.
Nick Zinner- Crowd, Tokyo, October 2003
Tomorrow marks the day of the highly anticipated Loomstate 41Strings event honoring Earth Day’s 41st anniversary with Zinner, Soft Circle’s Hisham Akira Bharoocha and Ben Vida and Gillian Rivers. They have composed and are leading 41+ musicians through an original piece of music inspired by the four seasons. Zinner has listed Steve Reich as a music inspiration so perhaps this is an homage to “Music for 18 Musicians“ with the addition of 23 or so musicians- no big deal. Zinner shares details on what we can look forward to experiencing:
A minimalist, traditional interpretation of classically played music, with guitars and drums, as well as violins, violas, cellos, double basses, and electric basses. I’ve been really going for an epic feeling with each season, and I’m hoping we can make some people really feel something powerful. The music is more focused, working with repetition and strong melodies, divided up into four 6 or 7 minute sections for each season.
41Strings takes place at Good Units at the Hudson Hotel tomorrow, May 11 from 8-11pm.
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