Things have reached a pretty pass when it's no longer enough that we send photographers as emissaries to peer through the keyholes of celebrity's homes. Now, it seems, we must see through the keyholes of the photographers' homes as well. But like it or not, the show now on at Yvon Lambert New York is one of the most inspired of the city's summer exhibitions.
It slices through the London home of celebrity photographer Mario Testino to show the paintings, sculptures and photographs he lives with.
It's as if his living quarters have been borrowed: the long, high-ceilinged wall of a domestic interior jackknifes through the gallery space. On it hangs an eclectic selection of recent contemporary art, and on a strip of parquet flooring before it are low tables with lamps and piles of coffee-table books. The lamps are lit, ashtrays await cigarettes and newspapers are discarded on the tables.
Exhibitions drawing on private collections aren't usually so sensitive to the privacy of those collections, and this makes Testino's At Home a surprising display. Just how much it represents 'home' is debatable - his schedule brings him to London for only about three months a year.
The pictures present a tumult of emotion and colour, and yet Testino appears to prefer restrained furnishings, with clean geometry, dark wood and classic design.
Now in his early 50s, he has been collecting art for more than a decade. Testino says the freedom of visual artists feeds his work, and that this selection is only a small proportion of his acquisitions.