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Vice Blog

NEW YORK - AMERICAN STANDARD IS A SINK COMPANY AND A SHOW

I moved to New York two months ago and started interning for this photojournalist. I was his intern for about five hours, during which I helped him install a shelf and he bought me a juice to show his gratitude. Then he helped get me a job interning at Vice probably because I drink too much juice and it would start to add up. Anyways, I was reminding him to come to the Vice Photo Issue Exhibition at Spencer Brownstone and he told me about another photo show that's opening tonight for Christian Hansen and Peter Van Agtmael, two guys who traveled around the country together twice in a figure eight taking photos at places like the Idapalooza Fruit Jam Queer Music Festival, Mardi Gras, and Detroit.

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He said the guys were cool so when these two dudes drove up in their minivan around 9 PM in Red Hook, I got in because I am a trusting person and I had seen a picture of Christian being sprayed in the eyes with Mace when covering an anarchist rally during DNC in Denver and he looked like a sensitive and kind person. We drove to some bar, met a random guy named Doug who said he didn't want to be a part of the interview, just give the guys subliminal messages that might influence them. After the bar we went to a deli to get 40s and Peter wanted a turkey sandwich. Someone had put a big sticker that said "DO NOT FALL IN LOVE" on the counter in front of the deli meat. We asked the guy behind the counter, who was probably 18, if he had put it there. He told us that no one should fall in love, that every man, "with all due respect," cheats on his girlfriend, and that he was looking for a wife immediately because it was time for him to stop paying rent. I gave them the new Photo Issue as a way of showing my gratitude, and they thought it was hilarious. "Terry Richardson with his black doppelganger? That's hilarious." Yes, it is.

Tell me about the name of the show, American Standard.

Christian: We were trying to think of what to call it, and he lives in this old apartment with old toilets and stuff. My girlfriend walked into the bathroom to wash her hands or something and saw that the brand that made the sink was American Standard. So then, that's what we called it. It's named after a sink. The motto, "The new standard for living," is the toilet company's model.

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Peter: That's pretty funny.

Christian: Funny for us. Some of your photos, for both of you actually, I just don't understand the circumstances you possibly could have been in to take that photo.

Christian: I never take pictures of naked people unless I'm also naked, as a rule. Does it stop being voyeuristic if you're also nude?

Yeah, I think. At least it feels that way.

Peter: We like to be a part of things when we're taking the pictures. It's something we get into naturally and just take pictures of it.

So you were naked when you took this. Where was it?

Christian: Everyone in this picture is covered in clay. After our [first] road trip around the country, I was in Washington Square Park—I came back to New York for one night—and I ran into my friend's band busking in the park and I went with them on tour. They played a show at this all-gay commune in Tennessee called Ida. They have a festival every year called Idapalooza. There is this epic, huge waterfall—it's like seven stories tall. So we'd take this long hike to the waterfall and everyone was just covered in clay, basking in the sun. I was covered in clay, and my camera is still covered in clay from that.

Peter: Great picture out of it, that's for damn sure.

Christian: They knew I was taking their photo.

And what about this one?

Peter: I took this one. Weeki Watchee is this fresh water spring in Florida. I guess about 55 years ago this dude decided it'd be a great attraction to have the prettiest local girls dress in mermaid costumes and perform shows in this lagoon. This show was a tribute to America and at the end they played "I'm Proud to be an American." It's a really popular song but you never hear it in New York. It's all senior citizens in the crowd and they played this song and a flag rose out of the depths with these two women holding it up while the other two did somersaults in the water. Why were you here?

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Christian: I got obsessed with it one night and kept watching YouTube videos of it. I just couldn't get it out of my mind and I had to see it so we went to Florida.

Peter: We were with a medic I know from Iraq and we went there after going to Jesusland.

Christian: It's just this Jesusland. You don't need to know about it.

Peter: Bibleland? We didn't go in. We tried to get in for free on our press passes but they weren't feeling it.

Tell me about this, too.

Christian: Peter is the master of the art of shooting out of a car window.

Peter: I got that shit down to a science now. It's the purest form of photography because you as a photographer don't corrupt the scene. Were you going for a certain aesthetic with this series?

Christian: I haven't figured that one out yet.

Peter: They're supposed to be mysterious. We're not preachers. Have you ever thought about being a preacher?

Christian: Yeah!

Peter: No. I'm thinking about becoming a nun.

Christian: I want to be a friar one day. It's not a bad thing to retire as.

I love those robes. Where do you want to live eventually?

Peter: Planet Earth.

Christian: Kentucky. They have a really good monastery there. It's where Thomas Merton ended his days.

Speaking of vaguely religious dreams, who is this dude?

Christian: It's Jesus. Who do you think?

Peter: Even Jesus takes the Metro.

Christian: Kids were throwing rocks at him. He was getting stoned. I made this joke, that guy he sinned first!

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Peter: Those guys were assholes.

This one makes me feel weird.

Peter and Christian: Snake man!

Peter: He is this schizophrenic guy who lives in Slab City.

So you went on two road trips. Was the second one better?

Peter: It was different. It was longer, five weeks or so. We went to Louisville, Kentucky first, where [Christian] is from, to the Derby. What was that like?

Christian: It was decadent and depraved.

Peter: The derby is weird because it crystallized all of these parts of America. Everyone assumes their societal place; it puts everything about America in stark relief. As a journalist you can pass through all those worlds pretty seamlessly.

EMILY DIAMOND