The Outrageous Vanity of Mr Craig Anderson

Chapter 1, In which the uncommonly flexible craig anderson sits before the camera, surveying the women, curling and uncurling his bandy legs, tying a turban…

All photos by Richard Freeman

As the editor of the magazine sits in a vinyl chair of the imitation Eames sort (aluminium group circa 1958) he looks out into the photographic studio. There is a great deal of waiting, because this is a photo shoot, and also smoking, dancing, fiddling, eating and drinking and bucks ogling the women (but not Craig! Too reflective!).

This is the fifth in Stab’s series of hard-cover books. You may have an episode of humour when you hear that we don’t do this book to profit, even though your twenty dollars does help some. The book is a legacy project, an attempt, maybe pointless, to build something that stays on shelves more than the projected three-month life of a regular issue. Something you might want to keep in the line of sight of pals and gals you want to impress.

The editor wonders aloud if this will be the last of the one-metre squared books. Because, how long can money be thrown at projects as outrageously vain as this? The advertising gravy train ended four years ago and it was the generous lubrication of the monthly Stab by these market forces that allowed us to produce a book that costs $30 to make yet wholesales for under 10 slices.

A pug that has been included in the shoot eats a piece of gingerbread man the editor has brought in his brief case. Pugs are the buffoons of the canine kingdom and the way their human faces hack and snort will lighten anyone’s feeling of melancholy, including existential woes. Such simple, unyielding creatures.

If this is the last book, well, is there a better farewell than with the reflective words and images of Craig Anderson? The theme for the shoot was Waris Ahluwalia, the Punjabi actor who starred in Wes Anderson films, The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

The editor asked Craig to stop shaving for the two months he was on the road, in Indonesia (surfing) and Los Angeles (love making), so we could replicate with some authenticity Mr Ahluwalia’s look.

Craig laughed and said, “That could be an issue as it’s impossible for me to grow a beard, like, seriously impossible…”

But, he would try.

And, a turban? “I look like a little boy with no hair,” he said.

Craig knows India. He surfed there for his new movie, produced by Dane Reynolds. The waves, he says, well, he just lets out a cool whistle. Yeah, that good.

The general impression the editor gets of Craig Anderson is that he is relatively sober, contemplative, but with a streak of mirth, and has a charitable frame of mind.

In his interview inside the book, he talks about fame, which is kinda strange for Craig ‘cause he’s tended to travel in the shade of someone else’s popularity (Jordy, Dane, Julian, for instance), about South Africa – where he was born – about travelling in the heart of Australia (“I didn’t wear shoes the whole time I was away. You feel so connected to the Earth”) and, yeah, India (“You think on a grander scale there,” he says).

We threw a coupla gals in the mix, too.

Now, get ready to receive Mr Craig Anderson. – Derek Rielly.

Full Interview and gallery coming soon. Otherwise, y’can buy the Stab Summer Book digitally, here.