CONTENTS THOMAS DEVAUX
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SIOBHAN BRADSHAW
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MITCHELL HARTMAN
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ROBERT HUTINSKI
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LARRY VOGEL
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TINA QUATRONI
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KATHLEEN HAY
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Purging Purgatory Three Ways to Free Yourself from the No-Man’s Land of Creative Blocks
BACKSTAGE CHRIS KOVACS Editor
Publisher: Chris Kovacs, Floze Press Online: adorenoir.com
SANDRA DJAK KOVACS Editor at Large
Email: chriskovacs@adorenoir.com
TIM ANDERSON Editor at Large
Adore Noir Magazine 1202 West Pender Street PO Box 17514 Vancouver, BC V6E 2S8
LESLIE HILTS Editor at Large KATHLEEN HAY Contributor
Adore Noir online magazine is published bimonthly. All images are © copyright of their respective artists and may not be copied or distributed. All rights reserved.
ISSN 1925-5160
Editor’s Notes We choose not to include image titles with the works presented. Our cover image from Thomas Devaux’s ATTRITION series speaks to me. Mother and Child is how I see it. But you may see it differently along with the rest of his images that come up from nowhere to grab you with their many arms. The woman is a muse to many a photographer. Mitchell Hartman explores how we see the world, woman and all, his series Fragmented cubes the world asking us to question how we see it. A lot like the Rubik’s Cube mentioned as a remedy for artist’s block in Kathleen Hay’s essay Purging Purgatory. Larry Vogel explores the fine lines of religion with his Mask series. He also says that this series “became an unsuccessful attempt to find
answers to the unanswered truths.” He goes on to underline that asking the question is what is most important. Siobhan Bradshaw explores the abstract world of the mannequin in her series After Midnight and finds that her series has become “so much more romantic with all sorts of ambiguity.” And finally Tina Quatroni shares her garden with us. So... Dim the lights, go to your favourite place, sit back, relax and enjoy. Sandra Djak Kovacs
Photograph by Robert Hutinski
ON THE COVER
THOMAS DEVAUX
FEATURED
THOMAS DEVAUX
"My construction of the body is at times unusual. The hands, the arms and legs are too large, but this is not a preoccupation. I do not try to reproduce something real." 7
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Interview with Thomas Devaux
AN: Please introduce yourself. Where do you live?
AN: When and how did you get into photography?
TD: My name is Thomas Devaux. I'm 32 years old and have worked and lived in Paris from childhood. I am a French photographer and have worked in the fashion industry for the past six years. During this time, I have been exploring and developing my own personal universe and showing my work in galleries and in contemporary art houses. I have also won several important awards for my photographic work. For me, fashion is the pretext through which I explore the question of humanity. My work is not so much about women as much as it is about the body which breaks down over time. I love giving beauty to models that is far darker than that portrayed in magazines.
TD: When I was about five years old my father put my first camera into my hands and taught me the basics. He used to develop his photos with his own materials. He loaned me his camera and encouraged me to put my passion into my work. I started doing my own photo developing when I was a teenager but stopped for a while before starting again several years ago which has led me to the work that I do today. I've always enjoyed doing creative things. It is an essential part of who I am. AN: Tell us about the ATTRITION series and what inspired you to produce this body of work?
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TD: The works in the ATTRITION series were selected according to their composition and their figurative will. This is a double articulation between what is borrowed and that which is a reinterpretation on one hand, and an axe in art history, on the other hand. Thanks to the expanded possibilities of digital techniques of which I have become very experienced, ATTRITION shows an affluence of forms and materials such as an organic proliferation of hair, body parts, etc. The portrait becomes a division of a face created by itself or vanishes in it's own contour. My construction of the body is at times unusual, the hands, the arms and legs are too large, but this is not a preoccupation, I do not try to reproduce something real. I also love to give a more emotional dimension to the body. I can therefore create the impression of a body in fulmination or
in deconstruction. It all hangs upon a very harmonious manner thanks to a balance that is more organic than metaphorical. AN: How do you capture and process your images? TD: When people see my work, even when it's not just photographic, they have a hard time understanding my creative process. Throughout the years I have created different techniques that allow me to obtain strange images on the fringes of photography. It is really a direct shot, but one that is like a re-composition for the future. I’m creating an image bank made primarily from photos taken backstage and shot only with a Canon 5D Mark, a cobra flash and a small softbox. In my image bank I have faces, bodies
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hands, hair, clothes, etc. Next, I do what I normally did in my collages several years ago. I assemble mixes to obtain forms, faces, personalities and situations that I find interesting. In the end, and as a result of my process, I obtain very large files which are the equivalent of 150 million pixels! I print my photos on Fine Arche Museum paper, which reinforces the texture of my images thus giving them a heliographic aspect. AN: Tell us about your connection with David Lynch, I heard he is quite a fan of your work. TD: In fact I was invited to show my work a year ago in a place that David Lynch created in Paris.
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I know that he liked my work, but I did not have the honor to speak directly with him. AN: What or who are your influences? TD: In this series, one can find hints of influence from Joel-Peter Witkin, Sarah Moon, Aziz+Cucher and even the painting of Michel Ange, J茅r么me Bosch or Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Generally speaking, I work in an unconscious manner, I just work on things like ambiance until the moment where I achieve an image that I like. My inspirations come from all aspects of art including painting, cinema and photography, but it is not limited exclusively to that.
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AN: Do you have any current projects on the go?
aspects of the body.
TD: I have several ideas that I would like to work on, however, at the moment, I think that it is more important that I continue to work on and enlarge my ATTRITION series. I would like to create scenes with a lot of characters who are also very complex. I'd like to do them in large photographic sizes as well.
I work on man's pride, his over bearing power over nature. I sanctify my subjects and transform them into icons that I break with subtle details, sweeping away vanities all at once. In the end, it is really just about organic matter that will disappear one day or another, and in one way or another. For me, fashion is the pretext through which I explore the question of humanity. ♼
AN: What is your final say? TD: I am always attracted to learning more about mankind which is somewhere between grace and harshness, and between the sacred and the profane.
See more at: thomasdevaux.com
In this series we enter into an aesthetic that is very dark, not only because of the singular use of black and white, but also because of the game played in the organic and immaterial spiritual
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