From Daniel McDermon’s article for The New York Times:
“The work really gives permission for women to look at women and for men to look at men,” Ms. Rivera said, “and for people to be nothing or anything or everything.”
They began to travel with the project in mind, finding more locations in Virginia, California and Italy, among other places. Ms. Rivera scoured hotel and Airbnb listings for the right kind of moody spaces. The images also grew larger in scale, taking in whole rooms and connecting Mr. Lillis’s poses to the setting, implying a narrative.
In “Motel, Virginia II,” Ms. Rivera wanted to call up the intrigue of a Hitchcock film, with the gathered tension in Mr. Lillis’s erect posture and his gaze — anxious or expectant? — out of the window.
For Ms. Rivera, working with her romantic partner was a revelation. “This is what Cassavetes and Fellini and Bergman must have felt like,” she said.
Browse the exhibition “Beautiful Boy” at ClampArt
Browse all of Lissa Rivera’s work at ClampArt