A hideway for dreams of love and desire
... an internatinal sensation from TASCHEN! Excerpts from Eric Kroll's interview with Chas Ray Krider
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
I'm walking around Chas' studio seeing stuff and asking questions. The large open room has two desks near the wide front windows and a small kitchen area in the back followed by a bathroom and across from that, a backroom work area filled with stuff. Downstairs is a dark and dank basement with more stuff - albums, furniture, games, etc.
EK: "Why are you in Columbus, Ohio?"
CRK: "I don't live here. I live in my imagination."
EK: "This place seems like it's stuck in time and not necessarily a good time. So I'm confused."
CRK: "In my twenties I hitch-hiked around the country. I lived in Florida. Lived on the West coast. Lived on the East coast. I traveled and tried to relocate but I always drifted back here because I never had to hold a job. I haven't had a job in thirty years. Plus I'm from here."
EK: "When did you take your first 'girlie' photo?"
CRK: "I moved into photography, after I graduated from college. I did street photography. I thought I was on an exhibition gallery career. I survived on part time jobs...photo assistant, gas station attendant... freelance photography. I don't really do any commercial photography now. Once I got into this motel thing, I just ignored it. I used to do work for advertising agencies. Sexy pictures were always in everything I did. When I was into my street photography stage, no matter what city I was in, I found myself gravitating to the low-life section of town. Where they would still have burlesque theaters and marquees and I was always shooting lingerie windows and panties. I was just sort of drifting in that direction. Umm. Then I had the studio and I could bring women in and do Gustav Klimt with sort of romantic crap. Around 1980, when the punk and new wave thing was happening, I did a series of photographs based on a pin-up calendar. It was just another art thing, exhibit orientated."
I see an open staircase leading to a dark pit.
EK: "What's that?"
CRK: "That's to the Land That Time Forgot." We go down a dark staircase.
EK: "Holy shit fuck! Are there rats down here?"
CRK: "No," laughing. "I've never seen a rat in my life."
EK: Picking up a stack of old albums I ask, "What are these?"
CRK: "I collect all these things because I'm in love with the images. I have a whole other series of photographs called Bachelor Pad Pop Art, where I took record cover albums, put them together to get these strange sexual juxtapositions. I put objects on top of them." I begin to laugh at his joy of creativity. This guy doesn't stop. I'm looking around and I'm worried about the potential damage to the records from the dampness in the cellar.
EK: "Where are your negatives kept?"
CRK: "At my home. Everything is kept at my residence."
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
I'm walking around Chas' studio seeing stuff and asking questions. The large open room has two desks near the wide front windows and a small kitchen area in the back followed by a bathroom and across from that, a backroom work area filled with stuff. Downstairs is a dark and dank basement with more stuff - albums, furniture, games, etc.
EK: "Why are you in Columbus, Ohio?"
CRK: "I don't live here. I live in my imagination."
EK: "This place seems like it's stuck in time and not necessarily a good time. So I'm confused."
CRK: "In my twenties I hitch-hiked around the country. I lived in Florida. Lived on the West coast. Lived on the East coast. I traveled and tried to relocate but I always drifted back here because I never had to hold a job. I haven't had a job in thirty years. Plus I'm from here."
EK: "When did you take your first 'girlie' photo?"
CRK: "I moved into photography, after I graduated from college. I did street photography. I thought I was on an exhibition gallery career. I survived on part time jobs...photo assistant, gas station attendant... freelance photography. I don't really do any commercial photography now. Once I got into this motel thing, I just ignored it. I used to do work for advertising agencies. Sexy pictures were always in everything I did. When I was into my street photography stage, no matter what city I was in, I found myself gravitating to the low-life section of town. Where they would still have burlesque theaters and marquees and I was always shooting lingerie windows and panties. I was just sort of drifting in that direction. Umm. Then I had the studio and I could bring women in and do Gustav Klimt with sort of romantic crap. Around 1980, when the punk and new wave thing was happening, I did a series of photographs based on a pin-up calendar. It was just another art thing, exhibit orientated."
I see an open staircase leading to a dark pit.
EK: "What's that?"
CRK: "That's to the Land That Time Forgot." We go down a dark staircase.
EK: "Holy shit fuck! Are there rats down here?"
CRK: "No," laughing. "I've never seen a rat in my life."
EK: Picking up a stack of old albums I ask, "What are these?"
CRK: "I collect all these things because I'm in love with the images. I have a whole other series of photographs called Bachelor Pad Pop Art, where I took record cover albums, put them together to get these strange sexual juxtapositions. I put objects on top of them." I begin to laugh at his joy of creativity. This guy doesn't stop. I'm looking around and I'm worried about the potential damage to the records from the dampness in the cellar.
EK: "Where are your negatives kept?"
CRK: "At my home. Everything is kept at my residence."
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Motel Fetish
Hardcover, 22.5 x 30 cm (8.9 x 11.8 in.), 280 pages
$ 39.99
$ 39.99
Lustful places, luscious women
Chas Ray Krider
Photo: Chas Ray Krider