Casey Kaplan
Numéro | Las Vegas like You’ve Never Seen It Before: Photographer Jeff Burton Dives Into The Heart Of The City Of Unlimited Desire
A famous fashion photographer who made his debut on gay porn shoots, American Jeff Burton was invited by Louis Vuitton to take a look at the incandescent and disturbing Vegas. These shots form a dazzling impressionist journey through the city’s buildings and famous shows (from the ultra-violent fights of Ultimate Fighting to the poetry of Cirque du Soeil). Between expressionist painting and voyeurism à la Brian de Palma, the resulting book (edited by Patrick Remy) is one of the finest successes in Louis Vuitton’s Fashion Eye collection of fine books.
Thibaut Wychowanok: Your book on Las Vegas opens with 3 almost abstract images where, in a flood of visual effects, we can make out an aquatic presence. As if your experience of Las Vegas was above all linked to sensations and colors more than to specific places that you would seek to document.
Jeff Burton: When I was doing my scouting, I chose to book a room on the 50th floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Because in this case, it’s been 34 days since I quit smoking, but at the time I took these photos, I smoked a lot, and this room had a balcony. It was one of the reasons for my choice, very slightly selfish. But I also said to myself that it would be great to be so high, so far from the ground, without vis-à-vis, without glazing and with an infinity of possibilities for shots. What you see in these first images are the Bellagio fountains. This floating sensation was quite extraordinary. The impression of floating up there, fifty floors above the city, as if I were flying over it.The fountain was the most spectacular object I could see at that time, from that angle. Like something from space, as if it had been extracted or dissociated from its environment. She drew you to her, hypnotized you. It was the first thing I started photography. The layout of the book follows a chronological order, because it seemed logical to me: a progression that follows that of my own experience. For me, it was also relevant from a narrative point of view: I arrive, I am attracted by what I notice first, then I move on to the next phase, with almost the feeling of landing in a new space. I was actually reacting to sensations, to colors, to beauty. as if it had extracted itself or dissociated from its environment.She drew you to her, hypnotized you. It was the first thing I started photography. The layout of the book follows a chronological order, because it seemed logical to me: a progression that follows that of my own experience.
Thibaut Wychowanok
Issue November 16, 2022
To read the full interview, visit the Numéro website here.