Jessica Yatrofsky
Jessica Yatrofsky | |
|---|---|
 Yatrofsky with model Gabrielle Blevins, 2015 | |
| Born | Jessica Lee Yatrofsky June 18, 1981 East Brunswick, NJ, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Director, Artist, Photographer, Performance Artist |
| Years active | 2002–present |
Jessica Yatrofsky (born June 18, 1981) is an American artist, photographer and filmmaker living in Brooklyn, NY.She is the founder of the photography blog, I Heart Boy, and has contributed to publications such as The New York Times, Brooklyn Magazine, Humble Arts, and East Village Boys. Yatrofsky's photographic work is part of the permanent collection with the Leslie Lohman Museum for Gay and Lesbian Art in New York City. Her first photography monograph, "I Heart Boy", was published in 2010 by Powerhouse Books. In 2015, Yatrofsky published her followup monograph, "I Heart Girl". Her first solo show was in 2011.
Early Life and Education
Yatrofsky was born in East Brunswick, New Jersey and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, the youngest of two daughters. She studied Fine Art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 2002–2006 and later received her masters in photography in 2009 from Parsons the New School for Design. She moved to New York in 2006 where she began photographing both men and women, friends, peers, art models, and other acquaintances. In 2012, "she turned her camera to the women around her, taking portraits of dozens of female friends who in turn suggested more and more women for Yatrofsky to shoot."
Work
Jessica Yatrofsky is known for her intimate film and photographic work with female and male subjects. She first gained notoriety for her work on I Heart Boy, a photo blog dedicated to picturing young men in sweetly provocative ways, which was later adapted into a photography monograph published by PowerHouse Books in 2010 titled, "I Heart Boy". Yatrofsky developed a following while contributing to the online publication, East Village Boys. Her artwork includes live performances as well as films that explore beauty, gender, body politics, and perception. In 2010, Yatrofsky performed live with I Heart Boy subject and muse Andrew Yang at Daniel Cooney Fine Artthat was featured in New York Press.
Yatrofsky wrote and directed her first film, SUN IN MY MOUTH, in 2010 which premiered at the Northside Festival in Brooklyn, New York. In 2014, Yatrofsky directed a fashion film for French designer Jean Paul Gaultier that premiered during men's Fashion Week in Paris.
In 2015, Yatrofsky published her followup photography monograph titled, "I Heart Girl", a collection of photographs of women that explore the complexity of gender identification and it’s latest collective shifts.
Reception
New York Press calls her work with male subjects "sensual and soft—a weirdly incongruous beauty that isn't masculine in the traditional sense, but unquestionably male." Her monograph, "I Heart Boy," was also ranked #5 on The Advocate's "Top 10". ELLE Magazine also remarked that "Her photos are a provocative—and, in a world full of Terry Richardson types, much-needed—portrayal of male sexuality."
Yatrofsky's photography monograph I Heart Girl was featured on Dazed and Confused in "The most exciting new photography books" of 2015."Cosmopolitan says "The photos are simple and soulful." The Huffington Post remarks that Yatrofsky's "book of portraits shows the huge breadth of people that identify as feminine, urging the viewer to rethink female beauty". i-D adding that I Heart Girl is "Confounding traditional representations of women in mass media and undermining institutionalized notions of masculinity and femininity". New York Magazine says Yatrofsky's work is "Challenging ideas of femininity, masculinity, and the way we think of gender".
The New York Times took notice of Yatrofsky's unique collaboration with Gaultier for the 2014 men's wear Paris showcase, "Shooting on the roof of the designer’s building in Paris, the models opened their overcoats like wings under the gray clouds or ran toward the camera with a blue tunic swaying under a jacket".
Exhibitions
In 2011, Yatrofsky exhibited the series I Heart Boy with Kontor Projects in Copenhagen, Denmark. In recent years her photographic and film work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally. Yatrofsky has had solo shows with Christian Berst Art Brut in New York City, Galerie Koll in Berlin, Galleri Vasli Souza in Malmo, and Third Space in Copenhagen.
Yatrofsky's I Heart Girl series was included in the group exhibition Medium of Desire in 2015 with the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York City. In 2015, her series I Heart Boy was exhibited in "Camera Work" at The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons School of Design.
Filmography
- 2009: Sun in My Mouth
- 2010: Photography, A History of Masturbation
- 2011: Emily Mortimer for Brooklyn Magazine
- 2013: Prêt-à-Porter Homme - Printemps-Eté 2014 for Jean Paul Gaultier
- 2014: Flowers and Balloons for Bent Van Loovy
- 2014: Shaun Ross x Jessica Yatrofsky
Collections
Yatrofsky's work is part of the permanent collection with the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York City.
Bibliography
- I Heart Boy, Powerhouse Books, 2010. ISBN 9781576875698
- I Heart Girl, Powerhouse Books, 2015. ISBN 9781576877395