RUELL RULES

We heart Aaron Ruell. We heart his short films. We heart his commercials. And now, we heart his photography.

The Biscuit director is currently exhibiting his photography at Frame Four in Los Angeles. The show, which opened last Friday, includes work shot between 2004 and 2007, and is from his sensibly-named collection Some Photos.

Fans of Ruell's work will recognise the nostalgic aesthetic and deadpan humour of his films. But for Ruell, photography represents a chance to escape the restrictions of the commercial world.

"In my ad work, I'm limited in what I'm able to achieve. There's a client and an agency that each have their input in the end result. And because of that, the shape of each ad project typically changes from when it began. But my photography doesn't have to be cleared by anyone. My approach to it is much more personal and less stressful. I do it for myself rather than to push a product. And yes, there is definitely a similarity between the aesthetics of the two, I think that's inevitable. It's also in part because I'll recycle my backgrounds from commercials and use them for my photography," he explains.

Much of Ruell's photography is crisp, clean and intentionally contrived. Thanks to careful planning, casting and staging, his portraits simmer with restrained quirkiness. Even his more spontaneous work is calmly composed. "My work is shot in two ways. The first is my portrait style, which is typically shot on sets that are built. The models are usually cast, or they are friends or acquaintances of mine, and they are mostly always styled. So this style is very thought out and contrived.

"The second way I shoot is my still-life style, which is the antithesis of what I just described. They are usually found locations, naturally lit and sometimes slightly propped and void of models," he says.

The key to his portraits lies in the inspired casting. From an aged prom queen to a transgender cheerleader, and a chubby ginger pig-hugging child to mistrustful blonde twins, the citizens of Ruell's carefully contrived world exude a Stepford-esque eeriness. "Sometimes I'll see a face that I really want to photograph, so I'll start to build a setting around that face that feels right - something that captures what the narrative of that face says to me," he explains. "Other times I'll have a setting that needs a face to go with it, so it also works backwards. But the beauty of directing spots is that I'm exposed to so many interesting faces, and also given opportunities to build these sets that allow me to shoot what I do in my still work."

Frame Four is a photography project from Biscuit head of creative Gary Naccarato. The exhibition, which includes work by Babbette Hines and Marcy Robinson as well as Ruell, is the first show to come from Frame Four. The show at Eastside Studios runs until the end of December. For more information, go to the Frame Four website.