Story
"My experience of him is that he’s one of the most exciting people to photograph. He gives everything to the shoot and what was brilliant about him is that he’s also like a stand-up comedian, so he’s making these jokes, like Ricky Gervais jokes.
He’s definitely one of the best. He was topless during part of this shoot and I said, ‘Your body’s so great, have you been working out?’ And he said, ‘mild starvation’. He’s just brilliantly funny.”
- Rankin, Should You Photograph Your Heroes?, GQ, 2019
An A-list star and repeated sitter for Rankin, Robert Downey Jr. is photographed here during his meteoric rise back to fame in Marvel's Iron Man. Comissioned by Entertainment Weekly, these images accompanied their article naming Robert Downey Jr. their "No.1 Entertainer of the Year".
“People say you should never meet your idols because they’ll disappoint you, but RDJ was the exception to the rule. He is a fantastic entertainer, willing to take risks, and an incredibly cool guy”
- Rankin, No.1 Entertainer of the Year, Entertainment Weekly, 2008
Details
Film Strip: Robert Downey Jr.
From "No.1 Entertainer of the Year"
Entertainment Weekly, 2008
C-Type Lambda
16x20 Inches
Edition of 15
Comes with signed Certificate of Authenticity
Rankin
As a photographer Rankin's portfolio ranges from portraiture to documentary. He has shot The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner and The Queen to name only a few.
He is best known for work that is on the cultural cusp and leading future trends: producing rule-breaking campaigns for brands such as Rolls Royce, Unilever, L’Oreal and Samsonite; creating wide reaching projects for charities including Women’s Aid and Macmillan; and shooting music videos for the likes of Miley Cyrus, Rita Ora and Kelis.
As a publisher, Rankin co-founded the seminal magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1991, and has since published the likes of AnOther and AnOther Man, alongside over 40 books and the biannual fashion and culture print and digital platform, Hunger.
His photography has been published everywhere from his own publications to Elle, Vogue, Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone, and Wonderland, and exhibited in galleries globally, including MoMA, New York, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Rankin lives in London with his wife Tuuli and their dogs.
Printed by Metro
A C-type is a photographic print that has been exposed using digital technology, rather than traditional analogue techniques. Digital C-types are created by exposing the paper using lasers or LEDs rather than a bulb, like in a darkroom. All our C-type prints are produced on laser printers, giving optimum results for your images for colour accuracy, light fastness and archival quality.
Our C-type printing is done with Metro Imaging. Metro is the one of Europe’s leading professional photographic labs for art printing, film processing, retouching, mounting, framing and exhibition services - and they have been home of Rankin's artwork printing for over 20 years.
Metro have almost 40 years in the photographic industry, this pro-lab is run by a workforce of multi-disciplined and skilled professionals so that the level of expertise is second to none.