The day Spike Jonze met Björk was in the summer of 1995 at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, days before he was to shoot her music video for “It’s Oh So Quiet.”
Jonze had been asked to photograph Björk for the now defunct Detour magazine. The result was a series of images of Björk posing throughout the hotel, in the halls, rooms, bathrooms — in a tub — and outside, even jumping in the pool. It’s hard to imagine having such free reins at the hotel today.
“People forget that the Chateau used to be actually this interesting rundown hotel, just a bunch of apartments,” said Humberto Leon.
“What I enjoy the most in these photos is you see the relationship between him and her,” he went on. “They’ve just met, but you see what he was able to get her to do, you see her participation in the photos. And you just see the joy in him just capturing this gorgeous moment. And you see the fun that the two of them have. Even though he’s not in any of the photos, I feel like you really see his presence behind the lens, because she’s staring at him the whole time.”
Leon, the fashion designer and creative director, came across outtakes from the shoot as he was helping Jonze, a longtime friend and collaborator, organize his archives as part of a project they were working on together for Opening Ceremony.
“About 12 years ago I asked him to do a collection based on his archives,” Leon explained. He ended up using two photographs from the Chateau shoot with Björk for the line, but never forgot the rest of the shots. “I remembered these photos so vividly.”
And so, when Leon decided to curate his inaugural exhibit inside Arroz & Fun — his café in Lincoln Heights, where he was born — he returned to them. On Thursday night in L.A. he unveiled the show, “The Day I Met Björk” (in partnership with WeTransfer), alongside Jonze, who wasn’t doing interviews, to his family and friends. Guests included Kim Gordon, Barbie Ferreira, Gregg Araki, Rivers Cuomo, Soo Joo Park, Edison Chen, Arianne Phillips, Shirley Kurata, Carol Lim, Chella Man, Atiba Jefferson, Soko The Cat, Alana O’Herlihy, Phillip Picardi, Leo Reilly and Andrew Thomas Huang.
“I basically want to use the space to show kind of hidden treasures that almost would never have the light of day,” Leon said. “There’s no pretension here. I’m not really even calling it a gallery, because I feel like there’s so many things that are attached to that. Honestly, we’re just trying to show some fun stuff and for everyone to enjoy.”
Leon is partnering with Las Fotos Project — a nonprofit with a mission of empowering teenage girls “and gender-expansive youth” through photography — to mentor.
“They work with kids from underprivileged communities showing them a form of art,” Leon said. “I’m going to teach them how to print photos the old school way.”
Among his creative endeavors, what he enjoys most is bringing people together, Leon said. “It’s the reason we went into food,” he added. Arroz & Fun, which has been open for about a year, came after Chifa, his celebrated Chinese and Peruvian restaurant. “And I realized that’s what I did at Opening Ceremony. It was always about bringing different communities and walks of life and generations all in the same room.”
