MOSCOW. Moscow Museum of Modern Art and BrainStorm Management present an unprecedented exhibition of the legendary Paul Steinitz – photographer, visual artist and publisher, known by all and by no one. Paul Steinitz, whose silhouette reminds both of an incredibly flamboyant artist and an impoverished vagabond, has been an obscure legend of the Paris and New York underground of the last two decades. To gain proof of it, one needs only to flick through the copies of Amaan Magazine that he has published since the mid-90s. On its pages are writers, filmmakers, designers, and top models – everyone Paul Steinitz photographed was transformed by his vision and later earned international recognition.

Many friends of Paul Steinitz have already passed away, including artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, designers Stephen Sprouse and Willie Smith, and DJ Larry Levan. Likewise, the notorious New York hangouts have disappeared – Palladium, Paradise Garage, Club USA, Save the Robots, Jackie 60, and Limelight – but Steinitz managed to conserve their ambiance in his works. It was in Limelight that Paul met his producer Zak Kaghado who works with the artist intensely in Paris and now brings his show to Moscow.

Moscow Museum of Modern Art presents various works from the series of black-and-white and colour portraits shot in Paris and New York using the large-format film. Paul claims to have kept to the same style in photography since the age of 25. The technology of platinum hand prints reveals great stylistic effects and permanently redefines the aesthetics of Steinitz based on fundamentals such as Hollywood glamour and Expressionist cinema. Conjugating the sublime and the street, Paul Steinitz denounces the lies of money, power and sexuality to go off in constant search of the time lost.

Paul’s latest exhibition was held at the London White Cube Gallery in 2008. His portraits were on view next to the works by of Damien Hirst, Julian Schnabel, and Cindy Sherman. Aged 41, Paul has two children; he lives and works in Paris, New York, and London.

In this exhibition, the rising star artist Ja’bagh Kaghado will be collaborating with Paul Steinitz. Ja’bagh is no newcomer to the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, where he was the youngest photographer to be commissioned a major solo show in August 2008. Ja’bagh who has been having a busy year exhibiting, recently presented another personal show “The Obsession of…” at the M’ARS Center for Contemporary Art within the framework of the Fashion & Style in Photography Festival 2009. He has just returned from Amman where his exhibition “Moskva Raw Meets Amman” created quite a stir up at the National Gallery of Fine Arts. Ja’bagh returns to the Moscow Museum of Modern Art with his new Parisian series “Faces in the Shadow”.

Of the 25 years spent creating thousands of portraits, Paul Steinitz has no regrets: “I haven’t learned anything and every image will remain my greatest orgasm.”