Boxing Cute An interview with Ushio and Noriko Shinohara in Elephant #19, Summer 2014.
I pitched and planned this feature. In the summer of 2013, I was working at a gallery in Chelsea in New York. A few months before, I had seen Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer at Art Basel, which was followed by an interview with the director and the documentary’s stars, Ushio and Noriko. I was struck by the couple’s tumultuous but symbiotic relationship and how that translated into both their practices.
When I went to New York, I was determined to meet the artists, who I knew lived in New York. I knew from Heinzerling’s film that their story was a compelling one, and so decided to pitch the idea of an interview feature with the Shinoharas to Elephant magazine. As a long-time reader of Elephant, I knew that their Encounters section, where writers reflect on their experiences talking to artists in their studios, would be a good fit for my story idea. The editors accepted my pitch, the first of what has eventually become a long-term collaboration, and I began my mission of tracking down the Shinoharas.
The Shinoharas were relatively unknown before the Cutie and the Boxer became a hit in the film festival circuit. They did not have gallery representation in New York or a functioning website. After many dogged attempts to get their contact details from various sources, I finally managed to call Noriko with the help of a small Japanese gallery that had previously featured their work in a group exhibition.
I eventually set the interview up, arranged a portrait shoot with the photographer and sourced images to accompany the piece.
Read more about the issue here.