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CONTRIBUTORS FOUNDER / EDITOR IN CHIEF María Ciurana ART DIRECTOR María Ciurana EDITORIAL DIRECTOR LONDON Sylwia Grzegórzko CONTENT CREATORS / WRITERS Sylwia Grzegórzko Ricardo González Miguel Suárez Carla Bayo Prince Jedet María Ciurana Marta Wozniak Mira Cirera GRAPHIC DESIGNER María Ciurana TRANSLATORS Sylwia Grzegórzko Carla Bayo ILLUSTRATORS Prince Jedet Laura Agustí SPECIAL THANKS Debbie Haddon-Cave Copyright is reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited. Croco Magazine uses all materials with permission from owners. 2015 CROCO MAGAZINE
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PHOTOGRAPHER
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Hector Pozuelo
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PHOTOGRAPHER
Gema Polanco
STAFF
Jedet Sánchez
Carla Bayo
Mira Cirera
María Ciurana
Prince Jedet (Jedet Sánchez) is a wild child who studies acting at one of the best actors studios in Madrid. His passions are writing and acting. He has always had the need to create things, such as collages, drawings and stories. Jedet dreams to become a great film director in the future. You can find his work at his blog The Valium Prince.
Talkative, very talkative. Restless communicator. She likes to undertake as much as risk and that’s the reason why she is here. Finding out about interesting topics related to art, music and fashion, is her thing. Also writing and translating them into English so everyone can read us. For her any movement that leads to a change is fascinating enough to publish here.
A Spanish journalist and singer who enjoys writing about London’s cultural and musical life. Blond and white, no one knows where her obsession with Afro-American root sounds comes from, but that’s what she mainly sings and catches her attention. Always in seek of the most exact word and, as a proper reviewer, having always an opinion to state.
Mery Ciu, as everyone knows, is a photographer, designer and music passionate. She is a freak of online magazines who loves losing her time exploring new trends. Beside of that she is a Yogi. Founder of Croco Magazine, guilty to fool everyone to contribute within her dream. Art is her life.
Marta Wozniak
Adrián Martinez
Miguel Suárez
Sylwia Grzegórzko
Graduating from performing arts and philosophy Marta successfully gained a position at Onet.pl, one of the biggest media companies in Poland. She worked there as a freelance journalist specialising in philosophy and religion before travelling to Mexico. On returning to Europe she moved to London to pursue her passion for the film industry. She loves wine, coffee and cigarettes.
Adrian, from Barcelona, is a musicology student and lover of alternative eighties. In Croco Magazine, music critic, trying to bring into our world the essence of gigs and news about all new and upcoming bands.
Graduated in Audiovisual Communication at the University of Navarre. In recent years, he’s worked as a journalist in mass media and has focused in the audiovisual production. In fact, his short-films have received several awards and have been projected in national and international festivals. In addition, Miguel has published essays, as well as short stories beside other authors. He and Cynthia Rico are the directors of the festival called Horror Online Art. Moreover, Miguel writes about cinema in Croco Magazine.
Sylwia Grzegorzko - Croco’s Content Creator. Trying to embrace everything from music, cinema, art and photography. Outside of Croco, photographer. After many years living in Poland and Spain, currently she is based in London, with which she is totally in love. In meantime she is persuading her childhood dream about being a game developer, devoting each free moment playing the newest game releases.
Miri Esteban
Ricardo González
Arturo de Lucas
Jasdeep Shallon
Miri is a fashion stylist and Tumblr queen. Miri is from Spain, Valencia to be exact. Sometimes she likes to believe that she is a Bollywood princess from Candy land. In this first issue of Croco Miri tells us about fashion, weird models and also about new music talents.
Ricardo González is a venezuelan filmmaker and TV producer based in Barcelona. Have been artist-in-residence in Tokyo, where he shot his documentary ‘Art’ (Official Selection Artes.Docs 2014). His last shortfilm, ‘Disconnected’ is in Festival de Cannes - Short Film Corner 2015, Sundance Channel Poland Top 10 Short Films 2015 and currently nominated to Vimeo Audience Awards 2015.
Arturo has always been a culture lover, but his great passion is music. Although he graduated in Journalism and collaborates with his writing in many websites and maganzines since 2009, he has made photography his way of life. Arturo contributes with us as a photographer in musical events.
Jasdeep Shallon, a student of war studies - interested in international politics, music, style, writing about various things - loves to travel - loves food. Jasdeep is dreaming about becoming a fashion editor one day, for now she’s writing for Croco.
Nahuel Puggioni
Alfie Lambert
Kelsey Smith
Nahuel Puggioni (1990). Born in Argentina, currently lives in Valencia, Spain. Nahuel is a young photographer and a highly creative, self-taught person. It makes him able to develop many creative tasks related with editing, filming and writing. Thanks to his personal experience, he is full of many influences in music, especially within alternative Spanish and English Rock. He contributes to Croco as a gig and event photographer.
Alfie is a music and lifestyle journalist with a passion for street music. As a regular performer at venues around the UK and Europe, he stays on top of both the scenes and the music from his base in a North London warehouse.
Kelsey is from North Carolina in the United States and a true Southerner at heart. She fell in love with the Spanish language at a young age and pursued it throughout her college career. A trained teacher, Kelsey has always had a passion for the arts: music, film, fashion, anything that has a creative edge. Kelsey translates pieces from Spanish to English and edits English works as well to be shared with all.
Andrei Warren Artist who starts from new media and focus on them. He sees space and time as a future perspective for installations and video. Andrei Tries to project it in everything he publishes for Croco. “Though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they do not go gentle into that good night”.
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Hi! Welcome to issue 3! What better time than the beginning of August to share our third release. At this time of the year, it is time to strike a balance, recover from the winter, prepare to disconnect from work and above all enjoy what the summer has in-store for us.
Leonardo Da Vinci had as many incredible inventions as useless, but surely if he had any fear of a failure or shame, some of his genius wouldn’t had seen the light. It’s known that the realisation of a bad job can be the starting point for a great contribution to come.
We continue to grow and expand our croco species. There are many artists who have passed already through this swamp and we are very happy to continue taking in more talents.
We want to open the borders and let the creativity flow. Change of study, work, country, lifestyle; passion is capable of anything. And we are brave!
What better place to begin the journey than a motel in Los Angeles. We have artists from around the world that bring us their crazy lives, enjoy good concerts, strolling freely, visiting places of pleasure and also areas full of prejudices, destroying to create, intimating and talking in an ambiguous environment, flying to imaginary worlds and We are all influenced in our lives; by recycling the old to create the new. our past, our relationships, our places, our travels... What makes the creative In fin, I remember one beautiful Leoprocess something much more interes- nardo’s quote; “Beauty perishes in life, ting and above all - unpredictable. but is immortal in art.” I recently talked with a good friend, who dreams of producing a movie, and he made me reflect on the concept of “creation”, whose official meaning is producing something from nothing. But is it possible to create something from scratch? I think not.
CONTENTS Photo Eleonora Agostini 12 - 19 Gema Polanco 20 - 27 Daniel Santalla 28 - 31 Ferran Rausell 32 - 37 Sergio Pontillo 38 - 45 Music Asaf Avidan 46 - 47 Glastonbury in 35 mm 48 - 55 Arizona baby 56 - 59 B.B. King 60 - 65 Fashion Isidro Est谩rico 66 - 73 Tori Ber 74 - 81 Hector Pozuelo 82 - 93 Sophie Ruane 94 - 111 Psycho Prince Jedet 112 - 115 Fine art Alex Gross 116 - 127 Brian Donnelly 128 - 131 Graphic J. Carlos Paz G贸mez 132 - 139 Cinema Kurt Cobain 140 - 141 Film recomendations 142 - 143
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Eleonora Agostini Eleonora Agostini, born in 1991, is an Italian photographer now based in London. She studied Photography at the Istituto Europeo di Design and thanks to a scholarship, at the School of Visual Arts in New York. After the studies Eleonora moved to the U.S. She spent the first months in LA, and then moved back to New York, where she worked as an assistant. In the last 3 years her work has focused on investigating a specific human condition of temporariness and transition, in which everything is uncertain, temporary and unstable.
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This body of work investigates the idea of temporary nature and transition, through the banality and the anonymity of empty hotel rooms, dingy and ordinary exteriors, and portraits in places that Agostini likes to call “temporary houses�. The hotel rooms are mostly recently left by the guests, in a place between past and future, with traces of a gone moment soon to be erased, just like those who have spent the night there. The portraits are handled in the same way as the empty rooms. It does not matter who those people are, they are used to express one specific condition: everythingflows undaunted, the man can not be exempt from the nature of change.
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“Something is missing” is a set of feelings that have accompanied the artist for eight months away from home. As she walked down the street, seduced by melancholy hotels in Hollywood, she was fascinated by the idea of “ wandering,” a concept very present in the American culture.
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GEma Polanco
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The series is part of her everyday photo diary. This project started immediately when she arrived to London due to her passion and obsession in exploring the idea she had of the big city and trying to find her place in it or at least discovering something close to that romantic, perhaps even fictitious idea that made her escape from her hometown, Valencia. This series is from the beginning of 2014 until the present of underground bars and gigs in London.
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Gema Polanco is Spanish born photographer who left her home in Valencia at the age of 18 to complete a BA(Hons) in Photography at the London College of Communication (University of the Arts London) under the teaching of artists such as Escher Teichmann and Tom Hunter. Gema currently works and lives in London.
by Carla Bayo
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At a young age, Gema had an interest in collage and photography that persists to this day. Her practices predominantly explore the disappearance of the darkroom, and as a consequence, the loss of materiality in photography. Gema cites her Spanish background as being an important influence and is strongly reflected in her work, particularly due to the economic recession and its horrible impact on her country. Polanco’s work demonstrates her fascination for self-portraiture, drawn by the inner desire to discover; to see herself as a photograph, and to develop the tangible distance between herself and the individual in the photograph. Her work makes subtle suggestions, that for an artist, the camera is more than a mirror with a memory. Instead, it is a transformer, it metamorphoses the subject (she) into another her; asking more questions: who is she?
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and Anormal magazine and in art festivals such as Mostra Viva (Valencia, Spain). Gema uses this concept as a tool to influence the viewer into questioning themselves, ultimately as a way to get to know themselves better. Who is the viewer, and then again, the subject (her) looking out from the photograph into the eyes of the viewer?
Her inspiration mainly comes from surrealist artists such as Man Ray, Luis Buñuel, Frida Kahlo in between many. She also admires artist such as Francesca Woodman, Ana Mendieta, Nan Goldin, Alberto GarciaAlix and Carmen Calvo.
“I don’t want to take just band photos, what catches my attention is people. I can’t take good photos or even shoot if what I have in front me, even though it sounds good, it does not seem visually interesting and authentic.” Spanish poetry is a big influence in her work as she has always collaborated either by adding video or photography to spanish contemporary poems or vice versa. Her works has been shown in various publications such as Canibaal art magazine
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“Many of the people in my photographs are now a part of my life since I soon realised it was a very small family who fights for the authentic garage, psychedelic and progressive rock in a city where dubstep, R & B, house and pop music are the mainstream genre.�
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“Everything you see is real. The bands that are live, are authentic and pure, as I like to say very ‘old school’. So if you pass through London I wouldn’t hesitate to go to places like The Hawley Arms or the Black Heart in my beloved Camden or to a party inspired by the sixties known as “Cherry Cola” at The Macbeth in the more alternative/hipster neighbourhood of the city, known as Shoreditch.”
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daniel santalla
Daniel Santalla, 26 years old Spanish, self-taught photographer. He is living in Ferrol (A CoruĂąa), place where the landscape full of beaches and grey scales are of an enviable nature. He started in the photography world by accident. About two years ago strolling with his partner and dog, Daniel realised that taking pictures will be able to capture his feelings. Gradually this hobby has grown into passion.
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Peacefulness, naturalness and simplicity are the three basic pillars to consider in his work, always with a surrounding bucolic halo of atmosphere created in each image. After a couple exhibitions in major galleries in his hometown, Santalla is becoming known outside the country through various online magazines and blogs that are emerging in the network. Human beings and their relationship with nature is paramount in this photographic series . Mixing beaches, mountains and humans and thus showing the naturalness and simplicity that gives us the landscape in relation to man . Nudes devoid of eroticism, but full of emotion.
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FERRAN RAUSELL Ferran Rausell Piquer is Valencian photographer who gave up studying fashion design to graduate in nursing studies. Interested in photography from an early age because of his father. Ferran had several solo and group exhibitions. His work focuses on the toughest reality, captured on film camera with as much joy and liveliness possible.
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NamastĂŠ series is divided into three parts showing prostitution from different points of view. The work can be denoted as an apology to the profession, but it is nothing more than the simple aesthetic taste of the artist, from the local working women, to the business moguls running it all.
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Sergio pontillo Born in Polla, living in Naples (Italy) from 23 years ago. Sergio has been skateboarding for 11 years and started thanks to Tony Hawk’s videogame on Playstation. He loves travelling, streets, sun, cinema, being with family and friends and his hometown. Pontillo is documenting whatever life puts around him, using everything he can.
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Pablo Marín García
Adrian Maloberti
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Pietro BontĂ
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Alfredo D’Amico Pietro Bontà Max Calviati
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Asaf avidan Asaf Avidan is the ultimate voice on Earth‌ well, in Israel, at least. Actually, he is not exactly a breakthrough artist (he recorded three albums with his band The Mojos and released his debut solo album in 2012). But, admittedly he is so indie that for most of us his breakthrough is... right now!
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We met him one year ago, when he came to Spain with his first solo tour: Back to Basics (Basics standing for soul, jazz and blues). A show so revolutionary, that he was immediately invited to play another gig in Barcelona this summer to present his sophomore album ‘Gold Shadow’ (2015). Avidan is an absolute genius: he is the only presence on stage, a real one man orchestra, a real entertainer; but nothing is as powerful as his voice. Avidan, as his lyrics, is all pure love, no war (he didn’t like to talk about politics); up art, down money (he refused to sell his last album at big record stores, favouring alternative shops). Avidan is a like a real diva. Amy Winehouse’s spirit trapped in a masculine body. This soul diva voice is the distinctive seal of Avidan, making him such a privilege to listen to. He seems to be the authentic heritor of those black goddesses. Just listen to ‘My Tunnels are long and dark these days’, ‘The Jail that sets you free’ and ‘Ode to my Thalamus’; as a matter of fact, he confess listening to Nina Simone, constantly. But he is a man, white and jew - and the result is a stunning album, raw and gritty mix of soul, blues, folk and pop-rock. ‘Gold Shadow’ is a masterpiece, an LP, that deserves to be in Top 10 of 2015 (if not #1). All because of the perfect triad: his voice, music and lyrics/production. Find a glass of wine and take your time, because this album is not for an easy listening. We are talking about an artist that deserves all your attention. At least for one hour and this is almost impossible to find these times of hot singles and viral videos.
“I’m like a surgeon, who manages to dissect himself with every song, and sometimes I need a softer tool, and then another more poignant” Photos by Dudy Hasson
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glastonbury in 35 mm A lot has been said about this years Glastonbury festival, from Kanye West proclaiming him self the greatest rock star of all time, Florence Welsh being all gorgeous and jumpy in the Dalai Lama’s presence, who looked to be in great shape for his 85th birthday. We will definitely come back next year but for now Croco and our two photographers Natalie Efinger and Edmund Fraser would like to present to you our last take on this epic festival. Have a look see through the lenses of 35 mm cameras, as if it were 70’s again - apart from the difference in the economic climate, nothing about this festival really changes, and we mean that in the best way.
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Natalie Efinger
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Edmund Fraser
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arizona baby They define them long-lived and potent, the impact of their music has been rising like the heat in August and their powerful live shows are the ultimate key. They are Arizona Baby; the band that rose up in 2003, continue with the same force they displayed 12 years ago.
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When Javier, Ruben and Guillermo get on stage they already have the crowds surrendering. ‘Secret Fires’ is the latest and third album published by Valladolid’s artists and we were all looking forward to hearing their latest songs. When rock sounds and indie start running through our veins, the poetic power of their song ‘Real Lies’ which gets us immersed, making us to experience that classic American vibe. The sound, the clothes, the class they have and empathy make the perfect combo for the public to enjoy and feel like they are a part of their melodies. They feel good playing and the feelings are mutual. In songs like ‘It helps if you sing’ we notice their musical evolution. We spoke with Javier, singer and guitarist. He tells us how personal this album was for the three of them, with which they feel they want to consolidate the sound and seek absolute ecstasy. Happy with the deepest evolution and achieved success which brought new air to their music, risks have been the key tasks of this album. Arizona Baby’s identity captivates a diverse audience, ranging from the youngest to the most faithful veterans, who have followed this group from European cities to America. New York, Chicago and the festival South by Southwest in Austin were chosen sites in the northern part of the United States in 2014. Unstoppable, insatiable, we are happy to fly their banner from Croco and will continuing to enjoy their music.
by Boris Ponton
b.b. King B.B. King (Blues Boy King), very deservedly dubbed ‘The King of the Blues’ , sadly left us at 89 years old the last 14th of May. The massive discography that the US culture icon left, entails an immense legacy that has potently influenced even the popular music of the 21th century . Lucille, his guitar, (named after two men who died while fighting over a woman named Lucille, due to a fire caused by a kerosene heating system during a performance), has been left singing.
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A life from poverty to stardom
Translation
Sylwia Grzegórzko
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He suffered from diabetes during the last two decades of his life. In recent times, he had to play sitting during his concerts and even had to cancel a tour last October because of dehydration and problems derived from his sickness. However, his death has been involved in controversial rumours. The official version is that he peacefully died in bed of natural causes, but his daughters accused his two closest collaborators, his manager and personal assistant, of poisoning their father. It seems like the scandal has been silenced by both the Las Vegas police and the preliminary autopsy, which don’t support the heirs version of the circumstances. Born in 1925, he grew up in a cotton plantation of Mississippi, where the birthplace of the most pure blues is located. Life there was incredibly hard in those times and, by then, King still was a poor labourer. Due to the poverty of his mother, he had to live with his grandmother
1950, with Sarah Vaughan and Louis Armstrong (Photo by Joseph Schwartz)
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and he was orphaned at only 9 years old. After his grandmother’s death at 14, he lived alone with no idea of his father’s life, trying to earn his keep by collecting cotton or working as a tractor driver. Before moving to Indianola, he used to devotedly sing the Lord’s praise at the church, where he started playing the guitar. It was there where the passion that was going to make him a distinguished artist started to grow. A passion that many people, artists and audience, are able to understand just by the sound of one single note played by him, enough to figure out it was BB King. He is considered one of the best guitarists of all times, one of the three masters and kings of the blues guitar together with Albert and Freddie King. In his case, his most distinguished achievement was how he was capable of converting rural roots into an electrifying city sound. He developed a very recognisable manner, a proper personality as bluesman, with a soft-fingered playing style, a steely sound which he continually worked on. The most impressive thing about B.B. is what Carlos Santana calls ‘SOCC’, what means “the sound of collective consciousness”.
B.B. King’s tour bus
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All of it poured through him, from his attitude on the stage, to how he expressed his soul with facial expressions.
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However, he had as well his own idols, among who he recognised have been influenced by Elmore James, Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt, Blind Lemon and T¬Bone Walker specially. In the 50’s his success became absolute as a rhythm and blues reference and with several best positions at the Billboard chart. On his second visit to Memphis, he was invited to be part of the KWEM radio show and then in WDIA. His first recording was ‘3 O’Clock Blues’, thanks to Sam Philips, the founder of Sun Records (Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash). But ‘The Thrill is gone’ was the song that brought him a massive commercial audience, giving him access to the pop charts, possibly because of its famous strings arrangement. That was a novelty in the blues, so it involved a change in the industry, “the best idea that I’ve ever had in all my career” says Bill Szymczyk, the producer. He was the blues, he had that kind of emotion
inside of him and he meant to build a bridge with his art all the way to Europe and show a quality of playing that still shocking for many white european blues men. Ringo Starr, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and many more became aware of blues and how a guitar could be played thanks to BB King. They all admired him, and he was thrilled that a big white audience wished to listen to him.
“A man who started his life in the hardest poverty, finally being recognised as one of the best guitarists of the 20th century” About 70 years of musical history and a whole life dedicated to music, “living on the road” and performing two or three hundred times per year. BB King was a man who started his life in extreme poverty for finally being recognised as one of the most influential guitarists of the XX century, winning nothing less than 15 Grammys along his professional career and being assigned as part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He played with a lot of the best artists of the second half of the century, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Frank Sinatra, U2, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison and many others.
Jeff Beck, Albert Collins, BB king, Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy at Apollo Theather, NYC, 1993
But not only that, he was also admired as a person. According to George Benson, he was “one of the most beloved artists on the planet” because “he cared about people, he loved people”. He had an amazing charisma and a legacy to commend. A museum was builded to his honor in Indianola, The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, in the memory of the biggest blues ambassador, that receive thousands of visits every year.
‘Fine and Mellow’, one of the most relevant performances in the history of jazz with Lester Young in 1956.
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NARCISO
isidro estárico Isidro Estarico, menswear designer born in the Canary Islands. Isidro was raised in Fuerteventura, and after finishing his artistic education he decided to move to Valencia to study fashion design. In these years he began his interest in menswear. Isidro is considering where to establish bases, where the main objective is the reinvention of garments for men, through his personal vision and the changes that he perceives in society. In 2015 he graduated from the EASD Valencia and began his journey presenting the first capsule collection, Narciso. Styling: Isidro Estárico Photography: María Ciurana Model: Jose Davo - Carmen Duran MGMT Mua & Hair: Estela Romero
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The man is in a process of change. The men’s studies and various trends in masculinities reveal the lack of a singular male profile. Estarico is a fashion brand for men who are more in tune with their emotions and feelings. Taking away the importance of a gender and giving freedom to a person. There is an equilibrium between the masculine and the feminine which translates into ambiguity. Narciso is a collection that presents an old story with a new message.
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Tori Ber is 21 years old fashion photographer based in London. Graduated of BA degree in the University of Hertfordshire in photography. Standing out from the crowd with her different approach to street style photography, portraying the way a person holds themselves instead of trying to just show the garments, treating it more as a reportage. We ask Tori few questions about fashion and photography.
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talents Where are you from? I am from Vilnius, Lithuania
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How did you start with photography? It all started with and an old film Fed3 camera I found at home and completely fell in love with, since then photography was always a big part of my life.
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Is fashion important to you? Definitely, being passionate about fashion photography, interest in fashion itself is a necessity.
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What do you think makes London special for fashion? London is truly unique, it’s diverse and very inspiring, never boring and worth falling in love with again and again.
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I wouldn’t say so, I would like to consider myself as fashion editorial and portrait photographer, however street style is something I very much enjoy doing.
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Do you identify yourself as a street style photographer?
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Poison Ivy
Hector Pozuelo HĂŠctor Pozuelo, cartoon lover, photographer and avid explorer of cosmos. He spends half his life in the Carmencita Film Lab photo laboratory along with a bunch of misfits, among lots of film yet to be developed and the floating voice of Eduardo Punset. Nowadays he mainly turns his analogue gaze towards beautiful women, which he photographs with elegant simplicity, mostly for money. Styling: Miri Esteban Photography: Hector Pozuelo Model: Cristal Castle
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Quay sunglasses, Stussy Shirt Eva Angel swimsuit, Adidas snakers
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Bikini Eva Angel Short Cheap Monday
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Top Obey, Lacoste Live short, Vans sneakers
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Top Obey, Cheap Monday short, Nike Internationalist Premium
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Adidas dress, Eva Angel bikini, Nike Internationalist Premium Sneakers
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Eva Angel swimsuit, Adidas sneakers
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SQUATTERS
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sophie ruane Sophie Ruane, 21 years old fashion designer from Birmingham. She studied Fashion Design at Kingston University, interned in Cape Town and has also worked with a london based tailor Joshua Kane. She will soon start her MA in Womenswear at Central Saint Martin. Her particular and raw photography project realised in the warehouses of Manor House is the fruit of collaboration between herself, Kyle O’Donell and Harry Fletcher. The idea about “Squatters” came out in Amsterdam, when the designer saw the artist studios situated in warehouses next to the river. Ruane took photos on a film camera and found the “Black Dog” illustration, she recreated the image by applying it onto fabric and playing around with the shapes. “The term “Black Dog” is associated with depression, yet the oversized illustration created through my initial drape work, empowers a sense of playfulness and creativity, forming a sort of wearable artwork.” The designer describes her collection as unisex with a pronounced concept of self expression and freedom, with no intention to categorise it to a specific gender. Styling: Sophie Ruane Photography: Sophie Ruane, Kyle O’Donell and Harry Fletcher Models: Kelly Randall, Kris Mattsson & Finn Livingstone
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“It is a very relaxed vibe there (in Manor House Warehouses), which I tried to translate through my designs. This is why a lot of the stuff is oversized and easy to wear. One of my pieces look like a pyjama set in silk fabric, and my friend painted a duvet, which the model wore around him in the show. �
Ruane says.
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Sophie tried mixing contrasting fabrics in the collection, for a kind of raw meets luxury style. The Black Dog piece is made from silk and canvas. The designer liked the idea of re-using something that was simply going to waste. This is kind of what it’s like in Manor House community.
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Text by Prince Jedet
ANDY’S HOLIDAYS Andy hates holidays. He thinks holidays screw everything up. He has never told me about it but I know because... well, we were sharing his bed after we had sex and he fell asleep. As you know I’ve always had problems with insomnia and he was snoring really loud, as loud as pig with the flu. So, without any bad intention I rummaged his things, just to kill the time… and I found some kind of diary in black leather. I thought that maybe if I read a little bit I would fall asleep. I decided to open the diary by the last page. I do the same with books, this way I’m able to know what’s going to happen at the end of the story and I don’t get disturbed while I’m reading the rest of the novel asking myself how will it end. “People always de-cide to take a break from me, like I am a job instead of a calling.” At the right corner of the page, next to the date, Andy reminded himself with a note, written with a black pen, that this was the seventeenth attempt to come back to writing his diary. After noticing that detail, I’ve an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, I went back to my reading: “Someone who really loves you, takes you as a calling not as a job.” I can remember every single word... Don’t look at me like that! I know it’s not right to read the diary of the guy you are having sex with, but I needed some clue about him. He was without a doubt the most mysterious person I’ve ever known and what I found in his diary was really interesting. So I kept reading while I listened to his disgusting snores. “Maybe some people think that they can handle me and then they realise that they can’t. And maybe that’s why they decide to take a break of my exhausting personality. Maybe they need to regain strength, I don’t blame them, I just agonise. I agonise during their break, during their holidays from me. I would never take a break from someone I love, being with that someone, for me means being on a holidays.”” I had to stop. What if he was talking about me? I didn’t wanted to be that “someone” he wrote. He was just my sex mate and being totally frank with you, I’ve to admit that I got really scared because his words felt like a knife in my chest. So I dressed up and I left. He didn’t wake up, I’ve always been jealous of his deep sleep. On the next day he called me and asked why I left. So I ga-ve him a cheap excuse and told him that I’d call him later but I never did. I suppose I wanted to take a break from Andy before he would need to take a break from me. I prefer to leave before being left and I didn’t like him enough so I wouldn’t let him to leave me and hurt my esteem. I’m not a selfish pig! I swear! I’m just a little coward... And I didn’t want him to depend that much on me, I didn’t love him as he needed... You know what? Sometimes I miss him. I suppose I liked him a little. Well, maybe I liked him a lot.
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Text and collage by Prince Jedet
Image by Antonio Cascos Chamizo
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Alexey Kondakov
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X: I’ve got a lot of questions... Do you think you’ll stay together forever?
you meet him? Are you a jealous person? Have you ever checked his phone?
DAVID: Yes.
DAVID: Yes, I’ve checked his phone.
X: How old is he?
X: And... Did you find anything?
DAVID: 29.
DAVID: No.
X: Did you already meet his parents?
X: Did you tell him about it?
DAVID: Yes.
DAVID: Yes, a few months later.
X: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
X: And didn’t he get angry? Sometimes I get scared about the fact that maybe my boyfriend could be cheating on me. I would probably die if that happened and then someone would have to phone my mum and ask her to prepare my funeral and all that stuff.
DAVID: Two brothers. X: Are you more into cats or dogs? DAVID: Cats. X: Cats? Really? Our friendship won’t last long then. I’ve got a theory about people who like cats. In my opinion, if you’re into cats, it means that you are an unloving, cold and surly person. I’m just like a dog, I need love all the time and that’s why I don’t get along with people who prefer cats.
DAVID: So what if he cheated on you? You wouldn’t lose anything. He would be the one who’d lose. X: What would he lose? I don’t get it...
DAVID: Cool.
DAVID: He would lose YOU! If the person you love cheats on you then you have to be strong enough to love yourself and break up with him. Do you know what I mean?
X: Where does your boyfriend work? How did
X: Mmmm...
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alex gross Alex Gross works in Los Angeles, California, where he lives with his wife and son. In 1990, he received a BFA with honours from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Since then, he has had eight solo exhibitions at various galleries, and participated in dozens of museum and gallery exhibitions across the globe. In the summer of 2007, Alex’s first museum career survey was held at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, California. Alex’s eighth solo gallery exhibition, entitled “Future Tense” took place on October, 2014, at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, in New York City.
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Alex was a faculty member at Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, California, from 1994 until 2005, where he received two faculty grants. In 2000, he was the recipient of the prestigious Artists Fellowship from the Japan Foundation. He spent two months traveling throughout Japan and collecting vintage Japanese magazines, posters, photos, and more. In 2004, Taschen published Alex’s first book, Japanese Beauties, a compilation of Japanese Advertising imagery from 1900 until 1970.
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In 2006, Chronicle Books published Alex’s first monograph, The Art of Alex Gross. It contains 192 pages and over 90 images of Alex’s paintings, drawings and prints. Alex’s second fine art book, Discrepancies, was published by Gingko Press in the fall of 2010, and includes an introduction by former LA Weekly Art Critic Doug Harvey. Over 50 recent images are featured, including oil paintings, mixed media work, and sketches.
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Alex’s third fine art book is entitled Now and Then, the Cabinet Card Paintings of Alex Gross, and is published by Gingko Press. It was released in February of 2012, and features 98 mixed media paintings on antique cabinet card photographs. Future Tense, published in 2014, is Alex’s fourth and latest monograph, which covers paintings and mixed media work from 2010 through 2014. Also published by Gingko Press, it contains 96 pages, and 40 images, including multiple details.
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“My greatest influence today is the omnipresent advertisement, whether it be a billboard, an internet popup, the side of a bus, or a television commercial. The world in which we now live contains thousands more ads per month than the previous generation. It is impossible to escape, even briefly, from the branded, corporate domination of earth today. Every website we visit is plastered with ads. Sports arenas now bear the names of giant banks, airlines and other conglomerates. TV shows are brought to us by a cancerlike list of sponsors endlessly multiplying, and network news including infomercials for their own sitcoms. Front pages of major newspapers now feature advertising, something unheard of a decade ago. �
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“Rather than paint in a vacuum, I choose to face this reality. The idea of branding and commercialism play a large role in my painting. I sometimes incorporate logos and brand names into my work, much as a billboard would do, or an advertisement in a fashion magazine. This can be interpreted as protest, as mere observation, or as both. �
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“The other related theme for me is our collective inability to remain present in the moment. Most of us are unable to refrain from looking at our phones, ipads, and laptops several hundred times each day. Friends and lovers meet in public and look at their phones more than at each other, and we accept this as normal behaviour. The combination of these two themes provides the basis of most of my work over the last several years.�
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Brian donnelly Brian Donnelly’s portraiture deconstructs the dialogue between the audience and objects by experimenting with the fragile nature of artwork. Faces deteriorate, separate, and occasionally combust in his work, redefining it as transitional, rather than perpetual. Donnelly was born in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1979. He holds a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, where he currently lives and works.
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“The portraits I paint are contrary to the nature of portraiture; instead of preserving clear likenesses, the details of form are garbled into the incomplete or nondescript. Subjects are halved in a cathartic expulsion of the visual through varied means of erasing, editing, and occasionally outright destroying. The visual is presented as unstable; the focus shifting between the caliber of the painted subject, and the delicate nature of the painting as an object.” the artist tells Croco. Donnelly states that his approach has been to compromise finished work with a cocktail of solvents, turning delicately painted features into nondescript striae of colour retreating off the canvas. The requirement of the viewer to “fill in the blanks” between what is and what was has become a key component in the artist’s work. The identities of his sitters remain anonymous as they serve to represent a small piece of all people, and as the pieces of their faces are put together, a parallel is drawn between the fragility of the surface, and the ephemeral nature of ourselves.
“What I offer is a fading memory rather than a permanent effigy; a chance to consider the process of disintegration and its remains as an important component in the conversation of art and ourselves. Maintaining subject anonymity my work plays with the relationship with the audience, pressing them to redefine the visual in terms of its limitations. What arises is a kind of Cartesian paradox, in which the division between existence and in existence is skewed and blurred, where the work doesn’t become something until it has been compromised. As with Robert Rauschenberg’s “Erased de Kooning Drawing”, something of recognisable value has to be sacrificed to understand how this compromise works; much of this comes at the cost of deconstructing of the surface of my paintings. A great deal of visual information is lost in the process, forcing the viewer to mentally reconstruct absent or obscured areas for themselves to register the image.”
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JUAN CARLOS PAZ GÓMEZ
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From the imaginative mind of Madrid based illustrator Juan Carlos Paz (aka Bakea) comes an endearing world of very friendly freaks. Whether he’s illustrating, building or drawing, his works feature a familiar current: near cuddly creatures with no shortage of yellow, googly eyes. His surrealistic creations are in no way scary, his monsters are fun, ready to make you laugh and be your buddy.
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Interestingly, and this is unique, Bakea mixes in a healthy dose of retro/hipster cool into his strange monster filled world: horn rimmed glasses, mustaches and a healthy dose of film grain mix well with his subjects, only making them seem more familiar and agreeable. His work often remixes the real world, placing his characters in settings and situations which we could walk though ourselves. Not limiting himself to two dimensions, Bakea also creates some seriously cool trophy busts for the wall complete with (surprise!) multiple yellow eyes. One of his creations looks like some sort of sad, horned yeti, who looks a little shocked to be mounted on the wall. Currently working as a freelance illustrator, you can find out more about Bakea and his strange imaginary worlds on his Tumblr or connect with him though Linkedin.
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Sweet & Bitter Memories
I’ve listened to this band ages ago, and like many other little girls, I thought that I’m very much adult and so misunderstood by everyone else. Their music was like a cure to me. Time passed by and I kind of forgot about my youthful love towards Nir-vana, however I felt very excited before watching “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck”. My idol from the past was resurrected on the silver screen. I was curious about which side of the story Brett Morgen was about to share with me.
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At the beginning of the film we can see this sweet little boy waving his hand to the camera. Twenty years later the same boy will show his middle finger to the world. We all know the rest of the story. A spectacular rebellion of a not entirely happy man resulting in alienation and demise. Kurt Cobain joined the elite 27 Club, where premature deaths were an effect of drug and alcohol abuse or suicide. Fortunately Morgen showed, that Cobain’s life was not just a string of narcotic sessions. We’ve got the chance to get closer to Kurt’s thoughts and see what really sat in the heart of this rock introvert. This documentary is special, it’s not a typical biographical reconstruction. Morgen ignored the convention of “talking heads” and created a very original and thoughtful film concept. At first glance it might give the impression of sloppy collage, however it’s not chaotic at all. The director managed to source dozens of Kurt’s personal pictures, home videos, drawings, writings, quotes and confessions. Parts of the movie content are illustrated. The animated component of the film, set to Cobain’s audio recordings, was led by Hisko Hulsing and his crew of18 animators. They made thousands of drawings as well as some oil-painted backgrounds. A selection of Cobain’s own artwork also came to life in the film, thanks to Stefan Nadelman.
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Nowadays we are all used to public exhibitionism. Practically every musician, actor or any other celebrity makes an impression of being very accessible. They share their life and thoughts with fans, thanks to the internet. Back then, in 90’s, everything was different though and I’m lucky to remember it. Kurt loved creating music and no doubts he wanted to get to the top, however it seems he didn’t realise what being on top would mean and how the fame will change his life forever. “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not” he once said, and this quote reflects his attitude towards popularity. Nirvana fans grew up believing that there is no need for pretending, that everyone can simply express themselves, regardless of what’s fashionable or “commercial”. “Montage of heck” is an image that absorbs the viewer - it’s not pretentious, feels very honest and real, just like grunge. This film is extremely personal. When Nirvana becomes the most important rock band in the world, Morgen does not change his outlook. The director is exclusively talking about Cobain through his relationships with other people. The presence of Kurt’s family in particular, makes very valuable aspect of the movie. For the first time we can hear his mother, father, stepmother and sister speaking openly. Cobain’s relatives gave Morgen access to the home movies from their personal archives. We can watch Kurt as a small child as well as loving father and husband. Some pictures are very intimate - especially those ones with Courtney and Frances. The film shows Kurt doing drugs with Love but it also captures beautiful moments of witty, caring father, who breaks the stereotype of an egocentric rock star. The rest of the movie is focused around Cobain’s personal notes and drawings. “Montage of Heck” might remind romp videos, however Morgen very carefully selects the presented events, where much of it had a substantial influence on the Cobain’s personality. All images compiled together formed some kind of existential mosaic. Alienation, shyness, shame, humiliation, fear - inspired most of the Nirvana songs. Music however is not playing the main role in this movie. We can hear some of the most important songs in the background, but often these are just demo versions or recordings from various concerts. In an interview, Morgen admitted that he wanted “Montage of Heck” to be like “The Wall” by Alan Parker. As much as both pictures are different, there is a common link between them - they are spirited musical films. Morgan gave Kurt a chance to speak once again, several years after his death. I wonder what Cobain himself would think of such an opportunity. Would he be happy knowing that so many of his personal secrets became reviled? Maybe he would just say nevermind...
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Nightcrawler
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Lou Bloom is a jobless loner, who regularly steals and is despised even by those who buy stolen merchandise from him. Witnessing how a couple of reporters record a car accident changes his life. He realises that selling people’s tragedies and dignity to a blood thirsty audience is a very well paid endeavour.
Television has never been a medium that offers great knowledge to their viewers. But today, it has reached the highest levels of hogwash. In Nightcrawler information is only an excuse to feed the baser instincts of its audience. In that world Bloom is a dealer, who delivers a vast array of drugs in public demand. The programs from the idiot box have managed to sneak into the most important institutions of our country, much to the tabloids ecstasy. An important aspect of new political leaders is that they are no longer sedate thinkers, now they are pundits, screaming gossipers; the interviews do not seek to explain, discuss and try to understand the present, but to ridicule the interviewee and prime the interviewer’s ego; it has allowed sport stars to move outrageous salaries, that elevate soccer players to the category of geniuses, while the clubs frolic about to not pay taxes and laugh in the faces of all those who applaud their millionaire teams. In short, Ron Perlman’s speech, during the denouement of Stacy Title’s “The Last Supper”, is now a reality.
Inherent Vice The connection between the author and those who are part of a movie, giving their personal look on each point of the work, unearthing doubts and dilemmas, is what gets the viewer fascinated. Paul Thomas Anderson, always accompanied by an exceptional team, again reached that dimension in his new, highly recommended film Inherent Vice; an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Inherent Vice is a paranoid and honest reflection of the end of the encouraging movements of the late ‘60s. A kind of continuation of the speech posed by Pier Paolo Pasolini in “Teorema”, which despite being released in 68’, reaches the conclusion that not only will social change not occur, but the virus of consumerism will be further extended. To sum up, a must regard for our times.
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From the point of view of mathematical possibilities, Coherence characters are mixing their desires and hatreds generating multiple different realities. James Ward Byrkit felt obligated to have an open dialogue with those who want a scientific explanation for everything and with those who accept that you can not predict all human behaviour. Both proposals come into collision through fear and the pursuit of a perfection that only exists if we had always chosen the right path.
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Coherence, a film by James Ward Byrkit, differs from other current suspense attempts by the fact that its script is not limited to creating an entertaining puzzle, but it raises a reflection on the possibilities of human behaviour and how often such decisions are generated by our darker side.
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