Fairytales 1991–1999 is New York-based artist Dietmar Busse’s first institutional exhibition in the US. The photographic essay laid out at 315 Maujer relays the explorative journeys the artist conducted shortly after arriving from Spain and traveling—predominantly by bike—from Brighton Beach via the Chelsea piers and Bryant Park to the Upper East Side and Harlem. En route from one place to another, on the street, at fashion shoots, or in domestic settings, Dietmar shot his Polaroids on the fly and in duplicate, leaving one copy with the portrayed figures and the other in his pocket. Produced during the 1990s and presented here for the first time, the photographs include idiosyncratic portraits of Amy Wesson, Kara Walker, Pedro Almodóvar, Philip Johnson, Rossy de Palma, Susan Cianciolo, Steve McQueen, Ultra Naté, and many others. Quiet, intimate, and emotional, Fairytales 1991–1999 captures the atmosphere of a bygone New York era.

Image: Dietmar Busse, Lady walking her dogs in Central Park, 1996.

Dietmar Busse is an artist based in New York. His work has appeared in magazines such as Elle, Frank, It, Harper’s Bazaar, Out, Paper, Surface, Trace, Visionaire, Vogue, and the New York Times. He has developed campaigns for Matsuda and documented runway shows for Bernadette Corporation, among many others. Recent exhibitions include the solo show Garden at Fierman (2023) and Labor of Love at Rachel Uffner Gallery (2023), both in New York.