Interviews

Candice Solomon in Conversation with Steven Lyon: Artist of Light, Shadow, Cinema, and Human Truth
Candice Solomon: Steven, darling, your life reads like a film already. Los Angeles, Paris, New York,
fashion, cinema, the African bush, Warhol, rhinos, shadows, beauty, danger. Let us begin at the
beginning. Who is Steven Lyon?
Steven Lyon: I’m a photographer, filmmaker, writer, and visual artist. I was born in Los Angeles, but my life
and work have moved through many worlds: fashion, cinema, fine art, documentary, activism. I’ve never
really seen those things as separate. For me, they are all connected by image, emotion, and storytelling.
Candice: Yes, yes. Not merely a photographer. A life lived through the lens, but also through instinct.
You first entered the international scene in the 1980s, discovered by Andy Warhol for Interview
magazine. What was that moment like?
Steven: It was extraordinary. Warhol had a way of seeing people before they fully understood themselves.
Being discovered by him opened a door into a world that was glamorous, strange, fast, and very visual. I
became known as a male model in the 1980s and 1990s, working in Paris, Milan, New York, and Tokyo. But
even then, I was observing. I was studying photographers, directors, light, character, psychology.