It was another film noir kind of day in Milan. The sun was trying to break through the fast-moving clouds as we searched down a long alleyway for Kris’s studio. Of course, there wasn’t a number – there wasn’t even the name RUHS scratched into metal of the huge industrial door at the entrance. Kris finally came out front, looming large in his work clothes like a character out of John Steinbeck’s play Of ‘Mice and Men’. We went inside, and he replied in his soft-spoken way as we complimented him on the drawings and sculptures that filled the space, “The light is beautiful in here.” On my light meter I was only getting an aperture reading of f/2.8 at 1/15th. I was reminded of the time I photographed Balthus at his studio in Switzerland, which is built right into the ground. I barely got a reading on my light meter there, too. It was quite late by the time we got to the boxing club, but I didn’t even notice because I was already busy photographing the fighters in the ring, throwing vicious punches at each other and swearing in Italian, as Kris said in a reassuring way, “Don’t worry, you’ll love the light.” Bruce Weber In 2003 Bruce visited Kris studio in Milano and then again in 2011 and 2014, he took a series of photographs. A collaboration between artists. This show is the memory of those days and of this friendship.
It was another film noir kind of day in Milan. The sun was trying to break through the fast-moving clouds as we searched down a long alleyway for Kris’s studio. Of course, there wasn’t a number – there wasn’t even the name RUHS scratched into metal of the huge industrial door at the entrance. Kris finally came out front, looming large in his work clothes like a character out of John Steinbeck’s play Of ‘Mice and Men’. We went inside, and he replied in his soft-spoken way as we complimented him on the drawings and sculptures that filled the space, “The light is beautiful in here.” On my light meter I was only getting an aperture reading of f/2.8 at 1/15th. I was reminded of the time I photographed Balthus at his studio in Switzerland, which is built right into the ground. I barely got a reading on my light meter there, too. It was quite late by the time we got to the boxing club, but I didn’t even notice because I was already busy photographing the fighters in the ring, throwing vicious punches at each other and swearing in Italian, as Kris said in a reassuring way, “Don’t worry, you’ll love the light.” Bruce Weber In 2003 Bruce visited Kris studio in Milano and then again in 2011 and 2014, he took a series of photographs. A collaboration between artists. This show is the memory of those days and of this friendship.