New portrait book ‘Art of Discovery’ examines celebrity inspiration

The new book “The Art of Discovery” pairs celebrity portraits with quotes about moments that inspired them as people and artists.

The book is by Wire Image co-founder Jeff Vespa. It was designed by Nancy Rouemy, a former art director at the New York Times Magazine, who helped to art-direct most of the shoots.

Vespa said he photographed more than 100 celebrities in his home studio in Los Feliz, and Rouemy chimed in via computer from New York.

“It felt a little bit like the movie ‘Her,’” Vespa joked.

The Times’ published a few of those photos Sunday in advance of the book’s release and has built a gallery of additional images.

Though he has taken thousands of celebrity portraits, Vespa never thought he would have his own coffee-table book -- at least not yet. But then Robin Bronk, chief executive of the Creative Coalition, a nonprofit arts advocacy group founded by Ron Silver, came calling and Rizzoli signed on as a publisher.

Once Vespa decided to ask his subjects about moments of great discovery in their lives, he was on a roll.

He found out all sorts of things about his subjects, who had become his friends and allies after years of serving as the official photographer for the Sundance and Toronto International film festivals.

Elijah Wood started DJing when he was 19 as an act of self expression. Jessica Biel is in the process of rediscovering classic literature like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Tender Is the Night” and Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita.” One of Ben Foster’s primary inspirations is Mel Blanc and his many voices.

The talks that Vespa had after each photo shoot were as exciting to him as the shoots themselves.

“It was like making a movie,” he recalls of the intensity of his three-month schedule. “We would do two or three in a day. This changed everything for me as an artist. I learned so much from the process.”

It isn’t easy to become chummy with celebrities on the Hollywood red carpet circuit, but over the years Vespa said he succeeded at doing just that.

“I photograph inside events, so I’m generally the first person anybody sees when they walk in the door,” Vespa says. “And it takes a long time for people in Hollywood to accept you, but once they do it’s kind of a thing and they expect you to always be there.”

Familiarity with his subjects allowed him to capture each person’s personality, he said. Many of his subjects brought their own props or wardrobe.

David Arquette brought his own butterfly confetti and wore a dapper suit. He surprised Vespa by suddenly throwing the confetti in the air.

“It was just amazing, these butterflies are all around him and it’s just a beautiful shot,” says Vespa, adding, “David is a very creative person. He doesn’t do anything halfway.”

In another shot, Vespa gave Seth Rogen two large magnifying glasses, which Rogen immediately held up to his face to great comic effect.

“I couldn’t shoot because I couldn’t stop laughing,” Vespa says. “There was something so odd about what he was doing and how perfect it was at the same time.”

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