John Waters
John Waters is a filmmaker, author and photographer, that takes inspiration from all areas in the spectrum from “low” to “high” art. He has been influenced by such figures as: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Federico Fellini, and Ingmar Bergman. Born April 22, 1946 in Baltimore, Maryland. He is currently based in Baltimore and New York. John Waters became famous as “the pope of trash” (William Burroughs) and the “king of suburban exploitation” Waters’ work shows “gleeful irreverence and appreciation of the American grotesque.” His films, photos and writings make the transition from underground to mainstream without losing their aesthetic integrity.
John Waters’ four-color print Drunk is an historic achievement in the development of photogravure, traditionally a one-color medium for reasons of technical difficulty in the registering of multi-plate impressions. Photogravure, an intaglio printing process, gives unique luminosity, texture and durability to photographic prints. In four-color printing, it allows for great richness, saturation and experimentation.
Waters takes his imagery for prints from stills of movies, both his and others’. The images for Drunk are of Edith Massey in Female Trouble, on the left, and Glenn Milstead, “Divine,” in Pink Flamingoes, on the right. Waters has exhibited in New York, Tokyo, Milan, and throughout Switzerland and Germany.
