Charles Quiles
A Solo Exhibition
Exhibition Dates: May 1 – 24th, 2014
Opening Reception: May 1st, 6-9 PM
April 28, 2014 (New York, NY) – ArtNowNY is pleased to present the first ever solo exhibition of Charles Quiles, Fais-Mois L’Amour (Make Love to Me). The exhibition will survey the past 11 years of work by the noted photographer in over 20 photographs and one new video installation selected from his work in the fashion industry, as well as from the artist’s personal archive. There will be an opening reception for the artist at ArtNowNY (548 W 28th Street 2nd Floor, New York) from 6 to 9 PM.
Fais-Mois L’Amour is a deeply personal exhibition and ultimately a photographic diary from the artist. The video installation, débuted to the public for the first time in the show, lays bare his acknowledgment and acceptance of the end of a relationship. Roughly half of the photographs are similarly intimate, featuring some of his closest friends, lovers, and mentors that helped develop the young artist as an up-and-coming fashion photographer from Puerto Rico, such as the legendary Mariano Vivanco.
Presented alongside these loved ones are the models and famous faces, including Rajiv Surendra, the former Kendra Spears and current Princess Salwa Aga Khan, and Alejandro Salgueiro, who Quiles has worked with in his editorial work. The universally loved embodiments that define current standards of beauty and sex appeal are keenly present in Quiles’s iconic style of photography. A body of work that pays homage to the early masters of the genre, such as Avedon and Ritts, Quiles’s photos address the faces, attitudes and styles that make up the contemporary urban landscape.
Fais-Mois L’Amour plays to both ends of a spectrum that spans the intimates in our own lives, the platonically adored and the carnally pursued; a love letter to the flesh, muscles and memories that make up Quiles’s passionate dedication to his art. The product of the artist as a young man as he attempts to capture it all, Fais-Mois L’Amour is an exhibition over a decade in the making, presented with unabashed pride and glory.