Élémentaire Zine Body Issue

the body issue | n째5

EDITORS NOTE Welcome to Élémentaire Zine Issue 05, the Body Issue. Body represents a big step for us, as we leave behind the comfort of the elements and begin to branch out and explore a wide range of exciting topics. With our eyes ever ready to be inspired, we have gathered together a series of images we feel showcase the grace, power and diversity that the Body offers as a subject.

This issue includes a range of interviews including a discussion with still life photographer, Julien Palast, who reveals more to us about his SKINDEEP project. We also talk to Ramona Zordini about her incredible ‘Changing Time’ series and how she defines her artistic style. Alongside this, we had the great pleasure of having a chat with the revolutionary modern performance company, Pilobolus.

Accompanying these interviews, in this issue, is a whole host of extraordinary artwork from talented creatives working with a variety of mediums. I’d like to say personal thanks to all of the artists involved in this issue.

All copyrights remains with the artists.

Enjoy.

Mark Kiszely

ART DIRECTOR Theodora Pangos www.behance.net/pangos

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mark Kiszely www.facebook.com/markkiszelyphotography

CONTRIBUTING WRITER Andrew Skinner thisistheraccoon.com/author/andrewjskinner

CONTRIBUTING WRITER Matthew Dunne-Miles mdunnemiles.contently.com

COVER ARTWORK Laurence Jephcote www.facebook.com/venusflytrapdesignlj EMAIL elementaire@live.com LINKS www.facebook.com/elementairezine twitter.com/ElementaireZine behance.net/elementaire

05 MARIUS DO/ 07 THE NEW CRUELTY/ 11 BEVIN RICHARDSON/ 13 JULIEN PALAST/ 17 LAURA COLLINS/ 19 SHIJIE HAI/ 21 MELIH DÖNMEZER / 25 PILOBOLUS/ 33 OLI FITZER/ 35 NIKA AKIN/ 37 GAVIN WORTH/ 41 JAMES ROPER/ 43 GISELLE VITALI/ 45 ION MATES/ 47 KLAUS KAMPERT/ 51 SARAH SEENÉ/ 53 RAMONA ZORDINI/ 57 MARCELA BOLIVAR

MARIUS DO

Drug-free photographer from Lithuania.

Links: www.mariusdo.com www.facebook.com/mariusdotheartist

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THE NEW

The New Cruelty is a unique creative production agency based in New York. They are visual storytellers.

The New Cruelty exists primarily because brands need more imagery than ever before. Rich, abundant sources of 'on brand' imagery (both photographic and video) with flexible usage rights; bespoke imagery that tells the real story of a brand.

By combining a brand’s values with their creative visual thinking, they produce compelling, authentic, consistent and cost effective brand imagery for our clients. It’s that simple.

The New Cruelty was commissioned to New York based television production company True Entertainment to photograph a series of still-life images of preserved human skulls,

bodies and various internal organs featured in the famous Bodies Exhibition. These images were used to illustrate and explain complex illnesses for the show Mystery Diagnosis on Oprah Winfrey's Network – OWN. The production took place during the night hours in the eerily quiet exhibition space in downtown Manhattan. The most dramatic shots (featured in this gallery) came from the room featuring exhibits of the main human circulatory system in the human torso and skull.

Client: True Entertainment Photographer: James Bareham Links: newcruelty.com @newcruelty www.facebook.com/newcruelty plus.google.com/+Newcruelty

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THE NEW CRUELTY

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Currently studying Illustration in his final year at Plymouth University, Richardson likes to have a Philosophical or spiritual background to the work he creates. His aim is to educate and open minds from convention.

This piece is about the idea of death from the perspective of the Tibetan book of the dead, a Buddhist book also known as; The Great Liberation by hearing and the intermediate states, and; Bardo Thodol.

Described in this book is the emergence of the peaceful and wrathful deities from one's own heart. One must realise them as "the pure form of your own projections", in other words as part of your own mind, and to accept them as yourself in order to leave cyclical existence.

The deity illustrated is the Peaceful deity of the Padma (fire) family; Lord Amitabha embracing Pandaravasini. He represents "the pristine cognition of discernment, the natural purity of the aggregate of perceptions, free from attachment.

Richardson believes that Buddhist ideas on death make much more sense than the view we have of death in the west. He thinks this is something we should all look at and develop an understanding of in order to understand the relevance of death in our own lives. The Tibetan book of the dead is not just a book on death; it is also about how to live.

BEVIN RICHARDSON Link: www.behance.net/richardson

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JULIEN PALAST Julien Palast’s SkinDeep is a truly fascinating project. At first the images appear powerfully erotic but indeed in time you find they conceal as much as they initially appear to show off.

The colours used, those neon pinks, blues and yellows, give the project an other-worldly feel, especially with the models’ dramatic and powerful poses.

The enticing way the human form is portrayed, seemingly shrink-wrapped and trapped, leaves you wanting and needing to know more.

We spoke to Julien about how the idea for SkinDeep came about, his set-up and what he looked for in the models.

Hey Julien, please introduce yourself.

Hi, I am a still life photographer working in Paris. I founded Palast photography in 2005. My retoucher Thierry Peureux joined me in 2011. Together we are working for companies such as BaccaBacca rat, Roger Vivier, Hennessy and Rémy Martin. We are working in areas such as luxury accessories, cosmetics, products and beverages. We also carry on personal projects for exhibitions and self promotion, such as SkinDeep.

It is like the bullet time technique but real! I guess my artwork is a compilation of these fascinations.

For SkinDeep I wanted to create something similar to a sculpted bas-relief, like an instant sculpture of people. I tried out different techniques and materials before finding the right one.

What materials did you use for the project?

The materials used are membranes of latex.

Talk us through the process you underwent for the shoot.

It was quite a short process for the shooting, we took a lot of pictures and tried out different poses. The projects and the techniques grew throughout the time of the shooting. The male was shot first in a day and then the girl. Then we went through a lot of editing and post-processing.

What did you look for in the models used?

I wanted models that were confident with their own bodies and able to move and pose in a constrained space. The Where did the inspiration for SkinDeep models I chose were performers; the come from? male model was an aerial acrobat and the female model was a dancer. I also I am fascinated by sculptures of the human body and commercial represen- looked for figures with evident male and female features, such as well-defined tations of the body like display mannequins. I guess the reification of the muscles for the male and a thinner and more curvy body for the female. body interests me as I take a lot of pictures dealing with products. Sculpture is Links: also the continuity of the photography www.palast.fr as it is a fixed moment but in 3D. www.behance.net/palast

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JULIEN PALAST

LAURA COLLINS Collins works intuitively, often alluding to moments of personal discomfort and alienation, proposing them to be in fact universal. While generally a simple pairing of two images, her collages combine to form complex relationships.

These pieces are often assembled to share an unbroken seam that connects two otherwise disjointed images, creating waning moments where they appear as one. There is a tension between the images where they work together, yet constantly reject one another. It is her hope that this guides a cyclical involvement for the viewer.

Link: www.lauracollinsart.com

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HAI

SHIJIE

When it comes to 'Body', Hai is immediately drawn to the aspect of nudity. The next thought that occurs is a vision of 'watching' and 'being watched'.

People see nudity regularly from various sources, but are their own nude bodies seen a lot? The answer probably is No. Freud considered the image of a naked body whilst dreaming, to represent the fear of being exposed or debunked.

People will be their most vulnerable psychologically when naked and the vulnerability comes from fear. People watch but are afraid to be watched.

Link: littlesketchbooook.tumblr.com

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Turkish born photographer Melih Dรถnmezer releases his passion for photography via traditional analogue methods. Owner of a portfolio rich with experimentation, both in-camera and in the darkroom, Dรถnmezer takes a fresh approach to an established medium.

Through his adoration for experimentation, Dรถnmezer turns everyday situations into complex pieces of fine art.

Links: www.behance.net/donmezerm www.flickr.com/photos/89911545@N08

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MELIH DÖNMEZER

After you’ve read this first sentence, stop reading, search Pilobolus on YouTube, watch, and then come back.

Impressed? Of course you are. Meet Pilobolus, an American modern dance company with a difference. Whilst Pilobolus do what many other dance companies do (leaving their audiences awestruck) what sets them aside is how they have a clear mission – to embed dance into the lives of the people they come across through their education programmes.

Their headquarters are based in Washington, Connecticut and since their formation they’ve toured all over the world. We spoke to them about choreography, collaborations and creativity.

Hello, please introduce yourself We are Pilobolus.

How long has Pilobolus been running?

Pilobolus was founded in 1971, so we are about to go into our 42nd year.

How different are you now than you were back in 1971?

We have many more activities now than we did then, but the central spirit of Pilobolus is unchanged.

How do you balance the technical training and fitness work in the gym?

We don’t see those things as separate.

The technical training is what makes the physiques that you see.

Tell us a bit about the choreography – how do you go about practising a certain routine?

All of our dancers bring their own unique energy to each piece. This is why our repertory continues to impact audiences around the world.

How do you create new dances?

We all get in a room and lock the door and don’t leave until we create something that everyone can stand by.

What’s been the proudest milestone in Pilobolus’s history?

Our proudest moment was the creation of the piece Pilobolus. It was the first piece and the one that set everything in motion.

You’ve gone all over the world. Where has been your favourite country to perform in?

We’ve now been in more than 65 countries and our work is seen by many more people on the Internet.

Our favourite audiences are the ones that have never seen anything like what we do before. We strive to find audiences that are new to dance.

PILOBOLUS

Photographer: John Kane

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PILOBOLUS

Photographer: Sara Davis

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How important would you say dance is for bringing people together?

It is the reason we exist.

You’re now bringing collaborators into the company – how does that work?

We’ve been collaborating in a consistent way since the beginning.

We find the coolest people on earth we can think of, dancers and nondancers alike, and then have them join us to see what we can create together. Choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Trish Sie, cartoonist Art Spiegelman, the masters of trickery Penn and Teller, and the writers Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen are among our collaborators.

What’s been the most interesting collaboration so far?

Each collaboration is very different and we learn something new from each one, with its own challenges.

What attributes do you look for in a Pilobolus dancer?

Grace, intelligence, humour and athleticism. We also look for performers who have a broader interest than a specific movement technique.

I understand that the educational programmes in the Pilobolus Lab is designed to inspire non-dancers – tell us a bit more about it. non The company was founded by nondancers and the belief that movement is a form of communication that is not

limited to those with formal dance training. The goal of the Pilobolus Lab is to encourage problem solving through group movement and physical interaction.

Our education programmes underline the idea that anyone can dance and create dance, regardless of experience.

What is it about dance that you think people find so captivating?

Response to movement, whether you are doing it or watching it, is hardwired into us.

What does 2014 hold in store for Pilobolus?

We have an exciting year ahead of us.

In March, London’s Peacock Theatre will welcome our evening-length shadow piece, Shadowland - which has been selling to sold out houses internationally for years - for the first time.

Our new ICP work, slated in to premiere summer 2014, is a collaboration with Israeli short story, graphic novelist, and film writer Etgar Keret, and writer/director Shira Geffen. We are creating movement for Penn and Teller’s new take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. We will continue to expand our educational programming and create new, bespoke works for Pilobolus Creative Services clients.

Links: www.pilobolus.com/home.jsp info@pilobolus.org

PILOBOLUS

Photographer: Robert Whitman

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PILOBOLUS

Photographer: Robert Whitman

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OLI FITZER Oli is a 3rd year student at Birmingham City University, who sees himself as a documentary photographer. A sports enthusiast himself, his main interests are photographing extreme sports, ranging from skiing to motocross racing. That said, Oli is keen to venture outside the realms of sport, with plans to explore the globe to see and capture what the world has to offer.

One of his key aspirations is to have work exhibited by Red Bull. This particular set of images follow the journey of prospective Olympic gymnast, Max Bennett, documenting some of his training as he looks towards the 2016.

In the year of 2010 Bennett broke his hand in an accident on a piece of apparatus, which postponed his work and had a massive effect on his training routine. This accident couldn’t have come at more of a crucial stage in Bennett’s career, directly effecting his position in the Olympic squad, resulting in him being unable to take part in the 2012 games.

Bennett, however, continued to pass on his knowledge and skill in the sport to teach other up and coming gymnasts.

Since recovering from his injured hand, he has trained harder than ever to pursue his Olympic dream, aiming to take part in the 2016 games.

Links: www.behance.net/OliFitzer Olly_fitzer@hotmail.co.uk

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Nika in no way considers herself to be a professional, but has aspirations to be known as that in the future. She constructs her imagery purely for the enjoyment.

Creating makes her life magical, that's her story. Her inspirations are the beauty of nature and interesting people that she meets.

Link: www.behance.net/painted

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GAVIN

WORTH

Worth was born in Zimbabwe, Africa in 1981 and grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He graduated with a degree in Acting, and after college, worked as an actor and musician for the Santa Fe Shakespeare Festival, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and the California Shakespeare Theater. Worth has had a lifelong passion for drawing, painting, and sculpture since he first saw Michelangelo's "Head of Leda" in a book in the library.

He is entirely self taught.

Worth feels he has been very lucky to have a wide variety of experiences. These include being commissioned by Tiffany & Co to make sculptures for their Valentine’s Day window displays globally. On another occasion, a town near Cognac, France invited him to make a large-scale piece out of repurposed steel rods to adorn the top of a fountain. Worth’s work in sculpture and education led him to be a

finalist for the 2014 TED Fellows and Ralph Lauren also asked him to brainstorm modern, engaging, and minimal sculptural jewellery displays for their stores.

Worth’s work has been shown and collected internationally along with being featured in international design magazines and books.

He was bitten by a rattlesnake in 1986, which leads on to what he feels is his proudest achievement so far, winning the 1987 Las Cruces Nintendo championships while having one arm in a cast and being the clear underdog. “That was quite the day, let me tell you.”

Worth lived in San Francisco for 8 years, and currently lives and works in Cairo, Egypt, where he teaches at the American International School.

Link: www.gavinworth.com

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GAVIN WORTH

JAMES

Roper’s work explores a variety of subjects from the heightened realities depicted in Baroque art and modern media to the restraint and release of energy found within complex structures such as the human body. He works in various mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture and film.

Roper has exhibited widely throughout the world including both group and solo shows in London, New York, Los Angeles, Milan and Barcelona.

Born in Knutsford, England, 1982, he graduated in 2005 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Links: jroper.co.uk/contact www.behance.net/jamesroper

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GISELLE

VITALI Giselle Vitali bases her work fundamentally on representing the human anatomy. Her style is flexible, whether she’s creating a scientific illustration or a surrealistic, conceptual piece of art. She keeps her techniques to a traditional matter, making her work as unique as can be.

Vitali is young and multidisciplimultidiscipli nary. Born in 1989 in Caracas, Venezuela, she studied Ilustration at Instituto de Diseño de Caracas (IDC Venezuela). In 2010 Vitali moved to Barcelona, España, where she studied for an illustration degree. Further ahead she did a specialization for a 3D Masters with 3D Max Autodesk.

Links: www.gisellevitali.com www.behance.net/gv_ilustra

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ION MATES

"Study of shapes" was one of Mates’ project series for his first year assessment at Visual Communication in Birmingham. It consists of two parts, where he explores human shapes and tries to correlate them to objects, rather than flesh.

Link:

www.35millimeter.co.uk/#!__projects/study-of-shapes

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KAMPERT

The majority of Kampert’s work is concerned with the human body.

He doesn’t consider his images to be classic nudes or erotic photography, although these genres, he accepts, may have had an impact on his work.

He is not interested in showing beauty as an outward phenomenon. Rather he would like to present the human being as a whole: Body and mind united.

By picturing nakedness in an image, it is to reveal mind and emotion, not only showing the body as such.Among his models, especially the ballet dancers, are those who succeed in expressing this wholeness in a particular manner. Their bodies bespeak the constant pursuit of beauty, grace, achievement and perfection.

It is Kampert’s intention and passion to display this to the viewer.

Kampert was born in 1953 in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he still lives and works today.

KLAUS

As a child he spent a lot of time drawing and later on painting and sculpturing. Kampert recalls when he was about 19 years old, making his first more playful steps into photography - with remarkable results after a while.

As a photographer, he is self-taught. In the early 8o´s Kampert established his own studio working as a freelance photographer for the advertising business – mainly fashion and beauty productions at home and abroad.

From the beginning, Kampert put a lot of focus on personal projects, which increasingly became more and more important to him. Today, they make up his main field of work, mostly dealing with the human body, with the triad of body-mind-emotion in particular.

For Kampert, the body is the shell of the soul and it is this that he tries to explore, as he feels it lets him get closer to the human being as a whole.

Moreover he has a weak point for picturing three dimensional statue-like bodies in whole or part in dramatic lighting and posing.

Many of his images, especially his nudes and balletballet dancers sets, have been printed in international publications and are much sought after among collectors.

Link: www.klauskampert.com/index_en.php

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KLAUS KAMPERT

SARAH SEENÉ

Sarah Seené is a 26 year-old French girl, fascinated by the power of image. She has been a director of fiction and experimental short films for a few years and is a self-confessed Polaroid addict.

Seené’s world is a strange atmosphere between poetry and anxiety. She colours her Polaroids with memories of childhood, dreams and fear. She suspends time in worlds she has created by modifying the reality.

Seené works with The Impossible Project films and prepares her Polaroids a lot. During one – two hours, she organises costumes, sets and make-up, which give sense and story to the central characters of the Polaroid.

It is the contrast between the direction and the speed of the development that interests her and, of course, the magic grain of the Polaroid. Seené’s models, most of the time feminine, are usually loved ones, her Mum and her friends.

She likes inventing stories, universes and characters that inspire her. When the Polaroid is developed, Seené likes stressing its surrealist dimension by working on it with a double-exposure manipulation or by adding some nail polish, which gives a plastic art effect.

Links: sarahseene.tumblr.com www.flickr.com/photos/welcometosar

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RAMONA

ZORDINI

How long have you been working with photography?

I have worked with and studied photography for over 15 years, but I was taking it in from childhood.

What initially inspired you to use photography in your art?

I've always had a short memory so I've used photography from a young age to engrave memories in my mind and then to give emotions.

What is the idea behind the 'Changing Time' series?

The Project "Changing Time" explores the theme of change, thought of as physical and psychological alteration. These are linked to personal instincts, lifestyle, emotion, and paths taken in the course of life in a sort of indelibly imprinted writing on and on the body portrayed in the liquid. That is more congenial to evolution.

There have been three instalments of the 'Changing Time' project (four including the textile), is it an idea that you keep coming back to?

"Changing time" is a project that speaks of evolution, and as such also follows my evolution over time, as if I were the same person immersed in water, an idea that evolves and comes up again renewed in time.

The textile is not a series but it is an evolution of "Changing Time", there will definitely be a new series in 2014.

There's something quite 'womb-like' about the images with the twisted body shapes suspended in water, is this something you actively considered?

Yes, the embryonic part of my work is vital as it's the thread that binds all the images.

How many photos do you normally take each shoot? Do you like to take a lot and then pick from them afterwards, or are you selective when shooting?

I usually shoot about 20 photos. I select the subject and also, to avoid tired models, I was the model in the second series. It is very tiring and challenging laying underwater.

Where do you take the images and are they difficult to capture?

I shoot them in the bath, at home or at my friend's house. I try to put the models at ease, I prefer the movements and natural poses. I observe and try to grasp the nature of who I'm shooting then capture it.

What has the response been to the series?

The series have been very successful. I've had thousands of views on my website (www.ramonazordini.com), Facebook, Etsy and on Behance. I've got some important exhibitions in 2014 and it sells very well. I would say that I can not complain, I really liked c reating it.

Is there a particular image that is a personal favourite?

I love all my works, they are like my children and usually I do not make preferences.

Jokes aside, it is difficult because depending on the time I have a different preference, let's say that at the moment I prefer this Annex.

None of the images of the changing time series has a name, the names are given to works by those who adopt them, so that the owners also make a contribution of evolution.

How would you summarise your artistic style?

I wouldn't know how to define it. I do not find it in any artistic style and this is sometimes a problem because often I can't join shows of a particular style. I think it's a strong style, it sometimes has a strange effect and although I find it very natural and very elegant; some find it disturbing.

Links: www.ramonazordini.com www.behance.net/ramonazordini

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RAMONA ZORDINI

Marcela is a digital artist whose passion for photography and illustration has led her to express herself through photo manipulation since 2004. During these years she has found and developed her own style, in which she has combined multiple techniques including painting, drawing and even sculpture, all contribution to the final execution of her work.

Her compositions all based in photographs, undergo a complex process of transformation, assemblage and detailing that brings them closer to a pictorial expression.

Links: www.marcelabolivar.com www.behance.net/graydecay

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