DAVID BRANDON GEETING
Author E.B. White penned his famous love letter to the city of New York back in 1949, but to this day his perceptions stand true, perfectly encapsulating the essence of the city’s artistic magneticity. White describes his notions of three New Yorks: “There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last--the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York's high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.” Photographer David Brandon Geeting falls into the third city of New York.
Hailing from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Geeting left for New York in 2007 to fuel his passion, and brought with him the fresh perspective one can only gain from having grown up in an environment so completely the opposite of New York chaos. American suburbia. “It's a completely different world over there [Bethlehem]. New York City is just pure craziness. There are millions of people, everyone is a stranger, everything is open late, and everything is in walking distance… Where i grew up, it is basically suburbia. You have to drive everywhere, everyone knows everyone else in the neighborhood, and everything shuts down around 8 or 9pm at the latest. It's really quiet,” explains Geeting. “It definitely has had an effect on my work. I am kind of drawn to using objects that people from the suburbs would use to decorate their homes. I like luxuries - maybe because they are actually
appreciated. I’m also drawn to the sort of "ignorance is bliss" lifestyle in the suburbs, separated from city wisdom and tucked away in their little innocent pocket, for better or worse. I'm exposed to so much more by living here [New York], but I am still very appreciative. I'm glad I didn't grow up here, otherwise I would have been jaded by the age 12.”
Geeting’s appreciation of suburbia ‘luxuries’, and everyday art are a central themes in many of his personal works, as well as his commissioned works for the likes of NYLON, the FADER, and Levi Strauss & Co. On the day of our discussion, Geeting is working on an editorial for art and surf culture magazine WAX, the subject of which is wetsuits, made by big fashion designers such as Cynthia Rowleyand Marc Jacobs, rather than the usual sports companies. With Geeting’s artist girlfriend modeling, the shoot is loosely inspired by the difficulty and awkwardness of getting in and out of each suit, the contrast of expensive designer fashions with the difficulty of functionality. “I’m a fan of any sort of highbrow/ lowbrow combo. Even in my personal work, I always kind of aim to make cheap things look fancy, and fancy things look cheap.” Geeting’s still life works, in particular, highlight his unusual skill of turning the commonplace into the covetable. On first glance his images are sleek, editorial... then after a few moments you realise that you are looking at a half eaten sandwich and a paper mask. Geeting’s appreciation of not only these random assortment of objects, but also his skill in colour, and lighting make for intensely addictive viewing.
“I started experimenting with still life stuff right after I graduated college in the summer of 2011. Basically, I was super broke, didn't have a job, and couldn't afford to keep developing film, so my friend Peter Sutherland (who I had been working for at the time) gave me his old digital slr so I could continue to make work. I had all this pent up creative energy but no real outlet for it, so when I got the digital camera, I just kind of went nuts and started taking photos of every inanimate object around my apartment in Brooklyn. Once I got the simpler ideas out of the way, I started to get weird with it,” says Geeting. “Sometimes I will have an idea, and sometimes I have no clue what I want to make, but I know I want to make something. My favourite images always happen when I have a vague setup in mind, but as i'm building the photograph, I allow for chance to take it's course. It could be that one of my cats butts its' head in the frame, or maybe the wind blows something over and it falls in such a particular way, or maybe I see something next to me on the ground that would make a world of difference if added to the frame. I like this marriage of having full control and also no control at all.”
When researching Geeting, I came across an interesting belief of his, which I have recently seen echoed in the interviews of many of the past’s great creatives. It is the belief of creating some form of art every day, even if it’s shit. It’s this daily goal which drives Geeting, and others before him, to keep looking for new combinations, new forms of expression, new paths of meaning. Geeting elaborates for me “I just feel like if I take a break, I might miss something crucial. I hate when I see people with such great potential letting themselves slip. I also think I make very different art when I am forcing myself to make art. I like making art when it comes naturally, and I actually hate making art when I force myself to make it, but when it's forced, the outcome is often way cooler.”
As we approach the end of our meeting, I ask Geeting how he would sum up his work: “I would say that it's more about trying than succeeding, more about form than concept, and more about fiction than reality. And it's really fucking bright.”
Images courtesy of David Brandon Geeting
Published in PITCH Zine Issue# 22, October 2013