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It's
a
Knockout
T

arry Fink looks for con-
trasts and passions when
i he plans out a photograph-
41 is series.
His first book, Social Graces, fea-
tures photos capturing what he
considered black-tie party contra-
dictions — the unmarred formal at-
tire worn by guests as opposed to
the anxious feelings their dressed-
up appearances are meant to hide.
His second book, Boxing, shows the
contrasting images of success and defeat
encountered in the fight arena as well as
the brutal and balletic movements of the
fighters.
Before the boxing pictures go on dis-
play in June at the Whitney Museum of
American Art in New York, a sampling
is being shown in Ferndale at Revolution:
A Gallery Project. The
exhibit runs through
June 7.
"I was attracted to the
subject of boxing for
many reasons — the fra-
ternity of the men, the
symbolic relief that's
gained by watching the
end of a brutalizing fight,
the driving obsessions of
training, the willfulness
of the young men to try
to keep themselves out of
the troubled streets, the
paternalistic caring of the
trainers and the social
conflicts between high
money and low gain,"
said Fink, who generally
works with black and
white images.
"When I finished the
series, I had a stronger
heart for boxing, and I
became a fan. I came in
with curiosity and re-
spect, and I left with
some knowledge and re-
spect."
Through his photos,
taken over 10 years, Fink
shows action within the
ring and interaction out-
side of the ring, all
adding to the complete-
ness of the series and ul-
timately a book that
captures the entirety of
the subject's artistic ex-
pression.
There are a couple of
Jewish boxers depicted,
and they represent a
number dwindling from

Fink started teaching by signing
up for President Johnson's Great
Society Program in 1964, when he
instructed 15 young people in
Harlem.
"I teach a range of students, and
my idea is to stimulate the imagi-
nation," Fink said about current
initiatives. "Young persons should
be able to go out and make nota-
tions and references about things that
stimulate them.
"I want them to look at things in dif-
ferent and deeper ways so they can con-
struct visual metaphors which address a
whole range of events rather than simply
the event that's being photographed."
Fink has taught at the Yale School of
Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, Cooper
Union and Parsons School of Design. His
work has been exhibited
at the Museum of Modern
Art in New York City, the
San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art, the Musee de
L'Elysee in Switzerland
and the Musee de La Pho-
tographie in Belgium.
Fink also adds an artis-
tic touch when he cap-
tures private parties.
"Just because\I'm hired
to do a bar mitzvah or a
wedding doesn't mean I
have to necessarily sup-
plicate my art to the corn-
mon convention," he said.
"If somebody hires me,
they'll get contextually all
the continuity of the day
and all the events they
like to see documented,
but they'll get them with
my overriding point of
view. The artistic process
doesn't leave itself at the
door."
Although Fink is not a
religious person, he is fas-
cinated with rituals and
recording them on film.
"I've photographed my
family and various tem-
ples at various times, but
I've never really done our
people in any real art or
fashion," he said. "Cer-
tainly, our people have
been interspersed through
my work and all through-
out my life." ❑

THE DETR OI T JEWIS H NEWS

Photographer Larry Fink captures the passion of his
subjects — in and out of the ring.

Larry Fink:
Boxing Champ's Gym,
Philadelphia, Pa., 1993.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

the '30s and '40s, as Jews became main-
streamed to find success in other arenas:
"I decided to put the photos together
into a book because I like to have a prod-
uct at the end of my work," said Fink, 56,
who teaches photography at Bard College
in New York.
Fink's interest in photo images began
as a hobby when he was 12, and he ad-
vanced his skills by studying with a pri-

vate instructor, Lisette Model.
"I photographed a daffodil, and my
mother loved it," he said. She sent me
back out to the flowers, and I never came
back."
Early work was for Catholic publica-
tions, and he moved on to have his pho-
tos published in popular publications such
as the New York Times Magazine, Van-
ity Fair and Vogue.

IT The boxing photos
of Larry Fink will be on
display through June 7
at Revolution: A
Gallery Project, 23257
Woodward, Ferndale.
(810) 541-3444.