Last week, while most of New Yorks inhabitants battened down the hatches in preparation for Hurricane Irene, the American photographer Spencer Tunick used that time to go out into nature. He had his wife, Kristin, take off her clothes, then he covered her with several small leaves that he had found in the yard of their home and posed her in a variety of yoga positions near the farm where they live on the outskirts of New York. Do you see that little brook running between her legs- he asks joyfully as I shrink uncomfortably away from the intimate photographs that my new friend takes out of the envelope. Look how Kristies body connects with the earth and the rocks. That was an amazing day for taking pictures. Look at the trees behind her, bending in the wind. I say nothing out of embarrassment. It is not every day that an interviewee whom I met only an hour and a half ago casually shows me nude photographs of his wife as though we were exchanging childhood pictures. So what do you think of the pictures- he asks after he returns them, with great care, to the envelope. Does your wife know that you show intimate pictures of her to strangers- I stutter. Oh, yes. She has no problem with it. My wife is the number one supporter of my art. I love to photograph her. Shes an excellent model and she appears in quite a bit of my work. Say cheese and meet Spencer Tunick, 44, one of the worlds most renowned photographers, whose trademark consists of layers of naked humanity in front of buildings and landscapes. While for us that might mean an enormous pool of private parts, for him it is power, spiritual exaltation, the embodiment of human nature and other expressions that are fitting for an artist. Tunick, who in 1992 began to photograph individual nudes in black and white in front of well-known buildings on the streets of New York, quickly discovered the unique idea that has made him one of the most famous photographers in the world: group photographs of nudes. It started with a series of photographs of 28 naked bodies. My first group photograph was at the entrance to the United Nations building in New York. I posed a group of people nude and screaming because I wanted to scream about the massacre in Rwanda that was happening at the time, Tunick says. His record photograph is of 18,000 nude people in Mexico City. Next Saturday, following Internet buzz that has continued for the past year and a half, he will arrive at the Dead Sea in order to direct several thousand nude Israelis. I still dont know exactly how many because the number keeps getting bigger. The prediction is between 1,000 and 6,000 people. The idea to bring Tunick to Israel came about two years ago as part of a final project by five students in the communications program at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. The group, which was led by Sharon Gittelman, then a student specializing in interactive media and currently the owner of her own social media consulting and branding firm, started a group on Facebook called Spencer Tunick Puts Israel on the Map. The idea was to take photographs that would show Israels landscapes and the liberal nature of its citizens to the world. The message reached Tunick, himself Jewish, and he was glad to take up the challenge and get Israelis to take off their clothes. When I heard about the group on Facebook, I thought it was amazing, mostly because Im very honored that they wanted me to come and photograph in Israel. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that it was the right thing for Israelis who wanted to cooperate in something that was very liberal, enlightened and representative of creative and artistic freedom. On a personal level, it moved me very much because I know Israel well, and over the past 30 years, Ive visited Israel once or twice a year. I have close relatives on Kibbutz Revivim my aunt, my fathers sister, came to Israel in the 1960s, and my grandfather is buried in Israel even though he spent his whole life in the United States. When I was working on my craft, I took quite a few individual photographs of nudes in Israel. I always dreamed of doing a nude group photo in Tel Aviv, in Netanya or at the Dead Sea. I was glad my Facebook friends helped me find people who were interested in being photographed and also took care of the funding, because this is a complex process that requires a great deal of fundraising to make the photo shoot happen. I come with a crew of seven people including assistants, producers and a team of photographers who document the process of the work in video and stills. By the way, anyone who would like to donate to the project is welcome to visit my website and help out. Q. How much does a production like this cost- A few tens of thousands of dollars. Q. And you dont have a budget for it- Im an artist not a Hollywood celebrity. I would also like to replace my equipment with more advanced stuff, but its expensive and Im not willing to cooperate with companies who would give me free equipment in exchange for advertising. Q. How can it be that one of the worlds best-known artists needs financial support in order to create his work- The fact that my work is known worldwide doesnt mean that Im a rich person. Honestly, Im far from being a millionaire. Unlike other artists who do popular work, I cant sell my nude works to be put on display in a bank or a law office. This reduces my sale options. A friend suggested that I do similar works, but with flowers instead of people. Thats very nice, but its not me. Its only been in the past two years that Ive been able to say that Ive made any financial profit. I started putting some money away for my daughters college education. Theyre four and six years old, and today I can buy any sofa that I want, not necessarily from Ikea. Q. How much does your work day cost- Between $5,000 and $20,000. It depends on the size. Although most of my work is never shown to the public. I have a lot of photographs that I take at private nude parties given by collectors or at private parties, - for example, the one that took place the night Obama won the election - personal photographs or a new series of nude photographs painted in colors. He takes out his iPhone, which serves as a kind of photo archive, and starts going through hundreds of spectacular photos. Every year, I put a limited series of works out on the market for sale. Just recently, a Belgian collector bought eight of my works for $40,000, and thats certainly something that will take care of me financially for a time and let me breathe. Being an artist isnt an easy thing financially, especially when you deal with huge productions that require a lot of coordination. Q. And what about putting out a series of photographs for sale to the masses, or poster sales? That could definitely help you financially. No, no, no, thats really not me. I get offers to do advertising work all the time, and I refuse. Just the other day I got a telephone call from the Coca-Cola people, who wanted to order a photo of mine for an ad. I told them that Id be willing to do it on condition that they fund an hour of psychiatric treatment a week, for the rest of my life, for the depression that Id develop. I feel that if I sell my art, I wont be able to be at peace with it. Over the past few years, all kinds of organizations have contacted me. Virgin Airlines wanted to do a photo where the owner, Richard Branson, marches among a swarm of people holding a cellphone that the company wanted to promote. Dove Soap also wanted me to do an ad. I turned them all down. Q. Why, exactly- Because if I devote time to business, I wont have time for art. Look at this bag (he says, lifting up his bag, which is made of remnants of an enormous curtain of a photo of his that was exhibited in a museum in Barcelona). After they took the curtain down from the exhibit, the people from the museum asked my permission to make two bags out of it. One stayed at the museum and one came to me. Its nice, no? People suggested that I do a line of bags with photos for the masses. Now people in Mexico have contacted me, asking to print my works on ponchos. Thats very sweet, but I feel that if I go into that I wont have time for art because Ill be too busy in business, selling products. Im so loyal to my work and to myself that I dont even have an agent representing me. There was one commercial idea that got me excited recently, starting with a call from Sacha Baron Cohen [of Ali G, Borat and Bruno fame], who wanted to put one of my works in a scene in his new film. I told him that Id be willing to do it on condition that I was an extra in the film, since from a financial standpoint, I didnt know what to ask for. A friend who advised me named a figure that was too high, and it didnt happen in the end. A pity. No photographs in religious areas Tunick is well aware of his status in the art world. Throughout our meeting, he is careful to refer to himself as an artist. When I call him a photographer, he cringes and corrects me. When I refer to his works as photographs, he reprimands me, explaining that they are installations, which is how he refers to his mass creations. Artistic branding is important to him. If he is not going to make millions from his art, then at least let him go into the history books as one of the great artists. Some of the conversation takes place as we move through the streets of gallery-filled Chelsea. When our photographer asks to take his picture before the wall of one of the galleries, he asks not to do it so as not to attract attention. He is received with great respect in every gallery. Until three years ago, I exhibited in almost every gallery in the area, but Ive stopped, he says. Today, there is only one gallery in London that exhibits my work on a permanent basis. We enter the Duggal photo lab, considered one of the best development laboratories in New York, which is currently working on the next ad for sunglasses by Rayban, Lancôme and other internationally recognized brands. A team of three employees fawns upon Tunick, showing him the latest prints that he ordered. He has come for the cropping of the photographs. Crop the photos of Long Island a bit more. Take that woman out of there. Regarding the colors: Was the lighting in the room indirect, or did the clouds come out a bit yellow- After he finishes approving the prints, he autographs the works. One is a donation to a non-profit organization that assists needy children, two others will be sent to a private collector, and another one is for the queen of Belgium. I hope shell like it, he says with a wink. In any case, shes the first queen to receive my work. Q. While were on the subject of high-ranking people, in Israel religious Knesset members didnt like the idea of mass nude photographs and threatened legislation against you. Do you understand their resistance- Id rather not go into that. Its not right for me spiritually. Id rather concentrate on my art. Q. Nevertheless, when you heard them saying that your works were an abomination, what went through your head- That its really too bad. Im coming to photograph at the Dead Sea out of my love for the country and because I care about the state of the Dead Sea, which is disappearing. I hope to raise awareness about the place and help it to become recognized as one of the seven new wonders of the world. I think its a shame that they dont see that. I can tell you that, personally, and not only in Israel, I avoid shooting in religious areas that are sensitive for people. Ill never do a shoot near a synagogue, mosque or church. Q. For some religious people, you are photographing in the Holy Land, where every bit of earth is sacred. "In other words, those people also drive around in holy cars, El Al takes care of its aircraft in a holy garage, and everybody in Israel eats holy food? I dont understand why its necessary to bring religious matters into my work. He loses his politically correct, American manners with ease. When I see 1,000 naked people in front of me, I dont think of them in a sexual context, but as something powerful and spiritual. I think that the fact that through my work, Israel will be on the artistic map, which is still not developed enough in Israel, is a wonderful gift. Im sorry if there are people who feel uncomfortable with it. Thats not my intention. They think I play with dolls Q. Have you had hostile reactions to your work in the past- Once I encountered an extreme reaction when I photographed in Chile. It was after their revolution, and near my hotel there was a group of two hundred citizens who didnt like it. On the other hand, a huge crowd of people cooperated with me on the shoot, and I know that theres now a saying in Chile that goes: "Life before Tunick and life after Tunick." For years, they were under a tyrannical regime, and suddenly something was released there. Actually, Israelis are very enlightened and open relative to other places in the world. Even here in the U.S., I dont always publicize information about the photos that Im about to shoot. Not everyone is liberal and open here. If I wanted to shoot in Texas or in Mississippi, Im not sure it would go well. Q. Is there a country that you dream of photographing in- Youll know after the work is finished. Q. Is it a secret- Its something that comes into being during the process. When I come to do such a complex shoot, of course I have to do my homework. It starts with a preliminary tour of the destination, I take photographs of it, and afterward I sit at home and think where and how to place the people. Sometimes I cut people out of old works of mine and glue them on a photograph of the place where Ill be shooting, and do a kind of dry run. My studio is full of cut-out photos of tiny people, and my two daughters think that my job is playing with dolls. I have all kinds of directions in my mind. I want to cover some of the people with mud from the Dead Sea, and I also want groups of people in the water. I want to create a feeling of connection between the body and the sea and a feeling of something moving between the real and the unreal, to take advantage of the fact that the body floats in the Dead Sea. In the end, reality will dictate the result. Sometimes I also shoot photos spontaneously. In Belgium, for example, I shot a series of photos at the entrance to the palace, and the people served as a kind of human carpet. I had them lie down on large white pillows, and at a certain point, after I finished what Id planned to do, I let them have a pillow fight. That resulted in some really amazing work. I dont use Photoshop Tunick does not even remember the first time he held a camera in his hands. It was always there somehow. His great-grandfather had a Kodak laboratory for developing photos, his grandfather was a photographer, and his father sold cameras to tourists and was a photographer as well. He particularly remembers visiting museums with his mother during his childhood in New York. I would spend hours in museums, at the MoMA and Whitney. Afterwards, I studied in art school. I was attracted to it. Luckily, my parents supported it, and even when I was older they didnt tell me to become a doctor or lawyer, but suggested that I work as a doorman at a hotel so that Id be able to earn money, and during down-time Id be able to read art books. Ever since he began taking the group photographs, Tunick has improved his production technique. In the past, my wife, an illustrator of childrens books and a graphic artist, would make fliers for me, and Id walk around the streets of the cities recruiting people for shoots. Today, its much simpler because you can start a group on Facebook, follow the comments and the people who are joining the project. Over the past few years Ive seen not only technological advancement but also sociological changes in the human body. Some people have more and more tattoos on their bodies, some of them really not logical. I see more and more piercings and mostly less and less hair on mens bodies. Tell me, will you be coming to the Dead Sea-" Q. Are you suggesting that I join the group that takes their clothes off? I dont think thats for me. Why not- Q. Im shy. From experience, in one group session with me, youll lose all your inhibitions. Youll see itll be one of the five biggest events of your life. At most, youll stand in the back and be swallowed up in the crowd. I get a lot of emails from people who participated in my works and describe a sense of euphoria and acceptance of their bodies, and even profound insights about how their body belongs to them alone, not to a state or a government. I have one person, about 70 years old, who comes to almost every shoot I do. Hes supposed to come to the Dead Sea. Q. Im willing to take off my clothes if you promise me that youll Photoshop me afterwards. I dont deal with Photoshop, at least not in the way that fashion photographers use it today. Its only in the past few years that Ive started cleaning up, here and there, a street sign or rock that affects my work. I dont touch the human body, and Im very glad when people who dont have perfect bodies come to me. Im fond of particularly big bodies. By the way, you can tell conservative people, who didnt like the idea that Id come to Israel, that I think that todays advertisements contain a lot more sex, and theyre definitely a lot more provocative than what I offer. I also think that the overuse of Photoshop creates distortions in the way people perceive the body, and that leads to people suffering disturbances that have to do with their bodies. I dont think that theres anything wrong with being fat. Its become a bad word, and that bothers me. I think that its better to be fit for health reasons. For example, I recently lost eight kilograms. I go to a Weight Watchers group with a group of 50-year-old women. Its important to me to be healthy. Q. By the way, do you pay people- No. They do everything on a completely volunteer basis, out of the desire to be partners in a creative endeavor. I send every one of them a signed copy of the photograph as a token of gratitude. By the way, two years ago, there was a married couple in one of my groups who later sold the little photograph that Id sent them at an auction. I heard that they got $7,000 for that little photo. Q. And that doesnt bother you- I cant get angry with someone who does that. And do you know why? If it will persuade Israelis to come to the Dead Sea, Im willing to cooperate. But I have one request. If you have sold one of my photos on eBay, then at least donate ten percent to save the Dead Sea. The Israelis behind Spencer Tunick In recent months, a small team of Israelis has been responsible for connecting all the components that will lead to Tunicks historic photo shoot at the Dead Sea. The leader of the group is Ari Fruchter, the producer Elinor Lechtman and the CEO of Nomadigo, Ari Gottesman. They manage the list of participants, fundraising and Spencer Tunick parties. Were glad to see that people are so interested, and the number of people who have registered is pretty big, Gottesman says. Many people went to the website that we put up and registered. Theres a lot of interest, and registration will be going on until the last moment so that everyone who is interested can participate. People can register at www.nakedsea.info and on the way, they can also vote for the Dead Sea as one of the new wonders of the world at http://www.new7wonders.com/archives/wonder/dead-sea/ or by sending a text message to 2244 with the words Dead Sea. Q. Can anyone come to the shoot- In the rest of the world, anyone can come, but in Israel we decided to limit participation to people 18 years old and up," Gottesman says. "Everyone who registers will receive a ticket for a special bus that will take them to the shoot, which will take place early next Saturday morning at a location that will remain undisclosed so that we wont be disturbed. Q. Was the choice to do the photo shoot on the Sabbath made so that religious people wouldnt demonstrate- No. It was made primarily for the sake of convenience. There are a few religious people among those who have volunteered to be in the shoot. Not devout Haredim, but religious people who see this as something powerful and understand that in the end, Adam and Eve were also born naked. Its going to be an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Q. Will you be participating in the shoot- I would like to, but because of technical constraints, I have to run on the ground with a walkie-talkie, telephones and megaphones. Im not sure that Ill manage to squeeze myself into the picture, but Im willing to sacrifice my presence in it for the sake of the projects success.
