Born April 30, 1965 in Rhode Island, the photographer attributes his eclectic and subversive style to his fascination with Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon whose work he followed closely while he studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. After his graduation in 1985 he decided to focus on photography, his first assignment being for Dior cosmetics: “I thought I was a bad painter, and I needed to make some cash”, he has said. However, his love for photography had already begun at the age of 10, when he built a dark room in his parents’ basement and started to take photos of a sixth grade girl who introduced him to fashion and became his muse. Almost all the high-end Fashion houses have hired the New York based photographer for their campaigns but his work in magazines is what really made him famous: Brad Pitt in 1999 as his role in The Fight Club for W magazine, the famous photo shoot for the same title featuring the actor together with Angelina Jolie as a retro married couple in 2005, David Beckham for Arena Homme Plus in 2000 are just a few of his printed stories that have made him one of today’s most influential people in fashion. He has also dabbled in video making for fashion campaigns and music clips.

His lyrical work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, from the Gagosian Gallery in California to the Brancolini Grimaldi Gallery in Florence. In 2002 the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland exhibited a retrospective of his work up to that point. In 2003, Soho’s Deitch Projects in New York City debuted X-STaTCI PRO=CeSS, a collection of photos that Klein collaborated on with Madonna, who later used those images on her Re-Invention tour.