Guest Interview n° 18: Andrew Richardson
Andrew Richardson practically bears no introduction. The stylist extraordinaire has worked with some of the best photographers on earth, including Steven Meisel, and his work is well known for its lavishness and sensuality. From his roots in the production of Madonna’s Sex book on through to the most recent installment of the magazine that bears his name, Richardson, he has become one of the world’s foremost straddlers of the aberrant lines between fashion, fine art and sex. For this very special Guest Interview, we talk change, collaborators and end with a voyage to the land of id.
The eponymous, infamous magazine you started has its fourth issue out and your work in fashion is as rich and well-done as ever. How do you feel?
Good, Thank You.
You must be blindingly aware that the name “Richardson” itself evokes dirtiness. Yourself and Terry Richardson have mastered the glamorisation of salaciousness, and it’s been a beautiful and liberating thing. What do you have to say about working with him?
It’s been emotional.
So, why Sasha Grey for the cover of Richardson A4? I mean, she’s been on the cover of Playboy!
She was on our cover first. She is the Modern Porn Star Movie Star Rock Star the Poster Child for the emancipation of Porn, how could we not put her on the cover?
You’re no stranger to speculation about your own sexuality. It’s common currency that you’re bisexual, but some sources say you’re all about the girls. We don’t make inferences, so we’re dying to know once and for all where you’d fall on the Kinsey scale.
Dark Grey…
Now, onto the slightly less lewd. Issue A3 came out in 2002. Why such a long hiatus? Why restart now?
Sasha Grey is the first a real stand out porn star since Tera Patrick so it was time to get to the magazine together again.
Your inclusion of the American artist Carollee Schneemann in this issue is interesting, since she’s one of the few feminists who sees feminism through the scope of sexual expression as opposed to social oppression. Still, she’s dealt with erotic imagery in a very serious, sometimes somber way throughout her lengthy career. Do you feel that her work’s impetus is at all contrary to the sexually irreverent nature of the magazine?
“How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb? …One , and it’s not a joke” As you say Carolee was very different for other feminists, she is a lover not a fighter. I was doing a pro sex feminist issue so no I don’t see her work in the issue as contrary to the ‘irreverent’ nature of the magazine.
So, exactly how do you go about curating the talent you choose to include?
It’s different now than it was when I did the first three magazines. The internet has made so much more available which is confusing for a generation analog editor like myself. Themes for each issue come up consequentially and I chose contributors instinctually, something to do with how they do or do not fit within the theme of the issue.
At the very least the ubiquity of virtual porn in the intervening years will at least take the edge off its shock factor. I can probably leave this issue on my coffee table when my parents come over. So, what are you going to do to continue to push the envelope?
I’m not really interested in pushing the envelope for the sake of shocking your parents or anyone. Shocking is not the point.
Are the thrust and vision of the magazine and your work the same as they were before? What’s changed in the meantime?
I am very happy to get back to publishing Richardson online and in print, it has made the fashion work more enjoyable too, everything is good now. The Fashion work is less intense, more appropriate, the Magazine a little more grown up.
On that note, the magazine’s website has quite a bit of interactive content. Even QR barcodes! Is this an attempt to tap into the app-mad zeitgeist or an effort to re-imagine Richardson’s possibilities and scope?
The latter mainly, the QR codes are an attempt to expand the experience of reading the magazine. The website is more about Fun and immediacy where as the magazine is a personal project made by my Office and Studio 191, more rigorous and permanent. And for sure the website is a great interactive portal that we will be expanding socially and economically in the future.
Insight into your future?
The future will be a subtle, slow burning frightening inward journey to the sexually utopian virtual world online where everything is permitted and the id rules supreme.
Text and interview Tag Christof, all images courtesy Richardson Magazine
