Chic Artist: Matt Albiani

I first heard about Matt Albiani when he launched his book Lifeguard on Duty at Bergdorf Goodman last year. The book which features stylish - and some homoerotic - photographs of lifeguards was showcased along side clothes by Michael Bastian. I happened to be in New York two weeks after the launch and was quite taken by the photographs. More than anything, the photos captured an all-American ideal of young, able bodied men on a beach. The kind of images that come to mind when one says California, especially if one is not from the US. I bought the book at the Rizzoli bookstore.

A year later, I was back in New York and I saw that some of the photographs were still on display and below them was a caption that said they are available for sale. I took note of the contact person and emailed them when I got back to my hotel. A couple of hours later, Matt Albiani himself emailed me and said that the two photographs I was interested in were available. He said that he would be near my hotel that night and he could deliver the prints himself. Unfortunately, I had dinner plans. I missed him. But he left the photographs with the concierge.

These are the two photographs I bought from Matt Albiani, framed and displayed on our TV shelf in our master bedroom.

For more images, visit: http://www.mattalbiani.com/