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THE BLACK REPORT
— EVENT
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
— THE X ISSUE
FONDATION BEYELER
— PHOTOGRAPHY
DIMITRI DANILOFF
— THE X ISSUE
— FESTIVAL EUROCKEENNES THE BLACK REPORT — EVENT JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT — JEWELRY FERNANDO AKASAKA — PHOTOGRAPHY DIMITRI DANILOFF — PAINTING DAVE KINSEY — FASHION JENS INGVARSSON - JANNIS TSIPOULANI — ILLUSTRATION STEVE SCOTT — ART ALEXANDRE FARTO
OPENING / THE X ISSUE
— DIGITAL TEMPLE Magazine
«If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.» - Malcolm X.
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THE X ISSUE / OPENING
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CREDITS / THE X ISSUE
— COVER — CREDITS — EDITORIAL Jens Ingvarsson
— OPENING ISSUE
Jannis Tsipoulani
— DIVIDERS David Titlow
— TRANSLATION — REREADING Stéphane Mougenot
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THE X ISSUE / CREDITS
All rights reserved. The content of articles only binds their authors.
All manuscripts, documents, objects, various works sent to the magazine will be not returned. DIGITAL TEMPLE MAGAZINE | 5
EDITORIAL / THE X ISSUE
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THE X ISSUE / EDITORIAL
— THE X ISSUE DIGITAL TEMPLE Magazine The X for a Number.
The X for a Girlfriend.
The X for an Accomplishment. The X for our Generation. The X for a Sound. The X for a Trip.
The X for a Movie’s Sequence. The X for a Super Hero.
The X for a Life.
This is the X Issue.
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CONTENT / THE X ISSUE
— CONTENT 1/2
the x issue fall mmx
— INSIDE 6
166 168
— FEATURE 12
36
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Steve Scott
— PHOTO GRAPHY
Dimitri Daniloff
EDITORIAL
SUBSCRIPTION
REQUEST
— JEWELRY 14
Fernando Akasaka
— PAINTING 54
Dave Kinsey
THE X ISSUE / CONTENT
— EVENT 22
Jean-Michel Basquiat
— —FASHION FEATUREI 12 70
Jens Ingvarsson xxx
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CONTENT / THE X ISSUE
— CONTENT 2/2
the x issue fall mmx
— ART 84
Alexandre Farto
— FESTIVAL 126
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Eurockéennes
— ILLUSTRATION 98
Steve Scott
THE X ISSUE / CONTENT
— FASHION II 112
Jannis Tsipoulani
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FEATURE / THE X ISSUE
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THE X ISSUE / FEATURE
— FEATURE STEVE SCOTT. Special Illustration for DIGITAL TEMPLE.
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JEWELRY / Fernando Akasaka
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Fernando Akasaka / JEWELRY
— JEWELRY FERNANDO AKASAKA He is a Japanese descendant and he is based in Sao Paulo.
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JEWELRY / Fernando Akasaka
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Fernando Akasaka / JEWELRY
He is a graduated in engineering and business administration and served 3 companies after his gradutations - Price Waterhouse Consulting (a British company), Baan Info Systems B.V. (a Dutch IT company) and Siebel Systems Inc. (an American IT company) In 2005 he left Siebel when Oracle Corporation bought Siebel Systems, and changed the course of his life.
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JEWELRY / Fernando Akasaka
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Fernando Akasaka / JEWELRY
Design and Jewelry are his passions so on March 2006 he launched his furniture and decor objects company called F.AKASAKA.
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JEWELRY / Fernando Akasaka
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Fernando Akasaka / JEWELRY
F.AKASAKA is a design-oriented company dedicated to making innovative, conceptual and exclusive furniture, lightings, and decor objects. On October 2009 he launched LE BLOB, his jewelry company where he produces handmade jewelry made of solid .950 sterling silver or .750 gold (18k). www.fakasaka.com
www.leblob.com
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JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT / FONDATION BEYELER
Andy Warhol «Jean-Michel Basquiat», 1982
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FONDATION BEYELER / JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
event fondation beyeler
— JEANMICHEL BASQUIAT First comprehensive retrospective in Europe. - From Early to Lately works. To mark Jean-Michel Basquiat’s fiftieth birthday, the Fondation
Beyeler is devoting a large retrospective to him, comprising more than 100 paintings, works on paper, and objects from renowned museums and private collections around the
world. His works, populated by comic-like figures, skeletal silhouettes, curious everyday objects, and poetic slogans, are highly colorful and powerful. They blend pop culture
and cultural history into critical and ironic commentaries on
consumer society and social injustice. The exhibition brings together many of Basquiat’s major works and illustrates the
development of this legendary art scene star.
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JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT / FONDATION BEYELER
Jean-Michel Basquiat in his studio at the Great Jones Street, New York, 1985 Photo : Lizzie Himmel
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FONDATION BEYELER / JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
INTRODUCTION
The art of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) possesses the
same intensity and energy that marked his brief life. The artist
star died on August 12, 1988, at age 27, of a drug overdose. In
the space of only eight years he had succeeded in creating an
extensive oeuvre and introducing new figurative and expressive elements into contemporary art.
On the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, the Fondation Beyeler
is devoting the first large exhibition ever held in Europe to this outstanding American draftsman and painter. Comprising over
100 works, it traces Basquiat’s unique artistic development and
reflects his place in art history. Conceived as a retrospective,
the exhibition also enables a rediscovery and re-evaluation
of one of the most fascinating personalities in the history of recent art.
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JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT / FONDATION BEYELER
Untitled, 1981 Acrylic and oilstick on canvas, 207 x 176 cm
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FONDATION BEYELER / JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
EARLY WORKS
In the late 1970s, at age 16, Basquiat began to spray
aphoristic graffiti on Manhattan walls under the pseudonym of
SAMO©. The sale of homemade postcards and painted T-shirts provided a source of income. Basquiat’s breakthrough as an
artist came with his prominent participation in “New York/New Wave,” a show at the already legendary P.S. 1, which opened
in February 1981 and included prestigious artists like Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe.
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JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT / FONDATION BEYELER
Jean-Michel Basquiat Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump, 1982 Acrylic, oilstick, and spray paint on canvas, 240 x 420,5 cm 28 | DIGITAL TEMPLE MAGAZINE
FONDATION BEYELER / JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
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JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT / FONDATION BEYELER
Jean-Michel Basquiat Riding with Death, 1988 Acrylic and oilstick on canvas, 249 x 289,5 cm 30 | DIGITAL TEMPLE MAGAZINE
FONDATION BEYELER / JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
LATE WORKS
The years 1986-88 marked the final phase of Basquiat’s career,
in which he developed an innovative form of figuration and
considerably expanded his repertoire of sources, symbols and
content. The works of this period are characterized by an
alternation of sheer emptiness with an abundance seemingly dictated by a horror vacui. In his final works, Basquiat
increasingly concerned himself with the subject of death.
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JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT / FONDATION BEYELER
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FONDATION BEYELER / JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
fondation beyeler Baselstrasse 101, CH-4125 Riehen / Basel http://www.beyeler.com/
The history. Over a period of fifty years, in parallel to their successful activity as
gallery owners, Hildy and Ernst Beyeler built up an exceptional collection of works by
modern masters. Their collection, which was
transferred to a foundation in 1982, was first
publicly exhibited in its entirety at the Centro de Arte Reina SofĂa in Madrid in 1989.
Currently comprising around 200 works, the Beyeler Collection documents a very
personal view of modern art and an unerring ability to recognize quality.
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PHOTOGRAPHY / THE X ISSUE
— PHOTOGRAPHY
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THE X ISSUE / PHOTOGRAPHY
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PHOTOGRAPHY / Dimitri Daniloff
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Dimitri Daniloff / PHOTOGRAPHY
— DIMITRI DANILOFF PHOTOGRAPHY
Can you introduce yourself ? I’m now a 39 years old photographer, I started 11 years ago. Still looking to find myself as photography is a changing process. Always looking into the new technology or media.
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PHOTOGRAPHY / Dimitri Daniloff
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Dimitri Daniloff / PHOTOGRAPHY
How did you become a Photographer and what was your very first influence ? I was studying sciences at the university when one day my stepfather gave me a camera for my birthday then the next day I went out and took pictures all day long. When I came back home at night I told my mom that I wanted to stop university and wanted to be a photographer. She agreed and said go for it. Since that I never went back to university. I did a photo school for a few months and then travelled before starting assisting photographers and studios. After 3 years I met Catherine Mahé (Art buyer at Euro RSCG Paris) who believed in my work and put me in touch with agents where I met Florence Moll my agent. My very first influence were the Guzman who I assisted for a couple of years. Today, what is your strongest inspiration ? I can’t really say that I have a strong inspiration, I’m not so much into looking what the others are doing which is what lets me free. Simple every day’s life events can be inspiration. I do
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PHOTOGRAPHY / Dimitri Daniloff
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Dimitri Daniloff / PHOTOGRAPHY
not think so much, it’s more like I want to do that. When I think too much it doesn’t come out so good. It’s more like a strong feeling. In terms of photo the photographers I like are mostly dead like Man Ray or Rodchenko. Can you explain to us the way you work ? The photo I’m doing involved a lot of people, from the stylist to make up artist, retouching and so on. What I would say is that the team you’re working with is very important for what they can bring to you, their knowledge. As a photographer you don’t know everything about everything, you can give them a direction of work and then decide what is best for the picture. The other thing is to respect the idea and keep it easy to understand. My pictures are sometimes hard but always « nice » to look at. What I want to say is that if the picture is too shocking people won’t look at it but if it first looks nice with something strange inside then they will take time to look at it. It takes time to find all these people and have them working together. The photographer is not only a photographer but also and mostly for the kind of picture I take a conductor.
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PHOTOGRAPHY / Dimitri Daniloff
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Dimitri Daniloff / PHOTOGRAPHY
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PHOTOGRAPHY / Dimitri Daniloff
Where do you find your ideas for a project ? Usually the advertising agency calls you to propose a project, from that you have all the preparations meetings. There is usually a layout (drawing) presenting the idea from where you start to work. From that you have to decide what would be the best to shoot the pictures a location or a studio, the kind of model, the style you want to give to the picture. Even with a layout the agency is expecting you to change it, to make it yours. You have to respect the idea of the Art Director and push it forward. But this sometimes depends on few things like the casting, the way you prepare the postproduction or the styling… all that has to be approved before the shoot by the client on a meeting where you explain the reasons why you choose this or that. Then come the shooting where I shoot all the different part of the picture. I’m always shooting “on layers”. The models appear on the set first and then the empty background and then the special effects. That way I can change everything on postproduction. I shoot everything for the post prod ; I’m not doing any shadow or texture only with Photoshop. I always start with something real.
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Dimitri Daniloff / PHOTOGRAPHY
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PHOTOGRAPHY / Dimitri Daniloff
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Dimitri Daniloff / PHOTOGRAPHY
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PHOTOGRAPHY / Dimitri Daniloff
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Dimitri Daniloff / PHOTOGRAPHY
The next step is to put that together on postproduction. This part takes a long time. Can you tell us the craziest experience you have had on a project? It’s hard to tell as this job always takes you to new places and experiences. I have 2 things that come to mind. The first one was for a Playstation campaign when I had to go to a sex shop with the set designer to find the texture that I wanted to shoot for post production special effect. The second one was last year when I was shooting an elephant in Los Angeles when he grabbed me and lifted me up. What is your dream project ? Next project is always exciting, as you never face the same challenge twice. It is always new like this job can be. I’m also leaning toward gallery work and I wish I had more time for that. And I’m also going toward the musical industry in working with bands and singers for album covers.
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PHOTOGRAPHY / Dimitri Daniloff
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Dimitri Daniloff / PHOTOGRAPHY
What is the feeling that you wish to communicate in your work? I don’t know as it is something I mostly do for myself. It is just a way to express something that I don’t even know about. What is your artist’s leitmotiv ? - What’s next ? Your last words? I just hope my biggest success is not here yet. I don’t like to look backwards or be satisfied with what I have done but with what I will do. Thanks a lot.
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PAINTING / THE X ISSUE
— PAINTING
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THE X ISSUE / PAINTING
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PAINTING / Dave Kinsey
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Dave Kinsey / PAINTING
— DAVE KINSEY PAINTING
Can you introduce yourself ? Hello. People call me Kinsey. I’m a painter/designer based in Los Angeles and Three Rivers CA., a small mountain community at the base of the Sequoia National Forest. I also have a design studio, BLK/MRKT, founded back in 1997. In 2001, BLK/MRKT also opened an art gallery that later became Kinsey/DesForges in Los Angeles. How did you become a painter and what was your very first influence ? I began actively painting in the early 90’s. Prior to that, I’d been making art ever since I could remember. I started to take my art seriously when I went to art school in 1990. My very first influence would most likely be Andy Warhol. I saw his Elvis (Eleven Times) piece in a museum in Pittsburgh as a kid and was blown away by its size and uniqueness.
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PAINTING / Dave Kinsey
Today, what is your strongest inspiration ? First and foremost, my wife Jana—she’s my gem. When it comes to painters it would have to be Lee Bontecou, who in my opinion is one of the most incredible artists living today. Living amongst nature in the mountains also inspires me. There is so much to see and be part of; I am never bored in this place. Can you explain to us the way you work ? In terms of actual method, I approach each piece initially with an unconscious and somewhat spontaneous action to create what I consider to be «the perfect abstraction,» made up of energetic colors and strong blacks. From that point I begin to add representational forms, linework and shapes to complete the narrative. Each piece is made up of acrylic, spray paint, paper, wood and ink on canvas. I like my paintings to have a lot of layers, so I employ lots of mediums to make that happen.
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Dave Kinsey / PAINTING
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PAINTING / Dave Kinsey
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Dave Kinsey / PAINTING
Where do you find your ideas for a project ? My ideas come mainly from my subconscious, it’s hard to pinpoint the actual source but they are mainly a reaction to my everyday life experiences. Can you tell us the craziest experience you’ve had on a project? Commercially : Probably working with Nike on their football stuff via my design studio BLK/MRKT. We basically had three days to create the entire 2008 look and feel. If it wasn’t for coffee and spirits, I doubt we would have made it through. Personally : Bombing Paris one night with Frank «Space Invader» back in 2002. We got arrested and had to spend the night with the police harassing us for information. I don’t speak much French so Frank had to translate what was going on. We finally got let out right before dawn, had a few beers & went out bombing again. What a night.
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PAINTING / Dave Kinsey
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Dave Kinsey / PAINTING
What is your dream job/project ? Ahh, my dream job is what I’m doing now, just painting and designing. My dream project? That would be hard to say, there are so many things I’d like to accomplish. I’d like to create a permanent sculpture for a public park for instance; something that almost becomes a part of the environment, like a massive oak tree. What is the feeling that you wish to communicate in your work? I primarily explore emotional and environmental boundaries—as I perceive them—in the context of the growing discord between humanity and nature. The state of the world today concerns me and I want to try to affect, if not change, at least a feeling of realization or understanding when people view my work.
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PAINTING / Dave Kinsey
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Dave Kinsey / PAINTING
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PAINTING / Dave Kinsey
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Dave Kinsey / PAINTING
What is your artist’s leitmotiv ? I’d say exploring our role and responsibilities as humans, whatever that may be. Have you got other current projects ? Currently I’m just finishing up my NY solo show (Sept. 9th, Joshua Liner Gallery), which I’ve been working on for the past year. Next I’ll be doing a project with Hurley’s new gallery «)(Space», working with Rob Stewart of Sharkwater film fame, creating the artwork for his next film and a bunch of other commissioned projects. By the end of the year I also begin preparing for my next solo show which will be hosted by Helmet Gallery in Munich next summer. Hopefully in between all this I’ll still have some time for bird watching.
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PAINTING / Dave Kinsey
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Dave Kinsey / PAINTING
Your last words? Thanks for reading, au revoir !
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FASHION / THE X ISSUE
— FASHION I
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THE X ISSUE / FASHION
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FASHION / Jens Ingvarsson
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Jens Ingvarsson / FASHION
— JENS INGVARSSON FASHION
Can you introduce yourself ? Jens Ingvarsson, 25.
How did you become a Photographer and what was your very first influence ? My dad had of these Lomo cameras and I used it before even knowing what lomography was. Then I shifted to the first digital cameras somewhere in the end of the 90s, and this is how it all started for me. What influenced me in the very beginning was that the photography created some feeling of an additional dimension to anything. First you’re out there somewhere, you versus the world, and then you put your little camera out and suddenly there’s something else. Today, what is your strongest inspiration ? I’m mostly inspired by my models. I look at them and then I
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FASHION / Jens Ingvarsson
think, hey, I see a certain concept there to go with this girl or guy. Something like that, I’m not sure. I’m not the kind of person who can easily tell their inspirational sources. Can you explain to us the way you work ? Sure. My work is about having Fun. If it’s not about Fun, I’d better outsource. I own a modeling agency, so I can avoid the necessity of looking for models and creative people, there’s plenty of them around at all times. Then we just get together in my studio, and do something together. After my shooting sessions everybody’s always happy and content, and that’s all I want. Where do you find your ideas for a project ? From anywhere! Once I was shopping and I found this food torch for melting cheese and chocolate, you know, it’s like a small welding gun. So I bought it and created an idea of a shoot with a sexy pale-skinned redhead girl, melting the chocolate with this thing, and it was completely sudden, right after I saw this thing in the store. And it’s usually like this, one thing follows another. But the thing is, I never think too much, sometimes I start with some idea in my mind, and then it goes into a completely different direction, or we just correct it here and there. Cause it’s all about having Fun in the end.
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Jens Ingvarsson / FASHION
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FASHION / Jens Ingvarsson
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Jens Ingvarsson / FASHION
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FASHION / Jens Ingvarsson
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Jens Ingvarsson / FASHION
Can you tell us the craziest experience you’ve had on a project? I really hope the craziest moment is yet to be experienced. What is your dream job/project ? Doing whatever I want, with whomever I want, on a regular basis. What is the feeling that you wish to communicate in your work? I like the fact that my pictures are at the same time fun and unsettling to some people. They like them yet they are not comfortable with them. I want my work to be provoking, stimulating and inspiring.
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FASHION / Jens Ingvarsson
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Jens Ingvarsson / FASHION
What is your artist’s leitmotiv ? I don’t even know what that is. Have you got other current projects ? I’m planning several shoots here in New York at the moment, I want to use this totally magical sunset light that this wonderful city has, and implement it into my own style. 4 hours of sunset every day, New Yorkers are lucky !
Your last words ? Get out there and Do IT! You’re a WINNER!!! Haha, I don’t know, really))
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FASHION / Jens Ingvarsson
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Jens Ingvarsson / FASHION
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ART / THE X ISSUE
— ART
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THE X ISSUE / ART
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ART / Alexandre Farto
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Alexandre Farto / ART
— ALEXANDRE FARTO aka VHILS
ART
Can you introduce yourself ? My Tag is Vhils and I was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1987, and grew up in Seixal, on the southern-bank of the river Tagus. This was an industrial suburb, still very rural, which was undergoing an intense process of urbanization.
How did you become an Artist and what was your very first influence ? It all started with graffiti. I only became interested in art at a much later stage and it was brought on by graffiti. Growing up where I did, the single most important influence on me was the presence of the old political murals that dated from after the 1974 Revolution and Graffiti everywhere. I didn’t look at these as being art, but they moved me, I remember the contrast these murals posed alongside the growing presence of advertisements. My interest in art started out in the streets, I was deeply affected by the sharp contrast created between the decadent revolutionary murals and their ideals and the glamorous appeal of advertising.
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ART / Alexandre Farto
The poetics of decay that resulted from it left an enduring influence on me. In the late 1990s I got into graffiti and took to the streets and trains, this became my artistic background. Graffiti was a language that enabled me to express and explore many things, and eventually enabled me to observe and portray the complexities of the urban environment, as I see them. For a few years I was really into the train scene and bombing, then I started thinking about where I wanted to take my work and I started exploring other things, wanting to take things to a different level – that’s when I first started experimenting with stencils and other tools which allowed me to reach a wider audience. Today, what is your strongest inspiration ? Still, everything that happens around me. Can you explain to us the way you work ? I try to focus on the act of destruction to create; this is a notion I first came across in Graffiti, and it has been very influential
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Alexandre Farto / ART
in my work. I believe we are all formed of different sets of layers: personal, social, cultural, historical and so on. Our social system is the product of this same process of layers, and I believe that by removing and exposing some of these layers, in fact by destroying them, we might be able to reach something purer, something of what we used to be and have forgotten all about. This is obviously in a symbolical sense. So I like to see it as a kind of archaeological work of dissecting the layers of history and time and exposing something which lies beneath all the noise, the clutter, the dirt, searching for an essence which has been lost somewhere along the way. This process of removal started out by cutting into layers of pasted posters I removed from the streets, and has become rougher and rougher. I enjoy working with different and new tools and am constantly on the lookout for new processes and media. Most of my work is based on experimentation and because I aim at creating contrasts between these different layers, I like experimenting with tools that provide the best result for what I am trying to express. Taking materials from the street and other places and changing them in order to communicate, turning them into the very tools that expose, confront, question the reality of our urban life. I work
them over with these rough tools, like etching acid or bleach on wood or other materials I have found in the street, or old paper or old billboard posters, or I screen-print with acid. I use hammers, chisels and pneumatic drills to sculpt those stenciled pieces on walls. The process is very similar in all these techniques I resort to: working with the layers of the materials or objects and from this confrontation, I create images. Of course you never really have full control of all the aspects of that creation, as you don’t know what images and patterns lie beneath the layers. But this is a key concept in my work, and I really enjoy working with randomness, highlighting the ephemeral nature of things, of everything really.
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ART / Alexandre Farto
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Alexandre Farto / ART
Where do you find your ideas for a project ? To claim particular influences is always very difficult for me, as I honestly believe in the idea that we are constantly being influenced and changed in many ways by literally everything and everyone that surrounds us: the environment I grew up in, the people I’ve met, my country, our culture etc. Of course these can be both conscious and unconscious influences, but it makes it very hard to pinpoint exactly where your ideas really come from. Who knows? With me the creative process is not always the result of a rational act – most of my work derives from experimentation, and believe me, most of this research and experimentation with tools, materials and media go wrong. Of course, I like things that go wrong, as I stand to gain very much from them, both artistically, aesthetically and on a personal level as well. I learn; which is something that is deeply important for me. I learn with everything, and I hope my work reflects this.
Can you tell us the craziest experience you’ve had on a project? Sculpting in Moscow at night with -22´c. What is your dream job/project ? What I’m doing now. What is the feeling that you wish to communicate in your work? There are quite a few themes underlying my work, but they’re all somewhat connected with trying to question the urban reality we live in and the system that supports it. It’s a process of critical questioning I find interesting and important, without the pretence of actually providing any answers. Each series has its own unique message but what I’m overall trying to achieve, as far as the process is concerned, is to focus on the act of destruction as a creative drive. This is something I’ve brought over from graffiti. I believe we are all composed of many different layers
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ART / Alexandre Farto
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Alexandre Farto / ART
of social and historical fabric that ultimately compose and form us. The environment we live in is the product of this same process of layering, and I believe that by removing and exposing some of these layers, by destroying them in fact, we might be able to reach something we have lost along the way. It’s all very symbolical. Take it as a semi-archaeological work of dissecting layers, trying to understand what lies beneath the surface of things and realizing how ephemeral everything really is.
What is your artist’s leitmotiv? My work is almost a dissecting of layers of history, of memory, which symbolically form these walls. This layering is formed by the present being laid out over the past. Part of my work is based on looking back at what came before, what lies beneath things, in order to be able to understand where we are now and where we are heading. What goes on in the streets is hardly ever contemplated as being important, it is never incorporated into history. People aren’t really aware of how much things have changed in the urban environment, say in the last ten years, with all the visual disposal paraphernalia.
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ART / Alexandre Farto
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Alexandre Farto / ART
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ART / Alexandre Farto
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Alexandre Farto / ART
This obliteration of memory, of the past, which I’ve observed in Lisbon over time, this uncompromised change, often replaces one thing for another without regard for anything. I symbolically do a sort of archaeological work in order to call out to these lost memories, which are an integral part of who we are today. The galloping pace and the intensity of the technical and technological development hasn’t allowed us to digest and absorb the changes to which we have been exposed in the last decades. My work tries, in a poetic way, to highlight and call attention to this phenomenon. Have you got other current projects ? Working on several Projects, a Group show in the Museum of Contemporary art San Diego called “Viva La Revolution” curated by Pedro Alonso.
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ILLUSTRATION / THE X ISSUE
— ILLUSTRATION
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THE X ISSUE / ILLUSTRATION
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ILLUSTRATION / Steve Scott
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Steve Scott / ILLUSTRATION
— STEVE SCOTT ILLUSTRATION Can you introduce yourself ? I’m an animation director, illustrator, cat owner, budgie lover and tea drinker who lives in London. How did you become an Illustrator and what was your very first influence ? I don’t know if there was one specific point where I became an Illustrator. I’ve always drawn and at some point I was lucky enough that people actually started paying me to do this. My first influences would have been comics. I remember when I discovered Herges Tin Tin and just reading it over and over again. I loved the attention to detail and the simplification of the human characters. Then later I really became a fan of 2000ad and they had loads of great artists & writers. So at one point I wanted to be a comic artist, and that was a strong goal for years.
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ILLUSTRATION / Steve Scott
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Steve Scott / ILLUSTRATION
Today, what is your strongest inspiration ? I think my strongest influences at the moment are the Pop artists and poster artists of the 60s. People like Milton Glaser, Tadanori Yokoo, Martin Sharp, Peter Blake, Richard Lindner and Heinz Edelmann. But I also love a lot of 50s animation styles, pulp covers from the 30s and 40s. I’m really getting a lot of inspiration from photos of Custom Cars and Cafe Bikers, a lot of 60s and 70s car and bike culture. I think its because they have this really strong style and uniform, the machines are great, elaborate, fantastical and have lots of weird pipes that seem to go everywhere. They make great characters and shapes to draw. Can you explain to us the way you work ? Depending on whether it’s a commercial job, or just something for myself I will use a couple of different methods. If it’s for a commercial client, I’m a bit more rigorous with sketches, but if its for myself then I’m usually a bit lazier with sketching stuff out.
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ILLUSTRATION / Steve Scott
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Steve Scott / ILLUSTRATION
I usually walk about in the local forest trying to drum up an idea. I then sketch something out in a very loose, fairly messy way. I’m just trying to get some concepts and a basic layout, Usually I do two or three more sketches which get tighter and tighter. I then do several colors roughs in Photoshop until I’m happy, then switch back to illustrator to draw up the final image. After that I might throw it back into Photoshop to do some more tweaks, adding textures, that sort of thing. Where do you find your ideas for a project ? In the top drawer of a tiny black cabinet, marked ‘ideas’. Ideas come from everywhere, so this is a little hard to say. Every image tends to have its own inspiration. I’ll go through periods when I just want to draw things, just because the shape is pleasing. At the moment I’m really enjoying drawing weird cars and the characters who drive them.
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ILLUSTRATION / Steve Scott
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Steve Scott / ILLUSTRATION
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ILLUSTRATION / Steve Scott
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Steve Scott / ILLUSTRATION
Can you tell us the craziest experience you’ve had on a project? A penguin once attacked me when I was in South Africa on a job. Never mess with a penguin. What is your dream job/project ? I’m very much into story telling, so my dream project would be to work with a writer with the craziness and imagination of someone like China Mieville, Jeff Vandermeer or Joe Hill and create a great animation. Something a bit spooky, weird and twisted. What is the feeling that you wish to communicate in your work? I’m usually just trying to amuse myself, usually I’m thinking of a character, who is hopefully a little crazy, a bit surreal and then I think of them in a situation or make up a little story in my head about them. So I don’t know if I’m specifically communicating
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ILLUSTRATION / Steve Scott
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Steve Scott / ILLUSTRATION
a strong idea to a viewer. Maybe just creating characters for someone to look at and lose themselves in. What is your artist’s leitmotiv ? Well when I look at my drawings I realize I’ve spent a lot of time drawing people with large moustaches smoking elaborate pipes, usually with some sort of bowler hat. Lately its cars, bikes, bikers and helmets. Have you got other current projects ? At the moment I’m just beginning to design a couple of CD covers for a band on Modular, it should be fun. Although I’m at the very early stages of wondering what it will be. Your last words ? My last words will probably be something like, ‘what does this button do’ or maybe just a simple ‘aaaaargh’.
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FASHION / THE X ISSUE
— FASHION II
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THE X ISSUE / FASHION
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FASHION / Jannis Tsipoulani
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Jannis Tsipoulani / FASHION
— JANNIS TSIPOULANI FASHION
Can you introduce yourself ? Jannis Tsipoulanis, born in Bremen Germany from Greek immigrants. Based in Paris, I’ve been working for 10 Years in the field of photography. How did you become a Photographer and what was your very first influence ? I was first assistant of a reporter photographer doing shoots for STERN magazine. Very soon took the camera in my hands and shot my first stories –fashion was always my passion. Today, what is your strongest inspiration ? Inspiration is always coming first with a commission for a shoot. Trying to always find the best possible solution to achieve a good result. I’m not interested in Perfection, I just want to do the right image. I always try to start neutral with a project without any other pictures or references in my head.
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FASHION / Jannis Tsipoulani
Can you explain to us the way you work ? I’m fast. This means I don’t need a long time to finish a shoot. While I’m working I concentrate on the subject. This does not mean I don’t listen to other people while shooting. But I believe that an important part of a successful shooting is the work that takes place before the shooting. It means choosing the right people and the right location is already done. The day of the shooting you just need to collect the fruits of this preparation. So shouldn’t be very difficult. Where do you find your ideas for a project ? As I told you, I never have ideas. First comes the commission. But of course sometimes a location or a model can give me an idea for a shooting. I get inspired by places as much as by faces.
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Jannis Tsipoulani / FASHION
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FASHION / Jannis Tsipoulani
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Jannis Tsipoulani / FASHION
Can you tell us the craziest experience you’ve had on a project? While shooting with Naomi and got hunted by hundreds of paparazzi in Athens and we had to hide and take the back doors to go to the shooting location. This was memorable, and crazy. I can’t say it was always fun. What is your dream job/project ? A single exhibition about my work in a great museum, a book, a movie which I will direct one day. What is the feeling that you wish to communicate in your work? I came to the point to realize that perfection nowadays is been taken for too seriously. Everybody tries to make the PERFECT picture using retouching lights and all the possible techniques to achieve, to my opinion a picture that does not reflect at all the modern society. We are just tired of all this potent Photographs –at least I am tired of it.
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FASHION / Jannis Tsipoulani
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Jannis Tsipoulani / FASHION
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FASHION / Jannis Tsipoulani
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Jannis Tsipoulani / FASHION
It has to always be sharper, more colorful, more perfect. I’m not sure we can screw it more. Back to the real meaning of photography, means pictures not so perfect, not such an extreme approach. If a picture is good it doesn’t need all those elements to communicate. “Creativity isn’t necessarily a visual design worthy of Communication Arts. Creativity isn’t necessarily the highest production standards. It’s the idea. It’s the purity of the idea.“ What is your artist’s leitmotiv ? I like so many artists each for his own style. I don’t really have leitmotivs. I don’t really ADORE somebody special. When I was much younger I remember I had leitmotivs and those maybe brought me to the point where I am today. Maybe I’m too busy with my own work. So no more time to fall in love with somebody else’s work. Have you got other current projects ? As I said, I try to do my first short movie in 16mm. I think if you
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FASHION / Jannis Tsipoulani
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Jannis Tsipoulani / FASHION
do it you do it right. It’s now very fashionable to show short clips as a photographer. I really don’t see the meaning of it. A photographer should take pictures. And if he wants to do moving pictures he should direct a movie.
Your last words? I don’t understand why people think that everybody can be a photographer. Designers, singers, writers are also photographers. It shows a lack of respect as it means you just need a camera and that’s it. They wouldn’t like if I were to start designing clothes, or singing !
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FASHION / Jannis Tsipoulani
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Jannis Tsipoulani / FASHION
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FESTIVAL / THE X ISSUE
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