Behind closed doors

TO THE best of my recollection, I have never been to an Oscar party, Vanity Fair’s or any others, and yet I am prepared to believe that these photographs of those parties and a few related events, taken by Larry Fink, are entirely true to the experience.

The pictures are taken from up close, smack in the middle of things, and they convey a synesthetic experience — you can hear them, you can smell them, and you can feel their impact on your knees, elbows, shoulders and kidneys.

I don’t find it hard to imagine Larry working these rooms, while at the same time many of the individual photographs do cause me to wonder how he managed to position himself to obtain that particular angle while not disconcerting the subjects. Many of the people in the pictures are used to being photographed, of course, but that does not necessarily mean they’re always at ease with shutters going off when they’re not actually working. In any event, I know Larry well enough to be familiar with his personal style, which is straightforward, honest and without pretense. He possesses the authority to march into a situation and cause people to automatically defer to him, while at the same time he is sufficiently patient and concentrated to make himself invisible.