In her exhibition Contrived Spontaneity at Galerie Andres Thalmann Paris, New York-based photographer Jessica Craig-Martin offers a glimpse into a world that remains hidden from most. She focuses a laser eye on high society, with its exclusive parties, fashion and glamorous excess.
Her photographs convey the feeling of being part of the scene itself. As an event photographer for publications such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue, she moves with her camera through the world’s most financially lubricated events, documenting the rich and famous. Yet she is less interested in celebrities than in capturing fleeting, often unconventional moments: a gesture, a pose, a chance encounter or an unexpected situation.
When enlisted by fashion magazines to recreate the feeling of these “caught moments” for their editorials, she stages scenarios in which her models can be free to simulate louche spontaneity. Craig-Martin moves among the actors with little direction, giving them free rein to interpret the cues offered by the set, the music - and of course - champagne. We can see the same concise, critical eye at work.
Contrived Spontaneity presents works by the artist that have been published in editorials for ELLE France, Paper Magazine, W Magazine and L’Officiel, among others.
Jessica Craig-Martin’s work is held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as numerous public and private collections. Her solo shows include MoMA PS1, New York and El Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. Her monograph, Privilege, is available for sale on inquiry.
Her memoir and first written book, I Regret I Am Able to Attend, will be published by Random Penguin House on November 10th, 2026.
