COVER: “Waterfalling” by Elena “Kassandra” Vizerskaya www.vizerskaya.com www.facebook.com/Vizerskaya (see interview page 102)
DIRETTORE RESPONSABILE Emanuele Cucuzza RESPONSABILE DEL TRATTAMENTO DEI DATI PERSONALI (D.LGS. 196/2003) Emanuele Cucuzza INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION Pineapple Media Limited www.pineapple-media.com enquiries@pineapple-media.com PRINTER/ STAMPA Miligraf s.r.l. Via degli Olmetti, 36 - 00060 Zona Industriale Formello (RM) - Italy www.miligraf.it IMAGE IN PROGRESS (VERSIONE TELEMATICA) Registrazione del Tribunale di Roma n. 260 dell’8 giugno 2010 IMAGE IN PROGRESS (VERSIONE STAMPATA) Registrazione del Tribunale di Roma n. 261 dell’8 giugno 2010
BIANNUAL - N. 4 - 2013 www.imageinprogress.com www.imageinprogress.blog.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Emanuele Cucuzza ema@edifore.com ADVERTISING AND PRESS INQUIRIES, SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES SUBMISSIONS AND EVENTS: info@edifore.com TRANSLATION Silvestro De Falco PUBLISHER / EDITORE EdiFore s. r. l. via Orti di Trastevere, 55 - 00153 Rome - Italy T: +39 06 58 30 19 18 - +39 02 30 31 43 34 www.edifore.com - info@edifore.com
Follow Image in Progress!
The world of Image in Progress is growing and with it the number of initiatives for you to join its vibrant community. Besides the official website, www.imageinprogress.com , you can now check our video-blog Image in Progress TV www.imageinprogress.blog.com with our videointerviews, profiles on the social networks and our events or those promoted by our partners. Keep an eye on us!
Follow our events! From the very start, Image in Progress has attracted a lot of attention among image professionals. In fact, prestigious partnerships were established almost immediately, which allowed: a) Image in Progress to reach an increasingly wider audience in different high-level international contexts; and b) our partners to take advantage of a highly focused and effective showcase to promote their initiatives in photography, fashion and design (see Mediapartnership box). For these events we invited and involved those who follow us not only through the paper edition, but also through the social networks. Follow us on the social networks! First of all, we invite you to join us on our Facebook fan page, which we use for official communications and as a blog to publicize the events and best images of our contacts, other professionals, publications or brands that we follow. We now have close to 1,880 contacts (with a potential of 1.5 million fans’ friends). We are recording a progressive increase of followers on Twitter and on issuu.com, where you can check the preview of every issue of the magazine, with all the advertisements and only the first page of every article. Wa t c h o u r v i d e o i n t e r v i e w s o n I MAGE I N P RO G R ESS T V ! As we approach our fourth issue, we have also launched Image in Progress TV, www.imageinprogress.blog.com . It is a video-blog where, in addition to introduction and promotional videos of every issue of the paper magazine, you can watch the photos of our events and our interviews made in the field, during trade shows, exhibitions and other events. These brief interviews, accompanied by the photos which we comment, explain and publicize, suggest and give voice to photographers, gallery owners, trade magazine editors, other professionals …who talk about their work without overshadowing the images which, thanks to the zoom on the original files, can be observed in detail. We recommend that you sign up also for our newsletter to receive updates on 2 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
our upcoming video-posts (don’t worry; the periodic updates will not be invasive!). However, our YouTube and Vimeo channels remain constantly active; here, too, we would be happy to add you and keep an eye on your work, the way we do on Facebook and Twitter. Image in Progress promotes emerging talents! As many of you might have noticed, Image in Progress is not just content to interview and publish exclusive articles by some of the most important photographers ever but has taken the challenge to give visibility to its own selection of emerging talents – often almost unknown – whose work (in whole or in part) we somehow consider interesting, promising, stimulating for someone else’s creativity or as compelling for collectors and other types of clients (marketing managers, designers, art directors, publishers, magazine editors…) that love to take chances and bet, like we do, that one day these rookies will make a mark. That is why we will accept submissions by sector professionals and by anyone who thinks that we should follow his or her work. Even if we do not publish you, at Image in Progress the door is always open! Where to find us and how to help us! We publicize our upcoming events on the social networks, on the blog as well as on or official website, where often you can buy old and new issues of Image in Progress at our stand. However, you can pick up a copy of Image in Progress at the best international newsstands or directly online on our official website: www.imageinprogress.com/newsstand.html Here you can find both past issues (at a higher price), while supplies last, and the preview of the latest issue, which you can order and receive before everybody else. But, if you really want to play it safe and eliminate the risk of missing even one of our upcoming issues, you can take advantage of our great subscription offers. In this way, you will help us: to remain increasingly independent of the search, and the pressure, of sponsors and to focus on the quality of our exclusive contents… ;)
Our stand at fotofever Brussels, 2012
Media-partnerships 2012/2013 Art Gent - Gent, Belgium - www.artgent.be Associazione Grigio18% - Rome, Italy www.grigio18.com
Circuito OFF - August 28 – 31, 2013 Teatrino Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy www.circuitooff.com fotofever - Brussels 4-6 October 2013, Tour&Taxis, Brussels, Belgium fotofever - Paris 15-17 November 2013, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France www.fotofeverartfair.com Le Salon de la Photo 7-11 November 2013, Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles, Paris, France www.lesalondelaphoto.com Month of Photography Bratislava Bratislav, Slovakia - www.mesiacfotografie.sk Month of Photography Los Angeles - April 2013 Los Angeles, CA, USA - www.mopla.org New Wave Photography 19 -27 April 2013 The Crypt Gallery, London, UK www.unitedcreativity.org Nordic Light Light International Festival of Photography 23-27 April 2013- Kristiansund, Norway - www.nle.no Photography Masters Conference 18-19 May 2013 - Grado (GO), Italy www.photographymasters.eu Photoshow 22-25 March 2013 Fiera di Milano City, Milan, Italy www.photoshow.it Temporary Museum for New Design 9-14 April 2013 SuperstudioPiù - Superstudio 13, Milan, Italy www.superstudiogroup.com The International Photography Awards www.photoawards.com The Lucie Awards - Los Angeles, CA, USA www.lucies.org Vision - Copenhagen Fashion Week 8-10 August 2013 Copenhagen, Denmark www.cphvision.dk
Our exhibit at Vision, Copenhagen, 2012
Previous media-partnerships
I want your picture (collective exhibition) 9-10 December 2011- Espace Commines, Paris, France One Shot: The Landscape (2011) Single-Image, Themed Competition presented by IPA - The International Photography Awards (Our Editor in Chief has been part pf the jury) www.photoawards.com Opening of “In illo tempore vox populi…” Exhibition by Maurizio Galimberti Galleria Ca’ di Fra’, Milan, Italy 22 October 2012 Super Design London (2010) The Dairy, London, UK www.superdesign-london.com
Image in Progress was advertised also on the paper edition of the following publications: Official catalogue of Month of Photography Bratislava www.mesiacfotografie.sk Official catalogue of Nordic Light International Festival of Photography (2010) www.nle.no
Official catalogue of The Lucie Awards (2010) www.lucies.org Vision’s official magazine (2012) Copenhagen Fashion Week, Denmark www.cphvision.dk on the following websites: 1000 Words Photography Contemporary Photography Magazine Online www.1000wordsmag.com Photographers.it www.photographers.it …and on different blogs. If you too talked about us, tell us about your blog, we will be happy to share it!
www.imageinprogress.com www.imageinprogress.blog.com IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 3
Photography fairs
t: Elisa Coretti
Photoshow 2013, Milan wears a Photographer Hat
Interview with Fabio Ustignani, organizer of the Photoshow (Milan 22-25 March 2013), featuring this year also the Photofestival circuit of exhibitions.
Milan will host the 14th Photoshow on 22-25 March 2013, an event where professional and amateur photographers will be able to learn about the latest development and trends in the photographic and digital sectors. Everyone will be able to participate in the meetings with professional photographers for portfolio readings, for practical explanations and demonstrations of how to use equipment that the best companies are about to launch in the market, as well as the exhibition of antique cameras… Events such as the Photographers Days by AIF, organized by Starring and Eikonzero for the Italian Association of Photo-Digital Imaging are an opportunity to keep up with the latest developments and to make new contacts but are of interest also for amateurs or the merely curious. An attractive experience is that devoted to the shop of Antonio Manta, a well-known photographer and a respected Art printer, where one can learn about the entire flow of work in a Fine Art studio. Yet, what does this particular sector represent in your reality? We asked Fabio Ustignani, organizer of the Photoshow: “In addition to Antonio Manta’s shop, the brands themselves (Epson, Canon…) focus a lot of attention on printing, which is achieving increasingly better technical and quality levels. Our objective, of course, is to cater to the needs of an increasingly large public and fine art is something of interest also to non-professionals… Despite the positive numbers that we have already reached with our tradeshow, we are not sitting on our laurels; on the contrary, in a critical moment for the economy, such as this, we intensify our efforts and are always on the lookout for new ideas”. Together with the Photoshow there is the Photofestival 2013, a circuit of exhibitions organized and sponsored by the Photoshow and promoted by AIF Associazione Italiana Photo-Digital Imaging, Milan Chamber of Commerce and Confcommercio Milan. How do these two events combine together? “Photofestival was created seven years ago to serve the part of the public that is interested mainly to the cultural and artistic aspects and is one of our initiatives to promote both the Photoshow and photography itself. It has reached a very high quality level and this year we have about one hundred galleries, including some the most prestigious ones, for as long as two months. Each set up a photo exhibition in its own space while others, organized directly by us, from the Photoshow, will be present also inside the tradeshow.” I think you follow also other important international tradeshows; how are these events changing? “One always tries to get the best from the other tradeshows, but there are no more the same breakthroughs 4 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
as the coming of the digital age more than ten years ago… Now it is just about improved equipment. Now, there is a lot of emphasis also on videos; for instance, we devote spaces also to screenplay, video editing… But we do not forget about history, with our Antiquarian Shop…” What is the role of a tradeshow like yours? “A tradeshow plays many roles: there is the commercial aspect, where companies do business with retailers and make new contacts also with final customers, who can touch and try the cameras; then there is the educational role. Exhibitors set up sessions where such high-caliber photographers as Maurizio Galimberti (see exclusive interview in Image in Progress N. 2) and Settimio Benedusi are ready to tell about themselves, to answer questions, including technical questions, and to explain the sector…” Do you think that maybe interactivity and direct involvement are the most important parts? “Definitely, visitors are increasingly involved. This year we had for the first time in Italy a promotional screen or totem using eye-tracking technology. You can go through promotional pages or take a virtual journey through the tradeshow by moving your eyes or batting your eyelids. In addition, we as organizers find it very useful to have accurate statistics on the most visited pages or even the areas of the single pages that attracted the most attention. Also, as I said, both amateurs and professionals can test equipment, participate in contests, show what they can do. We have been getting a lot of “like” for the past three years on our Facebook wall - a real board on display at the tradeshow with the most beautiful photos posted on our Facebook page by our 25,000 fans. This year we have an exhibition devoted to Instagram and a collaboration project with Arca di Noè, from TV news show TG5: this is a contest where all viewers of this news program send in their animal photos. The best among various categories will receive a prize… In addition, we have schools, but not just photography schools, to teach even just the fundamentals…” How are your visitors changing? “Before they were medium-high level, now we attract the medium segment, increasingly women but, most of all, increasingly younger people. Young people, in particular, are fascinated by photography thanks also to cellular phones which, on one side, can be seen as competing with small reflexes and, on the other, as entry-level equipment to stimulate a passion for photography and eventually the purchase of more sophisticated cameras.”
www.photoshow.it www.photofestival-milano.it
Photography fairs t: Josephine Fournier
Fotofever: conquering new collectors in Paris and Brussels! Fotofever, the well-known photography art fair, is going to double, as the Brussels edition, from 4th to 7th of October 2013 (Tour&Taxis) is going to be followed by one in Paris from 15th to 17th of November 2013. Let’s read about the story and the expectations of this increasingly promising fair through the words of its founder and current director, Cécile Schall.
Cécile Schall, founder and director of fotofever, is definitely one of the people who, like us, believe so much in photography that they decide to bet their future on it … which in her case looks quite promising, considering the impressive development between the first two editions of her fair (started in Paris in 2011 and moved to Brussels in 2012, where we recorded our first video-interviews, already on line on our new blog: www.imageinprogress.blog.com ). Where did you get this “fever” for photography? “I was born to a family of photographers for 3 generations… it helps to be crazy about promoting photography as a major art medium! After working for 15 years as a marketing and communication manager in companies such as Danone, Nestle and Louvre Hotels, and promoting photography with Roger Schall estate, her grandfather and Willy Ronis’s work, Cécile Schall “learned how to organize art fairs with Will Ramsay, the co-founder of Art Hong Kong (now Art Basel Hong Kong), Pulse and Affordable Art Fair”. …and where did the idea of fotofever come from? “The idea of creating fotofever is quite “old” but it took really 10 years for me to turn it into my own project … Since 2008, I have organized 9 fairs in Paris and Brussels, welcoming more than 300 different galleries and 80,000 visitors. In the last few years, fairs have become a key player in the market for galleries trying to reach new collectors. The fairs are mostly generalist (modern + contemporary art) and a lot of them look alike. The idea with fotofever was to create a specialized fair, dedicated only to photography, in order to help the development of a market for new generations of collectors and buyers. We launched “fotofever paris” in November 2011 during the month of photography: it was a key point to start in Paris because the city is the worldwide capital of photography and all the photography collectors and lovers are in Paris in mid-November… From the beginning, the idea was to use Paris as the international platform to develop fotofever in other continents, with one fair each year in each continent: Europe (Brussels), America (New York for example) and Asia (in an international art city such as Hong Kong). Unfortunately in 2012, with Paris Photo changing its dates one week later, we were not able to have our second edition in Paris (the venue was not available) and we launched “only” “fotofever brussels”… What are the results so far and what do you have in store for the next edition? We have organized 2 editions so far; one in Paris in 2011 (40 galleries, 11,500 visitors) and one in Brussels in 2012 (65 galleries, 10,000 visitors). The results are encouraging for both editions: there is a great potential
in Brussels, heart of Europe, crossroads of collectors, a very hospitable and accessible city and, as for Paris, it was time to create a real satellite fair to Paris Photo, with a younger scene to reveal and a more friendly approach to get a new generation of buyers. In 2013, we are now very proud and happy to announce that fotofever is back to Brussels 4 > 7 October (Tour&Taxis) AND Paris 15 > 17 November in the prestigious venue Le Carrousel du Louvre (where Paris Photo was born, 17 years ago).” How do Paris and Brussels differ as cities in the photography art market? “There is no comparison between the market in Paris and the market in Brussels. But what is important is the potential and the position fotofever can achieve. In Belgium, the photography market is small but the potential is big: there is a great art culture with on top of it great collectors and great collections! Brussels, as capital of Europe (even if the city remains a small capital: 1 million people) is uniquely positioned among London, Amsterdam, Paris and Cologne. In Belgium, there is less competition with only 2 major fairs that have been taking place in Brussels for several decades: Brafa (antiques) in January and Art Brussels (only contemporary art) in April. Organizing a fair in Brussels is much cheaper than in other expensive cities such as London, Paris, Basel, New York… and the public is very international, a good point to develop fotofever there… The objective with fotofever is to be the 3rd main art event in Brussels, dedicated to photography, and to develop the fair in the great venue of Tour & Taxis (17,000 square meters in the center of Brussels). In Paris, the market is big, with the success of Paris Photo, which is the equivalent of “Art Basel” for photography… but fotofever will remain several years in the shadow of Paris Photo while in other cities fotofever could be the key event in photography… but it will take more time!” How is the photography art market changing? What is its importance in the contemporary art context? “A fair is a meeting place where the galleries and the artists they are promoting can meet new art lovers, buyers and collectors. People take less time to visit the galleries when they know they can see them altogether in a fair, which is livelier, more fun! And collectors, when they trust a gallery, they can buy with just a phone call, without seeing the gallerist, without seeing the art work. A gallery can have clients all over the world. There is no art frontier! The good thing about contemporary photography is to be able to meet the artists and to get lower prices than vintage photography.”
www.fotofeverartfair.com IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 5
Photography fairs
t: Céline Caselli
Waiting for Le Salon de la Photo 2013
Interview with Jean-Pierre Bourgeois, Manager of the Salon de la Photo (7 - 11 November 2013, Paris) Le Salon de la Photo means crowded special events, workshops, technical presentations, organised and presented by top photo media professionals… and in France the Salon de la Photo is now given extensive coverage in all the major national media. What are the keys to the success of the Salon de la Photo? We ask it to JeanPierre Bourgeois, Manager of the Salon de la Photo. “Since 2007, when the present version of the Salon de la Photo began, this flagship event on the French photography market has become increasingly popular, with 80,612 visitors in 2012, representing a 12% increase on 2011. One of its main features is that it is designed both for the general public and for professionals, which makes it doubly interesting for exhibitors. Visitors in 2012 included 66,324 non-professionals, 11,702 professionals, 2,075 students of photography and related subjects, and 511 journalists.” What brings them all together? “All of them, men and women (1/3 of visitors are women), share a taste for the practice of photography and come to see the latest products and buy new equipment. They may come for professional reasons - some come to look for equipment for kitting out photofinishing shops or studios. But members of the general public come simply because they love photography. The event is a showcase for high-end products and even at this level amateur photographers always turn out to be experts in the field.” Le Salon de la Photo nowadays. “The Salon de la Photo, a five-day event held in Paris in November, has become THE place where photographers and lovers of photography can meet. It provides an opportunity to meet like-minded enthusiasts and discover the latest products from the world’s major brands: cameras, processing and printing equipment, and image sharing techniques. It gives visitors the chance to meet and talk to experts. And it’s also a great place to shop: the Sales Village, where visitors can buy products on display at the booths, has been a phenomenal success. As for the exhibitors, everyone who’s anyone in the world of photography will be here. Cameras have a host of new functions, and the range of products on display has widened thanks to the presence of audio and video professionals. A growing number of schools and training bodies exhibit at the event, and there are also travel companies specialising in photo safaris, book publishers, and so on... not to mention official photography organisations and the photography press!” 6 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
From equipment to the soul of photography… “The Salon de la Photo is not just a showcase for photo equipment. It also has a significant cultural dimension, highlighting the practice of photography and the work of professional photographers. For example the “Grandes Rencontres”, which are an opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes look at the work of professionals: a star-studded programme giving visitors the chance to meet some of the greatest names in the business; or the “Zooms”, which are awards for emerging professional photographers, with one winner chosen by the general public and another by the press: the Salon offers an exhibition to both winners.” What is the importance of these opportunities for Le Salon de la Photo? “This is an important aspect of the Salon’s credo: striving to defend and showcase the profession of photography in its most up-to-date form.” And the list of reasons to join The Salon de la Photo is long: the “Grande Librairie”: a hugely popular bookshop offering a wide selection of illustrated photography books and technical guides, as well as signing sessions with authors and photographers; unique exhibitions, specially organised for and by the Salon de la Photo: in 2012 “La jeune fille dans la ville”, photographs from the Agnès B Collection, an exhibition by Sonia Sieff, and “Parlez-moi d’amour”, a selection of works by great humanist photographers from the collection of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie. Perfect events during the Paris Month of Photography, whose Le Salon de la Photo is also a partner. How do you ensure that all photographers are kept in the loop? “The Salon de la Photo has developed an original partnership strategy creating a strong emotional link with both amateurs and professionals via the photography magazines they read and some 150 websites and blogs: partner organisations also have the opportunity to give their readers free admission to the event (a free gift worth 11 euros). The Salon de la Photo now extends well beyond the borders of France, as shown by our privileged relationship with Image in Progress.” Thank you!
Le Salon de la Photo From 7 to 11 November 2013 Paris – Paris Expo – Porte de Versailles www.lesalondelaphoto.com
Photography events
t: Maria and Edward Loades, founders of United Creativity*
Contemporary Photography from Central and Eastern Europe hits London
New Wave Photography 2013 – the Crypt Gallery, London - 19th - 27th April 2013 New Wave Photography 2013 is another dynamic exhibition from United Creativity. The Crypt Gallery, London (19th - 27th April) will host 12 artists, showing fine art photography from Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland. Following the success of the 2012 edition, this year’s exhibition recognises the rise of contemporary photography from Central and Eastern Europe. Surrealism, minimalist landscape and classical nude photography demonstrate the diversity of the work on display. Surrealism figures strongly at this exhibition with striking work from Hungarian artist Sarolta Bán. Her photographs show dream-like narratives through a series of digital montages. Sarolta has exhibited extensively throughout Japan, Luxembourg and Hungary and was recognised as 2011’s ‘Best Young Talent’ by Elle Magazine. Despite the wealth of digital mastery on display there is space for some refined analogue techniques such as gum print. Polish photographer Przemysław Kuciński shows some classic nude photographs using this 19th century technique. Gum print is by no means predictable, allowing the work to take on forms that could not previously be imagined. ‘All That I Love is not only the title of the work, it also refers to the whole
process of producing the images’ says Przemysław. Slovakian photographer, Zoltan Bekefy is another artist who draws inspiration from classical imagery, yet he manages to transform his grande landscapes into contemporary minimalist scenes. His adopted home in Ireland is clearly the source of inspiration, demonstrating subtle black and white images of turbulent seas and dramatic headlands. Karel Vojkovský’s photographs brings us back down to earth with some provocative studio based photographs. His intent to study the ‘dynamic extent of the human body’ is pushed to its limits with some striking female poses; one of the models proudly bears a scythe which will live long in the memory. The public opening evening will be held on Thursday 18th April with the exhibition running until 27th April at the Crypt Gallery, London. Free Entry. Following the exhibition in London, New Wave Photography 2013 will continue in Krakow, Poland from 13th June - 29th July. All artist’s work can be seen on United Creativity’s website. www.unitedcreativity.org
*United Creativity represents emerging contemporary photographers from Central and Eastern Europe. Founders Maria and Edward Loades believe that by organising international exhibitions they can provide a platform for their artists to excel at the beginning of their careers. United Creativity are committed to selling affordable art both at their exhibitions and through their extensive online gallery. This approach has allowed art novices and collectors to purchase high quality art in the comfort of their homes or more directly at the one of their events. The company also works closely with Interior Designers to provide the best selection of contemporary photography available in the current market. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 7
Video
t: Mara Sartore*
“Dear photographers and videomakers, let me introduce you my Circuito OFF…” The story of Circuito OFF. Circuito Off was founded 13 years ago by a group of Venetian friends in Paris. Most of us where just out from university, and each one was doing something different. The original idea was to create a showcase for emerging talents in Venice during the main Film Festival. From the very beginning we were all very ambitious and work together to build an out standing international event. In 13 years, as you can imagine, many things have changed. Only a few of those in the original group are still part of the organization and others have joined. But the most important change has been in the concept of the Festival. Circuito Off started off as a short film festival and today is a video and moving image festival. There is a big difference between these two definitions. From cinema we moved towards contemporary art and other forms of video which are always digital, produced with very small crews and linked to fashion videos and music. This transition started in 2008 and is all about curatorial choices. I would like to mention some of the special tributes we’ve dedicated in the last past few years to some experimental and innovative directors or collectives: The Directors Bureau, Marc Caro, Anton Corbijn, Jan Kounen, Martin de Thurah, Miltos Manetas, Ace Norton, Gaspar Noé, Partizan, Spike Jonze, Simon Cahn, Gabriel Abrantes, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Zoe Cassavetes... I think that a simple list of names like this one can give you quite an idea of what we have been doing and what we like. The aim of Circuito OFF. The most important aim of Circuito Off today is to draw a line that goes
from cinema to video passing though different genres to highlight the intense experimentalism that can be found among the contemporary creative video production. Video Art today has a very broad spectrum of significance, it’s not just a genre that can be closed in some art gallery or museum. In the same way “video” is a generic definition that comprehends too much to describe by itself what we look for. Thus we need each time to add a word to video: video art, fashion video, video clip, etc... Still I think that all the artists or directors that have been at Circuito Off have something in common: an original and very subjective way of looking through the camera. Their own way which makes them always not only directors but artists. If you think your work could interest us… Regarding Circuito Off international competition, for a long time it has been launched and pushed through numerous newsletters over the world. Today we stopped announcing it because we prefer for the main part to invite the artists and directors that we like, but we still receive many videos, and we still look at all of them, so if you think your work matches with our curatorial line please send us a link to look at it. We don’t accept hard copies any longer... The digital age won definitively. Follow us! Subscribing to the festival newsletter and joining the facebook fan page you will be always updated to Circuito Off latest news. www.light-box.it www.myartguides.com www.circuitooff.com
Art Curator and publisher, Mara Sartore was born in London in 1975. In 1999 she graduated with honors at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in Foreign Languages and Literature with a thesis on the Spanish writer Javier Marias, completed after a period of study in Madrid thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After winning a scholarship in Venice, she decides to complete her studies in Barcelona at the Pompeu Fabra University, specializing in Contemporary Art with a study of the Catalan painter Antoni Tapies. In year 2000 she founded in Paris, with a group of Italian friends, Circuito Off Venice Video and Moving Images festival, conceived as an event to showcase young talents in contemporary Film Festival in Venice. In 2002 she returned to Barcelona as coordinator of exhibitions at Metronom, private space for contemporary art owned by the Catalan Art Collector Rafael Tous. In 2004 she returned to Venice to direct together with Matteo Bartoli Circuito Off and, in 2006, founded the publishing house Lightbox. In 2008 Lightbox publishing fulfills its primary vocation with the launch of the series of guidebooks My Local Guide that obtained immediately a great success. My Local Guide are followed in 2009 by My Biennale Guide, a comprehensive guide to all the events that take place in Venice during Biennale Art and Architecture. In 2012 My Biennale Guide becomes an international project on large scale called My Art Guides covering the major international events of contemporary art as Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach. 8 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
MILAN DESIGN WEEK 9th-14th AprIL 2013
SUPERSTUDIO presents
GLOBAL DESIGN QUALITY AND RESEARCH ART INTERACTIONS INTERNATIONAL BRANDS TOP DESIGNERS EmERGING TALENTS
WITH ALCANTARA, CICLOTTE, COTTO, DAvID TRUBRIDGE & TSAR, BETINA GOmES, HOWE, HYUNDAI, ImIB, KANEKA, LG HAUSYS, mARSHAL OFFICE OF THE WIELKOPOLSKA REGION, mALETTI, mELOGRANOBLU, GISPEN, CRISTALPLANT, NOvAK, mOSA, SAmSUNG ELECTRONICS ITALIA, TAGINA CERAmICHE D’ARTE, THAILAND’S SLOW HAND DESIGN, SWEDISH DESIGN GOES mILAN, YOTHAKA, ZAvA. SPECIAL PROjECTS: DISCOvERING, OTHER TALENTS, OTHER WORLDS, OTHER IDEAS / FREEDOm, FREE DESIGN SHOW & SALE / ExHIBIT “ARTS & CRAFTS & DESIGN. IL TEmPO SECONDO ALESSANDRO mENDINI E I SUOI ARTIGIANI”. THANKS TO ASUS. milan - Superstudio Più, via Tortona 27 - Superstudio 13, via Forcella 13 and via Bugatti 9 Ph +39 02 422501 - info@superstudiogroup.com - www.superstudiogroup.com online registration: www.superstudioevents.com
Contemporary Art works: Flavio Lucchini t: Stefano Montecchi
Manipulating “stolen” photos in contemporary art
Interview with Flavio Lucchini on his latest project, devoted to footballer Mario Balotelli, an icon of unruly talent…
Mario Balotelli’s popularity has long crossed the inspired immediately by the signing of Balotelli. classical borders of world football. Between proof However, you chose as context the 2012 Europeof unquestionable talent and less edifying profes- an Championship, when Mario took off his natiosional and personal antics, his vicissitudes have nal-team jersey after the second goal in the semiraised him to the status of worldwide icon. A dif- final against Germany. A moment of redemption ficult childhood and a troubled personal character for many Italians not only in football terms… To thrust him in the Olympus of the beautiful and what extent did your choice of this image for damned, who attract the public’s attention with your work depend on the player himself and to a mix of curiosity what extent on that and concern. The famous moment? “I risk is to allow an come from a wealthy enormous talent to family. In my hogo to waste, which metown, Mantua, I is a terrible thing to used to live in a wordo regardless of the king class neighbouperson. The ability rhood near an area to control this talent with villas built after is perhaps a source of WWI. Public schoconcern for everyools and the church ne. Even Time put made rich and poor him on his cover children mingle. My celebrating him as playmates were the a symbol of racial children of great raintegration and the cing car driver Tazio identity of the new Nuvolari, cycling Europe. Despite the champion, winner young age – he was of several Giro d’Itaborn in 1990 – Sulia, Learco Guerra, a per Mario, as he is prominent bank exeoften called, has alrecutive, the nephews ady inspired several of Cardinal Ruffini artists, including and other worthies. Flavio Lucchini (see Probably this situaeditorial in Image in tion prompted me to Progress N. 1). A use in the best way former art director possible my hidden of Vogue Italia and and latent talents. Flavio Lucchini, Balotelli: Devil, 2012, digital painting on canvas, 120x170h cm founder of SuperStudio The image of Balotelli and SuperStudioPiù in Milan - structures that are seen by millions of people during Italy-Germany considered temples of fashion, photography and is a strong statement not only by a player who design - Flavio Lucchini has long been focusing scored a goal but also by a man who overcomes on contemporary art. Paintings, sculptures, sta- all challenges.” tues of various sizes of up to over two meters… Even though art has always celebrated historic the media to express his creativity were and are to and charismatic figures, many do not look fathis day different. Lately, he showed a marked in- vourably on references to contemporaries… terest for the graphic rearrangement of the photos “I often wonder what is meant by contemporary of some Milan A.C. players… I think you were art, after the discoveries of the conceptual, arte po10 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
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Expanding horizons image - t: Alessandra Divizia*
Around the world as a model and as an illustrator
Rome. I grew up with Japanese animation, thus my to and it seemed a little scary and unapproachable dream was to become a character designer for ani- at that time. mation in Tokyo. I’m from L’Aquila, in the center Milan. As soon as I finished my studies, I wanted to of Italy, and I decided to choose a city pretty close explore more and had the feeling that more opporto my own with a school where I could learn the tunities would unfold in Milan (Italy), where I lived trade... While studying illustration in Rome I star- for some years. While modeling, on the side I did ted to work as a model. By then, we were just a few some storyboarding and illustration jobs, studied models in Rome… After a while everyone wanted some graphic design. I think I have quite a restless to become a model and an invasion of Eastern Eu- mind and get claustrophobic after a while, more ropean and South American girls started, changing or less everywhere I go… So I looked for the mental market rules and prices. I had great fun hanging peace that the possibility to experiment as much as out and worI can gives me. I king with them didn’t really have mainly for haute plans. I just left couture fashion my flat there for a shows. Working three-month long in the fashion vacation… world allowed Cape Town. The me to observe nature in Cape and be immerTown (South sed in various Africa) is truly forms of beauty amazing. One and elegance. afternoon I climBut I still had bed Lion’s Head, other things in one of the main my mind… I mountains there had discovered with a group of Photoshop and friends and the illustrator, thus sun set on our digital illustraway down. I saw tion and photo people sitting on retouching, and benches on the had a certain mountain coninterest in 3d templating the modeling and sun melting in visual-effect softhe ocean, while tware. Then my having a glass of passion for drawine. I could hear wings and combirds twitting and puter graphic cicadas chirping. always stopped The noises of the me as I felt that city were so far that was what I that even if I saw image by Alessandra Divizia really wanted to cars moving on do, the one thing I wanted to focus on. Thanks to the street they were as excluded from that glorious modeling, I could travel to China and Japan, where view. I wanted to remain and asked the sun to let me I was lucky enough to meet some of the illustrators stay. Apparently he granted my wish. After a month and character designers whose work I got to know I started to work for a children’s book publisher; when I was growing up. I never considered, years they provided my visa so I could spend my days before, that it could really happen. It was a huge drawing and the afternoons and evenings walking honor for me to get to talk to and spend some time in the beautiful beaches around. I was ecstatic for with them. I started to perceive the entire world, some long months. I also did some modeling jobs, somehow strangely, as a small place. At the same thousands of commercials are shot over there (betime I realized that in Japan culture and working autiful locations, cheaper prices), but finally things habits were way too far from the ones I was used changed and modeling was no longer my full time 12 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Expanding horizons t: Amy Rose*
Modeling and yoga, the Healthy way… My start as model. I started modeling on the East coast in my early teens, on and off through out college. Then, I decided to put my modeling career on hold to finish my Bachelors degree. I, eventually, moved to California to get away from the cold winters and enjoy hiking and deepen my yoga practice. I decided that my true calling was to become a certified yoga instructor. Throughout the years as I taught yoga in Los Angeles, I was approached to model for various athletic clothing companies and soon found it both lucrative and empowering to return back to modeling. LA vs NY. The LA market is very different from the NY market, in that NY specializes in Fashion and LA is more commercially driven. NY models are for the most part, young, tall, often exotic and very thin for fashion looks. Since LA is more lifestyle, the models here are more approachable looking, with healthy toned, trim figures, and more of the “girl next door” look. As you get older, in your late 20’s and up you can get plenty of work. So, really, any age can be successful. I primarily book commercial lifestyle, fitness and lingerie campaigns here in LA and through my Miami agency. I have also ventured into commercial acting and have a talent agent. Many models work both print and talent. It’s wise to take commercial acting classes if you are considering expanding to a Talent division. Whichever coast you are based as a model, you can still incorporate yoga into your life and use it to your advantage. Gone are 14 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
the days of the unhealthy, starved waif. We are aware of our bodies now, more than ever and want to keep our health for the rest of our lives. Treat your body as a temple and it will shine for years to come. Tip on being and Staying successful in modeling. The key to success in modeling at any age, is having a great attitude and being very professional. Word travels fast in town and first impressions do last a lifetime. With that in mind, read your instructions for your job and bring whatever necessary items to the shoot, arrive on time or better yet, early, be well rested, with a clean face and hair, and stay off your cell phone. Leave your personal life at the door and smile when you walk in. Show respect and success will follow you in every aspect of life. My Yoga class. When I’m not modeling or going to castings, I teach 3 Power Vinyasa Flow classes at two yoga studios in Los Angeles. I focus on gaining flexibility and building core power. I play music in my classes, which help to motivate to keep the momentum going. It’s actually, very fun! Getting in shape should be something you look forward to, not a burden. In addition to providing a great work out, true Yoga is really about finding your center, stilling your racing mind and maintaining a balance within the body and mind. Breathing techniques, such as the working breath, or Ujjayi, can help you hold your poses longer and embrace the challenge. Shavasana, the final resting pose, will leave you feeling regenerated and full of light. Cardio-Hiking. In addition to yoga, I love to hike.
ph.: Roger Wong Photography - www.rogerwong.ca
Story and tips of Amy Rose, professional model and Yoga teacher in California
Network
t: Imane Haida*
ph.: Alain Colette - www.alaincollette.net
Your contact in Brussels
My start as a model. I was discovered by a photo- to open myself a bit more to the fashion world grapher from Paris, “Alain”, who was the first sho- and also to teach what I learned by becoming a oting me. From that moment on, I started to pose professional coach for new faces and professional for editorials, work in fashion shows and then models. I organize some courses to teach how to to be represented by model agencies in Belgium walk, how to pose… giving image tips. Right now (Castings Factory, IMM) and other countries (Su- I’m a models’ coach for many beauty contests blime model Dubaï, Contrebandes Paris, Perfect and model agencies and I do work also for primodèle Lille, Inmortal Models Maroc). vate clients who want to become more confident My talents. I’d say my talents are my ambitions and learn the right way to introduce themselves and my love for this sector; I’ve always been a per- to agencies with practical advice (what to do and fectionist. Thus, I try everyday to give my best for what not to do). a perfect work, I’m always on time and professio- I’m also a supervisor of the choreography till the nal, two of the most important keys to success in models learn it well, in order to have a perfect this world, obviously in addition to your physique show. This is how I became also a choreographer… du rôle … ;) My mixed origins (I’m half Moroc- My first pieces of advice for my clients-models… can and half Brazilian) gave me quite a rare kind My first piece of advice for clients is to be objecof look - a major asset for me- which put me in the tive during the selection and to do castings with list of exotique models, which are quite difficult to many models to choose the right person for the find in countries such as Belgium. specific context. For models, I advice them not to My Key Projects. I’ve worked in many fashion go, ever, to casting with too much make-up or or shows, for important brands (Christophe van dressed too sexy. It’s the natural look that agency Liedekerke, Deborah Velasquez, Levi’s, Caftan du and clients want to see. Maroc at Louvre in Paris, Ashima & Leena in Du- The Stars. For seven years I worked also as booker bai…); I’ve been photographed for editorials for for celebrities (such as Adriana Karembeu, David publications such as Flair Magazine (number 1 in Guetta, Bob Sinclar, Matt Pokora, Massimo GarBelgium) or Dzeriet Magazine (Algerie) and in cia), for Top Model Belgium ( www.topmodelbelseveral catalogues (Premaman, G star...). gium.be ) an important event organized by Jeremy My job as models’ coach, choreographer et booker. Urbain. After working together for some years, Currently, I’m interested in fashion shows, catalo- and considering my experience, Jeremy asked me gues, magazines and to work as a booker for his model agency “Queen paid shootings, but Models” (www.queenmodelsagency.com ), a very also in projects that dynamic and professional agency, based in Brussels. could be interesting Collaborations in Brussels. I will be happy to help for my book. anyone who needs my help to find a model, a hoHowever, after six stess, a celebrity, a photographer, a make-up artist or years of experien- a location where to shoot or organize a fashion show. ce as a professional www.imane.book.fr model, I decided Born in Casablanca le 30th June 1984 from an hair stylist and visagiste father and a stylist mother, Imane Haida decided to move to Belgium, just after her high school, to discover a new world. After few months and few shootings, age 20, she had her first contract with a model agency. Since then, she travelled for fashion shows (Paris, Milan, Maroque, Germany, Dubai..). Nowadays she works as models and stars’ booker at Queen Models Agency in Brussels and as model and coach in all Belgium. 16 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Novel t: Anita Zechender*
Photos of a Soul The Pathology of Hidden Abysses
The wooden door of this old library in Brooklyn is the most romantic thing that New York can evoke. The true squeaking of something which is still thought for people. The girl inside loves her books so much that she dusts them, leafs through them and flatters them like a secret and precious treasure. I give her a furtive glance; she has a je-ne-sais-pas-quoi that attracts me. Maybe it is her calmness, her total dedication to something, the slow motion of her time so unlike mine. Her time does not belong to me. I convince myself that that woman holds the key to the truth and so I imitate her. I begin to move around the bookshelves slowly to look for my pathology. My hands, which are still too fast, find old photo books among books never covered by dust. Suddenly, I realize I cannot take pictures, and this drives me crazy because that was exactly what I needed in that moment. Then I remember the girl in the library, the timeless one. I hint a smile and continue my search. The Little Prince comes inevitably in the pages of the first book. Here he is with his mantle and his rose, in a beautiful drawing by a childman or a man-child, but it does not matter. What matters is that it always touches my emotions. The pathology of the Petit Prince was his rose; he could not go too far, time would not have forgiven him. Further ahead, in other pages, Wonderland allows me to enter and exit its plots, where Alice as an imaginary friend waits for me with White Rabbit. I eat a piece of her cake and suddenly I turn into a giant; now I am the pathology of space. I go out of my body, leaving those little clothes of an Alice who is still a child, and try to reach for the stars. If I had my camera I would shoot them, I would keep them with me forever; nobody will believe that I was face to face with the stars. Ethan? Yes, he would see them in my eyes. He would go back with me to court them. The pathology of space is not reproduced in an image; it expands, floods out, like the skyscrapers of this city, the cement, like unspoiled oceans, obesity, pain, happiness, the big bang. I go back to my small read coat and I realize that it is the girl in the library that now is looking at me furtively. I smile with a bit of embarrassment. I think she found out about my stars. The wonder of the world is what
CHAPTER 3 saves it from its pathology. People call crazy what they cannot understand, forgetting that folly might be the highest expression of the intellect. Forgetting that the fire of creativity often resides in the abysses of what they call illness, sparking from states of exaltation of the spirit; it gushes forth from what we define as pathological. In other spaces, at a different pace there are those who take pictures of a different New York. More or less pathological, more or less true. The clock of the library marks four p.m., and I have spent most of my day here. Here and somewhere else. And I also took many pictures. No one will ever see those stars. I will only tell Ethan about them. I exit through that door of Wonders, say bye to the Queen of Hearts and outside I find a city still capable of astonishing. I still have a lot of time, all for me and New York. I still have enough daylight to capture a few more images. Crooked houses, shoes hanging from electricity lines, used armchairs and sofas on the sidewalks. An atmosphere vaguely reminiscent of the 70s puts me in a cheerful mood. I adore this type of pathology that makes me look crazy. I smile and think I have all the material that I need to set up the exhibition at the Metropolitan. Walking down Bedford Avenue I feel as though I was in the TV series Happy Days and here she is, making everything more real with her cigarette and hair rollers still on. Vantil, leaning on her window sill, tells me: “Naniuska why are you looking for in the sky? Brooklyn is all here”. Her soul is poetry; it’s home. Her Italian heart transplanted here in America makes me feel less sick. It makes me feel home. This is the pathology of space. It is not real. It changes with the nuances of the soul. A foreign place can be home because home is where your heart is. I look at her and capture her image. She is an exhibition face. She is full of what I would call life; I fix my stockings which are not perfectly grown yet; I think that this city’s light lasts longer than the universe. I raise my head and throw a kiss. Then I answer with a big smile: “Vantil I was looking for you”. It’s almost sunset in this corner of the world and pathology, like a rebel genius, walks on the Brooklyn Bridge. To be continued in the next issue.
anita.zechender@libero.it
*Anita Zechender, a free-lance journalist, a traveler by inclination, loves to observe the world’s nuances, understand their interconnections and leave them again free to play. After she obtained a Master’s degree in fashion, she has been researching new trends and has performed advertising work for Miss Sixty e Murphy&Nye. Writing for her has always been artwork, something that needs phantasy to be intuited, courted and loved. Photography, fashion and art unveil the eternity of time to those who have the soul to understand it. She writes about travel, photography, fashion, art and design for international magazines. Inspired by Bradbury, Nabokov, Allende and Tim Burton’s films, she is taking her first steps as a writer with a story written in installments for Image in Progress. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 17
PUBLICATIONS
ph.: David Drebin t: Emanuele Cucuzza, in collaboration with Galeria Chroma, Saint Paul, Brazil (see interview, page 148)
Vanity and sincerity
© Beautiful Disasters by David Drebin, ULTIMATUM CITY, 2012, published by teNeues, www.teneues.com. Photo © 2012 David Drebin. www.daviddrebin.com
Interview with David Drebin, considered as a “rockstar” of the fashion photographers…
18 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
PUBLICATIONS
Linda sitting on a broken tv - ph: Guido Argentini
(1970, Canada) In a unique manner, David Drebin’s work combines voyeuristic and psychological viewpoints. He offers the viewer a dramatic insight into emotions and experiences which many of us have doubtlessly felt at some point of our lives. After successfully completing the Parsons School of Design in New York City in 1996, David Drebin rapidly made a name for himself as an internationally renowned photographer creating images of movie stars, sports personalities and various entertainers and subsequently was commissioned for countless high profile advertising campaigns around the world. As early as in 2005, Drebin had his first solo exhibition at Camera Work in Berlin. This was followed by his first comprehensive illustrated book entitled “Love & Other Stories” in 2007 and this zeitgeist moment signaled the transformation from commercial photographer into art photographer. Among his exclusive customers are American Express, Davidoff, Mercedes, MTV, Nike, and Sony. His works are published in magazines such as Elle, GQ, Marie Claire, New York Times, Rolling Stone... Drebin’s photographs are epic, dramatic and, above all, cinematic. They have been collected around the world. In a unique and opulent way, Drebin stages femme fatales against the gigantic backdrops of cities such as Hong Kong, New York, and Paris. The panorama of the big cities, which, due to their format, are a tribute to cinema, serve as cinematic settings. With their impressive skyscrapers, they provide the viewer with a nearly infinite surface for the imagination. The distinctive tension and depth in his pictures arise from the free combination of such differing topics as humor and sex, melancholy and sex, and melancholy and humor. At Art Miami in 2010, his now sold out Central Park sold for a record price of $78,000 through Contessa Gallery who has feautured Drebin in major Art Fairs since 2008 alongside art world legends Andy Warhol, Chuck Close and Helmut Newton. Exclusively publishing books with teNeues, his books are distributed around the world and often followed with exhibitions in Paris, New York, Miami, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Brussels and many other cities internationally. He has already worked with many famous actors such as Charlize Theron. Among his admirers are such personalities as Ben Stiller and Sir Elton John, a famous collector of photography art. He’s represented by some of the world finest Art Galleries and in the Fall of 2012, teNeues released David Drebin’s latest monograph “Beautiful Disasters”. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 19
Hervé All, “N01.01”, from “Women Lightscape” serie lambda print w/Diasec on dibond 130x200cm, edition of 3, 80x120, edition of 5.
ph.-t: Hervé All*
All about All Experimenting my style
As it is often the case, photography came to me through my family. My father was well equiped amateur photographer, and my sister and I were sooner than not chosen as models. Early on in my life I was made to pose naked on fur, as well as my sister. Later, during my third year at the academy of fine arts of Perpignan, I walked into the dark room with negatives and slides and experimented with the sensitive material. The experimentations multiplied, and I added the technique of the pinhole to the work in progress, which is a tool I still use today when animating workshops in various academy of arts in France and abroad. My experimentations soon hinted at the esthetics and surrealism of Man Ray and André Kertez, whom I regard as artistic father-figures. Man Ray for his mastery of composition and his use of Rayogrammes and other manipulations 24 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
and incursion of objects when working with the enlarger. Kertez for his relation to the body and his deformations of reality, which I resort to when exploring the shape of the pinholes and experimenting with the positionning of the photosensitive paper in concave or convex way inside the camera. Some contemporary artists with whom I feel a connection: Jeff Wall, Andreas Gursky, Shirin Neshat for the poetry which emerges from her videos, Sebastiao Salgado and Max Pann for their search of photographic testimony, Bill Viola for his elementary work, James Turell for his work with light. In 1999, I swiched from the pinhole to a 24x36 camera. Realizing the potential of color film, I engaged in a research on landscape in an installation commisionned for ESBA Perpignan in 2000. The piece, entitled Lightcsape 2000, consisted in a photograph of a landscape disappearing as if its pale and diluted colors gradually melted out the landscape creating a space for time alone.
IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 25
Hervé All, “Azalea Japonica”, from “Dancing Leaves” serie, lightbox with color changing LED 160x120cm, edition of 3.
ph.: Matteo Malvino
ph.-t: Matteo Malvino*
Orphic Fragments From music videos to photography. Nowadays, photography is playing a very important role in my life, but I came to photography from faraway, but not that far though. I started to approach the artistic languages during university in Turin. Before getting into photography, I was interested in shooting music videos and short movies. Time after time, photography took the upper hand thanks to the outrightness and the possibility of doing everything on my own. However, some aspects of cinema, such as the idea of editing, are still in my photographic artworks. I am not excluding the possibility of shooting again in future. Now with the same camera you can produce great photographs and movies as well, but I still prefer films for my photography projects both for the artistic processing of images and the final result. 30 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
My influences. I think that in some way every artist I like influenced me. Starting from painting, I really like magic realism of Paolo Donghi, Paul Gauguin, with his idea of symbolism and synthetism, Edward Hopper, Giorgio De Chirico, Francis Bacon and many others. In the literary realm, particularly for this project, I got fascinated by the atmosphere of the decadent poets of ‘900 and in particular by Dino Campana. Obviously, I have many photographers that inspire me every day. Among Italian ones, Luigi Ghirri and Guido Guidi, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in person recently. Among foreign ones, Walker Evens, Robert Adams, William Eggleston, Alec Soth, Todd Hido, Roe Ethridge, Larry Sultan and many others.
ph.: Matteo Malvino
“Orphic Fragments” Orphic Fragments is a unique trip to the places where I was born, the countryside around a small village in the north of Italy. I wasn’t searching for a specific memory of my childhood or something like this, but for a new fiction, or a new reality, inspired by the mood of Italian symbolist Dino Campana’s poetry. He isn’t very famous internationally, but his works can be compared in some ways to Arthur Rimbaud’s. I can tell you an emblematic verse that suggests the feeling you get from his works, and I hope also from mine. “So I know a sweet music in my memory remember it without even a note: I know it is called the departure or return...” Some critics say, talking about his works, that the essence of music is not in the sounds, but in the silence that follows and precedes those sounds. It’s not a melody but a shape of the soul, detached and in harmony with things. So, in my project the figures in the landsca-
pe aren’t in a place or a time, there is always something else, a vision of something that never happened, something unrevealed in the memory. Coming back to the countryside of my childhood became a trip to discover something I never knew. “Orphic” is the meaning of this strange trip, it means something mystic, obscure, not easily understandable. This can be also a problem for a photographic project that most of the time needs to communicate something specific. For an unknown photographer the explanation of the project seems to be a necessary step, while for the established artists this is no longer expected. That said, I think series of photographs that are so obvious that you can already understand everything from the first three photos are really boring. As in music, I appreciate something that leaves a little mystery when you listen for the first time, and gets better and better with time. Photography in my opinion has to do with magic and its function is to replace the IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 31
Alessandro Vicario, Untitled, from the series Landscapes of Absence. In the Tracks of Lalla Romano, Milan, 2003. C-print, 72x57 cm. Limited edition of five prints.
ph.-t: Alessandro Vicario*
Memories and Images Photographic Education I began taking pictures as a child, while still in primary school. My father Ennio, a professional photographer, instilled in me an interest in photography. He taught me the necessary techniques. My first camera was a Rollei with a ground glass viewfinder. I still have it. It brings back memories that have the richness and immediacy of childhood - the fascinating discovery of a magical technique. Photography is alchemy, mystery, contemplation. For many years, I only took black-and-white pictures. I used Ilford Fp4 films, or Hp5 for low-light scenes. This wasn’t by choice – black-and-white film was all my father 34 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
would give me. Sometimes I asked him for colour film, as I’d seen my classmates using it, especially on school trips, but he seldom granted my wish. Later, I grew to appreciate the immeasurable benefit I’d gained by the long, yet carefree and playful, training in black-and-white photography. I’m still convinced that, in order to learn to take pictures, one should begin with black-and-white film. Only upon mastery of composition, understanding of shapes, geometry, light and shade, should one move on to colour film and/or colour digital photography. In this sense, I have rather traditional ideas, and I’ve stayed true to my own roots.
Alessandro Vicario, Bedroom Wall With the Mark Left By My Grandfather’s Photo portrait, from the series Domestic Fragments Between Memory and Oblivion, Milan, 1999. Lambda print, 73x58 cm. Limited edition of five prints.
Memories in Colour My father and I would go together and take landscape pictures, in cities, the countryside, but especially in the suburbs. He would use his large- and medium-format cameras, and I would accompany him with my light Rollei. Our shooting adventures were then followed by the alchemy of the dark room, where the images we had recorded on film - known to me as the mysterious latent image - took shape and turned into negative images. Finally, those negatives were turned into positive images on paper via the photographic printing process. From the very beginning, it was mostly details that caught my attention. One can see this in the pictures I took as a child. Sometimes I tried to fulfil my longing for colour by using coloured felt-tip pens on prints - I was again imitating my father, who sometimes used this technique. The focus on detail
and colour is still a permanent feature of my work. My Selection for the “Image in Progress” Artist Diary Now to the present: For “Artist Diary”, I chose some of the works that the Milanese gallery Made4Art had shown at the fourth Step09 Milan Art Fair, which took place at the Fabbrica del Vapore from February 22 - 24, 2013. “Bedroom Wall With the Mark Left By My Grandfather’s Photographic Portrait” belongs to the series “Domestic Fragments Between Memory and Oblivion”, one of my first research works, dated 1999. This is my favourite work. In my opinion, it is also my best. And, given that it is one of my earliest photographs, I don’t know if I should feel proud of this or worried about it! The efficacy of an image, or of an entire project, depends mostly on how good the initial idea was, and on the inspiration level during its conception and creation. That said, success also relies IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 35
ph.: Natia Kartvelishvili
ph.-t: Natia Kartvelishvili*, in collaboration with Perspectiva Art**, The Hague, Netherlands
Let me explain you my Metamorphosis
Me and photography
Everything started after my graduation from the art school, where I studied for 7 years in my teen ages. In a while after I got transferred from the art to a physics and math school and my preferences changed dramatically - I dove deeply into a precise science world. That transition period was remarked by a first Zenith cam given me as a gift, that made me start photo shooting. With years passed I realized that photography took much more 40 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
space in my life than painting & drawing. In the very beginning it helped me to explore the art of seeing and that was also a way to discover the world with my own eyes, understanding not only external space but indeed an internal feeling and consciousness. For me it appeared as a way to fight a human life mechanization process, during creative sessions I totally submerged into a free open space, filled with life. Photography left me fragments of the past, which were losing connection as a whole with time passing by and turned
ph.: Natia Kartvelishvili
into something real, existing independently. Nevertheless, I accepted photography as a self-expression method much later. It actually happened while I was taking the Svetlana Pojarskaya creative workshop in Moscow, 2011. Since then I started to work on different themes, search of new ideas and sink myself into unknown. Despite the sometimes foggy and even dangerous sides of this process I keep on going forward. In my works I try to depict moments of life in which I dare to animate every surrounding. I guess it’s just the beginning of my journey ahead.
“Metamorphosis” “Metamorphosis” project came up quite naturally. It’s all started from a meeting with a friend, Anastasia Potekhina – she’s that series’ model – where I told her of my wish to visually transform a woman into a set of forms, and to show a dance of external evolutions which our internal being missed to catch up with, and we got suppressed because of that. A modern woman has to change herself very often going after the pace of time, and I knew that my friend lived through a similar life period. It was something I went through a while ago. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 41
ph.: Lika Brutyan
44 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
ph.: Lika Brutyan
ph.-t: Lika Brutyan*
The reflections of femininity secret Me and Photography I don’t want to write about “how it happened” that I became a photographer, how we were developing films with my dad when I was a child, arranging the bathroom like a real photo lab. I don’t take myself as a serious photographer. I’m more serious about my passion to take pictures. It is like an oxygen, it is something without which it is hard to imagine my life. I am often asked what is a good photograph for me, not referring to the artistic value or “professional performance, etc. In my opinion, a good, successful photograph is one that “wakes you up” and makes you look at it again and again, in which there is movement and it makes you feel and think.
For me photography it is not a type of static art. I see no static even in the “frozen” picture or frame. Something that catches you, think and moves something inside of you, makes you feel cannot be called static. Each frame is a piece of a story that has a past, and continues to move forward. This is something that your eye captures at this moment. And in any story there is no such thing as “the end.” For me there is no such thing as “the end.” And this is very beautiful. The Erotic Nuances in My Images Eroticism literally is dissolved in the world around us, in any movement, look, smile. In our everyday rhythm we do not always have time to notice theIMAGEINPROGRESS.com 45
print! ...in Italy +39.06.9075142 marketing@miligraf.it
Floating Back to Earth - ph.: Bryon Paul McCartney
ph.-t: Bryon Paul McCartney*
Flying with photography
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ph.-t: Neil Craver*
Neil Craver, “Formulating passage-2”
Omni-Phantasmic
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ph.-t: Giulio Speranza*
Psychic Landscapes 64 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
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Paul Biddle, “Nose Island”
ph.-t: Paul Biddle*
Between reality and the feeling
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ph.: Patrizia Burra
ph.-t: Patrizia Burra*
From Painting to post production
A self-taught passion My love story with photography started very early. I was about twenty years old when, first with a Pentax ME Super and a Nikon F-301 then, I started to shoot lots of portraits of all my friends! I was restless, and often spent the night to develop the negatives and print my photographs. I taught myself through a winding and beautiful way. Tenacity helps the self–taught to repeat the procedures until they are exhausted, and the results are transformed into experience. Then as now, the inspiration is always born from single look of people photographing. I want to capture their souls and bring out their essence. What makes it interesting is a human instinct 78 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
hidden, the secret that makes it special. With my photographs I try to make these transparent layers underneath, or at least to make them manifest. There are many other factors that trigger my inspiration: a sentence read in a book, a painting or music particularly poignant, but always start with the person I meet. From painting to digital – post processing I am a painter too. This is the grounding of my photographic style. From the beginning of my profession I have always tried to match the style of painting to photography. Photoshop is the wonderful opportunity to be able to combine the two things. Paint with light, adjust and shape a face. Mine
ph.: Patrizia Burra
portraits tends to be a compromise between painting and photography. I worked so hard, with iron will. I do not like to learn from the manuals, so I refined my technique through hours and hours, every day, looking for the result I wanted to achieve. Art Addiction Photography is my life, being only a day away from it makes me restless. The current overview provides many first- class artists. You have to keep up. You can not ever stop. It ‘s a world where you have constantly evolve and submit yourself as the first time always. You can not sit and wait and you have to objectively judge your work carefully before divulge it. My workflow I shoot with a Phase One P 40+ and Schneider Kreuznach lens (LS 110 mm, LS 80 mm).
I always work in tethering-mode with Capture One. After a strict selection, I pick up the best RAW files to work in Photoshop and save them as Tiff. In the “Fine Art” the editing is an essential key factor for the style of images. It’s a creative process that stimulates enormously. I think that gain mastery of the Photoshop instruments can, paradoxically, catalyze the photographer about the importance of positioning and adequate lighting when shooting. Contests The important thing is to stay informed and participate in all high artistic level competitions. The award takes a back seat when your name is one of the elect of a prestigious sphere. The competitions that I care about are always the same, so every year I follow closely the opening of entries. Thanks to the Internet we are constantly IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 79
EXPERIMENT
ph.: Stanislava Hanusz Hricova t: Lucia Korfová
DON’T STOP IMPROVING YOUR PORTFOLIO!
INTERVIEW WITH SLOVAKIAN PHOTOGRAPHER STANISLAVA HANUSZ HRICOVA, EXPERT IN MANY TYPES OF PHOTOGRAPHY. HER AGENDA IS FULL, BUT SHE NEVER STOPS LOOKING AFTER HER PERSONAL PROJECTS…
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ph.: Stanislava Hanusz Hricova
EXPERIMENT
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ph.: Colin Anderson t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Opening up to the world, shutting oneself in one’s own
Colin Anderson, “Get lost in a book”
Interview with photographer and post-production wizard Colin Anderson. A creator of incredible digital images, Colin tells us his story, how he works and some secrets...
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ph.: Elena “Kassandra” Vizerskaya t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Elena “Kassandra” Vizerskaya
ph.: Elena “Kassandra” Vizerskaya
Talent Is Everything
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ph.: Albert Watson, Courtesy of the artist & Hasted Kraeutler gallery, NYC. t: Emanuele Cucuzza
ALBERT Š Albert Watson, Self-Portrait. Courtesy of the artist & Hasted Kraeutler gallery, NYC.
HOW I BECAME...
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WATSON AN INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT ALBERT WATSON, WHO TELLS US ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT PHASES OF HIS CAREER, THE DIFFICULTIES, THE GOALS AND THE DESIRES OF SOMEONE WHO REACHED THE TOP...
Albert Watson has made his mark as one of the world’s most successful fashion and commercial photographers during the last four decades, while creating his own art along the way. Over the years, his striking images have appeared on more than 100 covers of Vogue around the world and been featured in countless other publications, from Rolling Stone to Time to Vibe _ many of the photographs iconic portraits of rock stars, rappers, actors and other celebrities. (Albert was the official Royal Photographer for Prince Andrew’s wedding to Sarah Ferguson.) Albert also has created the photography for hundreds of successful advertising campaigns for major corporations, such as Prada, the Gap, Levi’s, Revlon and Chanel, and he has directed many TV commercials and shot dozens of posters for major Hollywood movies. All the while, Albert has spent much of his time working on personal projects, creating stunning images from his travels and interests, from Marrakech to Las Vegas to the Orkneys. Much of this work, along with his well-known portraits and fashion photographs, has been featured in museum and gallery shows worldwide. The photo industry bible, Photo District News, named Albert one of the 20 most influential photographers of all time. He has won numerous honors, including a Lucie Award, a Grammy Award, three Andys, and the Centenary Medal, a lifetime achievement award from the Royal Photographic Society. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, Albert studied graphic design at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, and film and television at the Royal College of Art in London. Though blind in one eye since birth, Albert studied photography as part of his curriculum. In 1970, he moved to the United States with his wife, Elizabeth, who got a job as an elementary school teacher in Los An-
geles, where Albert began shooting photos, mostly as a hobby. Later that year, Albert was introduced to an art director at Max Factor, who offered him his first test session, from which the company bought two shots. Albert’s distinctive style eventually caught the attention of American and European fashion magazines such as Mademoiselle, GQ and Harper’s Bazaar, and he began commuting between Los Angeles and New York. In 1975, Albert won a Grammy Award for the photography on the cover of the Mason Profitt album “Come and Gone,” and in 1976, he landed his first job for Vogue. With his move to New York that same year, his career took off. Despite the demands of his commissioned assignments, Albert devotes much of his time to extensive personal projects, and he has published five books: “Cyclops” (1994, Bullfinch); “Maroc” (Rizzoli, 1998); “Albert Watson” (Phaidon, 2007); “Strip Search” (PQ Blackwell/Chronicle 2010); and “UFO: Unified Fashion Objectives” (PQ Blackwell/Abrams.) In addition, many catalogs of Albert’s photographs have been published in conjunction with museum and gallery shows. Since 2004, Albert has had solo shows at the Museum of Modern Art in Milan, Italy; the KunstHausWien in Vienna, Austria; the City Art Centre in Edinburgh; the FotoMuseum in Antwerp, Belgium; the NRW Forum in Dusseldorf, Germany; the Forma Galleria in Milan; and Fotografiska in Stockholm, Sweden. Albert’s photographs have also been featured in many group shows at museums, including the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, the International Center of Photography in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany. His photographs are included in the perIMAGEINPROGRESS.com 115
ph.: Matthu Placek t: Emanuele Cucuzza – Valentina Volpini
THE ART OF THE PORTRAIT ACCORDING TO PLACEK
A SPECIALIST IN PORTRAITS OF CELEBRITIES IN THE ART WORLD, AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER MATTHU PLACEK WORKS WITH MANY OF THE MOST IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINES. IN THIS INTERVIEW HE TELLS US ABOUT HIS RELATIONSHIPS WITH ARTISTS AND GIVES SOME TIPS TO COLLECTORS...
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Richard Philips & Coco Rocha, New York City 2008 - ph.: Matthu Placek
SYLVIE ph.: Sylvie Blum, courtesy of Fahey Klein Gallery Los Angeles t: Emanuele Cucuzza
“NOTHING IS MORE FRAGILE OR LUXURIOUS
INTERVIEW WITH SYLVIE BLUM, A FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER IN LOS ANGELES WHO STARTED AS MODEL OF SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ART NUDE PHO 130 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
ph.: Sylvie Blum, courtesy of Fahey Klein Gallery Los Angeles model: Vel Jones - Make Up+Hair: Jacqui Jordan
BLUM THAN A NAKED BODY…”
TOGRAPHERS: NEWTON, SAUDEK, SIEFF, BITESNICH, HER HUSBAND BLUM… SHE TELLS US EVERYTHING ABOUT HER ART PHOTOGRAPHY.
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Josef Hoflehner - Jet Airliner #61 - St. Maarten, 2011
JOSEF HOFLEHNER ph.: Josef Hoflehner t: Emanuele Cucuzza, in collaboration with Galeria Chroma, Saint Paul, Brazil (see page 148)
WHEN TRAVELING BECOMES ART…
INTERVIEW WITH THE FAMOUS AUSTRIAN FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER WHO TELLS US MORE ABOUT HIS STORY, HIS ART AND HOW HE FACES TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY…
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ph.: Gregory Delves - “Archives a book about hair” - PrintKultur - www.wendyiles-hairbook.com
t: Emanuele Cucuzza
WENDY ILES’S HAPPY ISLAND
INTERVIEW WITH WENDY ILES, ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS HAIRDRESSERS. HER SERVICES ARE USED FOR THE ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HAIR CARE AND BEAUTY PRODUCTS AND SHE WORKS REGULARLY WITH SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PHOTOGRAPHERS…
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fashion in progress
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y l n o t x e ed t l l t u r f n i p n o i n o s r e v
ph.: Anna Theodora, Self-portrait
fashion in progress
Ph.-t: Anna Theodora - www.annatheodora.com Styling: Breno Lorenzoni - www.behance.net/brenolorenzoni Beauty: Carlos Secati - Model: Kawana Cavalcante
The old beliefs under the sun The photographer Anna Theodora
The Idea For the shooting, which this image on the righthand side is from, I had in mind the works of Benjamin Lacombe and Madeline von Foerster. I wanted to achieve a painterly feel to them, so I set the lighting to window light only. I feel that window light can lend a more mysterious atmosphere to photos. The red rose has had many symbolic meanings through out the history of mankind, in the photos of this shooting, the meaning is sacrifice, many other interpretations are open though. The title of this editorial is “Les vieilles croyances sous le soleil” or “The old beliefs under the sun”. 166 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
There are shades of a few in the photos. Because the red roses are (mainly) supposed to mean sacrifice, I wanted the make up to convey sickness, thus the redness around the eyes. There are elements of transition between beliefs and the trauma to body and soul it represented. (The camera I used was a Canon 5D mark ll and a 24-70mm 2.8 Canon lens). From this link you can see the other photos of this shooting. www.behance.net/gallery/Les-vieilles-croyancessous-le-soleil/6909051 www.annatheodora.com
ph.: Holger Van Dreumel
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fashion in progress
Ph.-t: Holger van Dreumel - www.hvdphotography.com - Model: Sarah Dickel - MUA: Angi Delrey - www.angidelrey.com
Inspired by Leni Riefenstahl
ph.: Holger Van Dreumel, Self-portrait
The photographer Holger van Dreumel
The Idea “Some time ago while visiting an Amsterdam flea market I stumbled into a set of vintage bathing caps and purchased the whole lot. By then I only had less than a vague idea of how to incorporate them into one of my shootings. They kept lying around for almost a year when I ran into a coffee table book covering the works of Leni Riefenstahl. I liked the style of her photography and instantly could see the bathing caps in such pictures. This was my starting point. Figuring out what the key elements were to establish the look and feel of Riefenstahl’s pictures was the next task. To solve that I had long discussions with my favourite Make-up Artist, Angi Delrey, on how to approach that look and to identify a model with the right features to support the desired look. We picked wonderful Sarah Dickel as a model. We had successfully worked with
Sarah before on a different “Retro” Project and she fit perfectly. With Sarah and Angi I had a winning team. It is my understanding that each picture is heavily depending on teamwork. Even though at some point me has to make a decision, but having the discussions up front helps everyone to understand what we are heading for. Thus all involved know their tasks and why they’re doing it. Working on our project The light setting was a little tricky. I had to study quite a lot vintage photographs dating back to the early 1930’s to figure out how they set the light. I ended up with one Beauty Dish, slightly off-set in front of the model from above and a Strip light from the left side. Angi, the Make up Artist, also did some research and finally came off with a very basic Make up but strongly emphasising the eye brows and lips. Post processing was done in Photoshop. I always edit each single picture individually. I first address beauty issues e.g. occasional red spots, some wrinkles, skin, make up. The image was than transformed in to black and white with a vignette added. Last step was to pick and apply a colour style to substitute for a sepia effect. I chose a yellowish vanilla like colour. www.hvdphotography.com IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 169
ph.: Pascal Baetens
Workshop
ph.: Pascal Baetens t: Michelle Lefebvre
THE SPONTANEITY IN NUDE PHOTOGRAPHY Pascal Baetens - ph.: Luk Collet
INTERVIEW WITH PASCAL BAETENS, FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER FROM BELGIUM AND ORGANIZER OF ART NUDE WORKSHOPS ALSO IN FRANCE AND IN ITALY. HE GIVES US TIPS AND RULES FOR BOTH PROFESSIONALS AND AMATEURS…
Born on 20th of July, 1963, in Louvain, Belgium, Pascal Baetens, after a traditional education, including a Master in Law (KU Leuven) and a Master in Political & Social Sciences, spec. International Relations & Peace Research (KU Leuven), chose to develop his artistic creativity by becoming a photographer. Since 1994, he has been creating portraits, fashion, nudes as well as travel assignments for editorial, commercial and private clients, including Elle, Men’s Health, FHM and Maxim. His collections of subtle nudes have
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been published in several art books ‘The Fragile Touch’, ‘Allegro Sensibile’ (‘The Art of Nude Photography’ USA-edition), ‘Heavenly Girls’ (‘Heavenly Beauties’ USA-edition), ‘A Pocketful of Nudes’, and the how-to-book ‘Nude Photography, the Art and the Craft’. His work has also been featured in various notable books on modern photography and exhibited throughout Asia, Europe and North America. Pascal has interviewed photographers such as Avedon, Bitesnich, Dunas, Lindbergh, Maroon and Witkin and has curated various exhibitions. In 2008, Pascal received the title of Master Qualified European Photographer, the highest recognition given by the Federation of European Professional Photographers (FEP). Pascal Baetens has an extensive program of lectures and workshops. He lives and works at Salve Mater, the former psychiatric hospital/monastery in Lovenjoel, Belgium.
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