JAY MYSELF A film by Stephen Wilkes Before you can see, you have to look.

WORLD PREMIERE SCREENING, DOC NYC November 11th, 4:30pm Reception at The Bank, 190 6:30 - 8:00pm PRESS SCREENING: FRI. NOV. 2, 12:00 PM, IFC Center, 323 6th Ave. at W 3rd St.

Producers Contact: Emma Tammi [email protected] 646-209-4951 Bette Wilkes [email protected] 203-984-1572

Sales Contact: Jessica Lacy and Oliver Wheeler, ICM [email protected] 310-550-4316 [email protected] 310-550-4175

Short Synopsis

Jay Myself is a documentary feature about renowned photographer and arst, Jay Maisel, who, in February 2015 aer 48 years, begrudgingly sold his home; the 35,000 square‐foot, 100‐year‐old landmark building in Manhaan known simply as “The Bank.” The film documents Jay’s monumental move through the eyes of filmmaker and Jay’s protege, noted arst and photographer Stephen Wilkes. It is through this inmate lens that the viewer is taken on a remarkable journey through Jay’s life as an arst, mentor and man; a man grappling with me, life, change, and the end of an era in .

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Long Synopsis

Jay Myself is a documentary feature about renowned photographer and arst, Jay Maisel, who, in February 2015 aer 48 years, begrudgingly sold his home; the 30,000 square‐foot, 100‐year‐old landmark building in Manhaan known simply as “The Bank.” The film documents Jay’s monumental move through the eyes of filmmaker and Jay’s former associate, arst and photographer, Stephen Wilkes. It is through this inmate lens that the viewer is taken on an exquisite journey through Jay’s life as an arst, mentor and man; a man grappling with me, life, change, and the end of an era in New York City.

Jay Maisel purchased the 1898 Germania Bank Building in 1967 for $102,000. For 48 years, he lived in the building with his wife and daughter, using it as not only as his studio and home, but also as his personal museum of extraordinary things. A collector of anything and everything in which he found beauty, each floor of the building represented a cross secon of his mind; for the bank was more than just Jay’s home – it was his muse, and he never, ever dreamed he’d have to leave.

Enter photographer Stephen Wilkes, the only filmmaker Jay would allow into his universe for the most significant transion of his life. At 19 years old, Stephen rang the bell at 190 Bowery, and dropped off his porolio. The next day, Jay brought him upstairs, past the studio Roy Lichtenstein was renng, and hired him ‐ becoming Stephen’s lifelong mentor and friend. The year was 1979 – an incredible me in the New York City neighborhood, the Bowery – CBGB’s was thriving, Jean‐Michel Basquiat was wring “Samo” and Keith Haring was drawing “Barking Dog” in chalk on an old dilapidated bank building on Spring St. and the Bowery. “The Bank,” as it would soon come to be called, appeared abandoned for almost 40 years – it’s windows boarded up, its walls covered in graffi. But the rare few, lucky enough to venture inside, discovered a thriving arst paradise, home to the eccentric, barrel‐chested, cigar‐smoking photographer and arst, Jay Maisel.

In 2015, due to the high costs of taxes and maintenance, Jay was forced to sell the bank, for a staggering $55 million dollars, making it the single largest real‐estate sale in the history of New York City. Upon learning of the historic sale and Jay’s massive imminent move, Stephen knew he had to document it. And miraculously ‐ Jay let him in with a camera crew. Captured through an inmate lens of deep personal love and respect, Stephen takes viewers on a journey to the Wizard of Oz of the Downtown Art Scene – an up close and personal look at the man behind the curtain and the mysque of “The Bank” he lived in.

The film explores the true meaning of wealth in a me of excess, the joys and complexies of a mentor/mentee relaonship, and the journey of a man grappling with the onset of me and change. With unprecedented access to Jay, “The Bank” and everything in between, Jay Myself captures a moment in New York City history that we will never see again.

2 Director’s Statement

My life’s passion for photography was discovered at a young age. During my last year of high school I came across the iconic Time/Life books on photography, and it was through a volume entled “Color” that I first saw the work of Jay Maisel. I remember flipping through the pages and every me I stopped on an image that struck me, the photographer’s credit remained the same, “Photograph by Jay Maisel.”

Jay’s pictures spoke to me. I knew that I wanted to be this master photographer’s apprence. In my junior year of college I mustered up the courage to call Mr. Maisel’s studio to ask if he would look at my work. Jay answered the phone (a rare occurrence), and he agreed to look at my porolio. He asked me to leave a piece of paper in the porolio so he could give me his comments. I went to his studio the next day, 190 Bowery, the old Bank of Germain building. The paper in my porolio read, “TERRIFIC!, very wide range, I almost stole a few and there are some I don’t even understand yet. Please keep working and leave me your phone number.... Jay.” I interned for him that summer, spending every day in “The Bank,” as it came to be known. So began a mentorship that became a 38‐year friendship.

The building was Jay’s muse. Every floor represented a cross secon of his mind. There were 6 floors, 5000 sq. each of space for Jay to create in. It had a room just for his cardboard collecon. It housed thousands of dye transfer prints, every issue of Fortune magazine ever printed, and a room filled with a collecon of porcelain hands from a rubber glove factory. For a me, Roy Lichtenstein rented a floor. Every major NY graffi arst in the history of the medium tagged that building – including Basquiat and Keith Haring. Jay has lived without bounds in the busiest city in the world, ensconced in 30,000 square feet of creavity.

As years passed, and our friendship deepened, I told him that if he ever moved, I would have to document it. I never thought that day would happen. In 2014 due to severe financial pressures, Jay reluctantly decided to sell the building. He did so without a broker, and at the me it was the single largest private real estate sale in NYC history. Jay had purchased the bank for $102,000 in 1967 and sold it for 55 million dollars. I began shoong prior to the move with unfeered access, capturing the magic of the building as it was, as well as the remarkable, oen sad and poignant emptying of this legendary space.

This film is about Jay the arst, Jay the man, Jay the mentor, and Jay the unwing real estate mogul. It’s also about the building and what it represents to him, to me, and to New York City. The loss of the Bank mirrors the loss of creavity and diversity in NY, and beyond to all of America’s major cies – the unrelenng voracity of gentrificaon. Jay’s life as an arst, his unique way of seeing the world, his fascinaon with beauty, his childlike enthusiasm permeated the Bank – as it permeates this film. It is this quality that has inspired me throughout my career, and inspired the decision to make this documentary. We see his struggle with me and the loss of his home, which almost leads to a loss of his identy, but just when we begin to feel he has lost hope, he instead reinvents himself – finding new purpose at the age of 84. ‐ S tephen Wilkes, director

3 About

Stephen Wilkes Since opening his studio in New York City in 1983, photographer Stephen Wilkes has built an unprecedented body of work and a reputaon as one of America’s most iconic photographers, widely recognized for his fine art, editorial and commercial work.

His photographs are included in the collecons of the George Eastman Museum, James A. Michener Art Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Dow Jones Collecon, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundaon, Jewish Museum of NY, Library of Congress, Snite Museum of Art, The Historic New Orleans Collecon, Museum of the City of New York, 9/11 Memorial Museum and numerous private collecons. His editorial work has appeared in, and on the covers of, leading publicaons such as Magazine, Vanity Fair, Time, Fortune, Naonal Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and many others.

In 1998, a one‐day assignment to the south side of Ellis Island led to a 5‐year photographic study of the island’s long abandoned medical wards where immigrants were detained before they could enter America. Through his photographs and video, Wilkes helped secure $6 million toward the restoraon of the south side of the island. A monograph based on the work, Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom, was published in 2006 and was named one of TIME magazine’s 5 Best Photography Books of the Year. The work was also featured on NPR and CBS Sunday Morning.

Day to Night, Wilkes’ most defining project, began in 2009. These epic cityscapes and landscapes, portrayed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours capture fleeng moments of humanity as light passes in front of his lens over the course of full day. Blending these images into a single photograph takes months to complete. Day to Night will be published by TASCHEN as a monograph in 2019.

Wilkes directorial debut, the documentary film, Jay Myself, will premiere at DOC NYC in November of 2018. The film is an in depth look into the world of photographer Jay Maisel and his move out of his 35,000 sq. foot building at 190 Bowery.

Wilkes, who lives and maintains his studio in Westport, CT, is represented by Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York; Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles; Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe; Holden Luntz Gallery, Palm Beach; ArtledContemporary in The Netherlands and ProjectB Gallery in Milan.

4 Jay Maisel Jay Maisel studied Graphic Design with Leon Friend at Abraham Lincoln High School. He then studied painng with Joseph Hirsch, and aended . He received his BFA at Yale where he studied Color with .

Maisel began his career in photography in 1954. While his porolio includes the likes of Marilyn Monroe and , he is perhaps best known for capturing the light, color, and gesture found in everyday life.

Some of his commercial accomplishments include five Sports Illustrated swimsuit covers, the first two covers of New York Magazine, the cover of Miles Davis’ (the best‐selling jazz album of all me), twelve years of adversing with United Technologies, and awards from such organizaons as ICP, ASMP, ADC, PPA, and Cooper Union.

Since he stopped taking on commercial work in 1995, Jay has connued to focus on his personal work. He has developed a reputaon as a giving and inspiring teacher as a result of extensive lecturing and photography workshops throughout the country. He also hosted workshops at his residence at the 190 Bowery in New York City, from 2008‐2014, instrucng approximately, 640 students over eight years. He connues to sell prints, which can be found in private, corporate, and museum collecons.

Mindhive Films Mind Hive Films (Producers) ‐ Filmmakers Emma Tammi and Henry Jacobson have been producing documentary feature films for over 10 years, and created Mind Hive Films in 2013 to expand into narrave features and TV. Their documentary work ‐ much of which focuses on internaonal social jusce issues ‐ includes El econ Day: Lens Across America ( directed by Jacobson and Tammi for Blumhouse / EPIX), A Snake Gives Birth to a Snake ( Winner of the SBIFF Social Jusce Award 2015), Fambul Tok ( Official Selecon SXSW, distributed on EPIX), and F air Chase ( Amazon Prime).

Mind Hive premiered two feature films in 2018: T he Wind ( directed by Tammi and co‐produced by Soapbox Films and Divide/Conquer) was acquired by IFC Midnight following its debut at the Toronto Internaonal Film Fesval and will be released theatrically in 2019. B loodline ( directed by Jacobson and co‐produced by Blumhouse) premiered at Fantasc Fest.

5 Credits

Director: Stephen Wilkes

Writer: Josh Alexander

Producers: Henry Jacobson, Emma Tammi, Bee Wilkes

Execuve Producers: Stephen Wilkes, Jennie Wilkes, Michael Hirschmann

Cinematographer: Jason Greene

Editor: Armando Croda

Supervising Editor / EP: Douglas Blush

Addional Editor: Daniel Haworth

Composer: Joel Goodman

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