“C, 2012,” from Introspection, depicts a mostly black-and-white triptych of a nude woman turning towards the camera over her left shoulder with her eyes covered either by a splotch or a cross across each of the images. Each image is treated differently by the artist; the right-most image is a negative.

Frank W. Ockenfels III, referred professionally as Frank Ockenfels 3, is perhaps most acclaimed for his iconic, moody portraits of celebrities like David Bowie, Angelina Jolie, David Lynch, and Kurt Cobain, to name a few. Beyond this, even still, Ockenfels’ work feels dangerous. In manipulating and distressing his photographs with, for example, flashing beams of light, scissors, ink, and charcoal, the artist achieves a vitality, tactility and movement in his work that pushes the idea of what a photograph is or can be. Never static, his work is characteristically phantasmic, raw, and always a bit askew with a dark elegance, glamour, and intimacy that beckons the viewer’s want for more.

The most extensive exhibition of work ever shown by Ockenfels, Introspection is a retrospective of the artist’s decades-long career that premiered at Fotografiska Stockholm in 2021. It spans media from photographs and paintings to personal collaged journals, skateboards, newspapers, and scrap-metal. Ockenfels’ photographs have been published in the world’s most prominent magazines, used in advertising campaigns for large international companies, served as album covers for famous musicians, as well as promotional work for television shows and films including Breaking Bad, American Horror Story, Mad Men, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Fifty Shades of Grey, and Nightmare Alley.

Size: 19.69”W x 27.56”H (50x70 cm)

Printed on 180g FSC-certified paper