This part of Month of Photography Los Angeles — saddled with the decidedly dowdy acronym MOP LA — involves shutterbugs Markus Klinko and Indrani exhibiting their photographs in a cycle devoted to all things graven and craven: “Icons,” all about celebrity and what it means to you and your hard-won entertainment dollars. The artistic partners and former lovers have shot record covers for David Bowie, Kelis and Beyonce, as well as slightly more glamorous shots of Kate Winslet, Lindsay Lohan and Anne Hathaway, all on display as they're viewed at tonight's installation, frame by frame. Looking a gift horse in the mouth — cosmologically speaking — Indrani asks, somewhat blithely, “What makes these individuals so beloved? What do they represent for each of us, what roles have we assigned them to play, that they inspire such passions in us?” Klinko, a champion harpist (!), and Indian model Indrani can be seen in the recently renewed Bravo series Double Exposure — also the name of their studio, in the interest of maximum possible synergy — in which the gentle viewer watches the dynamic duo sail gaily through fashion both high and low in the pursuit of the fleeting image, bringing to mind Richard Avedon's words: “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” Proceeds to benefit Keep a Child Alive, a charity focusing on pediatric HIV treatment in emerging African nations — but then, you knew it wasn't all just about glamour and two-dimensionality, didn't you?

Tue., April 21, 7 p.m., 2009

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