Glamorama a magazine
Issue one
A World So Tempting You Will Do Anything To Get Lost In It
Glamorama 2
Editors Letter Welcome to the world of Glamorama… I’m fascinated by the world that Bret Easton Ellis creates in his novels. After reading Less Than Zero years ago (and falling in love with the main character Clay), I have a habit of occasionally carrying the book with me. After the sun came down I would read Less Than Zero in my bed and at the back of my mind, I made a vow that the first man I met, who loved his books as much as me, would be my future husband. Although my friends believe these obsessions to be a tad extreme, as if I was turning into a blood-sucking vampire, like in The Informers, or into a raging maniac Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, I never stop being fascinated by the world of Easton Ellis. The world is obsessed with money, vanity, beauty and fame – all the ingredients of a disfigured world, if in wrong concentrations. It is tempting and exceedingly easy to get lost in it, sucked into a world beyond your dreams. Glittery parties one after another where the people are sexier, more beautiful, more famous with more money and where the champagne tastes better than the night before. Glamorama – a novel of worldwide success written by Bret Easton Ellis, is a portrayal of a world obsessed with culture, art and fashion. Kind of like the world we live in. Or fantasize to live in. Glamorama – A magazine, sickly obsessed with culture, art and fashion. More importantly, the content is always sexier and more beautiful – a world so tempting you will do anything to get lost in it. The hazy world of Glamorama is not a product of our imagination, a world after a bottle of Xanax or even a world after a killer joint, like in one of Ellis’s books. It’s a world of sharp wit, intellect that enjoys irony, self-deprecation, vanity, never ending after parties, but also, things besides all the glitz and glamour. Over the years I have met dozens of Ellis fans and found them to enjoy his work as much I do. Though I didn’t marry any of them I made some deep and meaningful friendships along the way. And of course, you always end up loving yourself more, like Ellis’ characters, the cigarettes stay lit and the drinks never stop flowing. ‘Too much of anything is bad but too much of champagne is just right’… Mark Twain
Glamorama – a world so tempting you will do anything to get lost in it. Come on inside and disappear…
Martina Akrenius Editor
Glamorama 3
Content Profile
Culture
Bret Easton Ellis, ‘The Man...’
-
‘Bringing back the Brat Pack...’ ‘All that glamour...’ ‘the fan...’
Fashion
Art
‘The terby effect’ ‘We’ll slide down the surface of things’
-
‘Wonder if he’s for sale?’
-
‘A brush with japan...’
-
‘HuMobisten’
Fiction
‘The trip’
Glamorama 4
-
Contributors
---------------6-11
Natalie Eloise David
A talented photographer from Hungary, currently studying photography and styling in London Collge of Fashion. Having years of experience in portrait, fashion, concert, dance theatre photography, Natalie has done collaborations with fashion designers such as Maharishi and with magazines such as VADA and The Room. (david.eloise@googlemail.com)
-------------34-37
Sam Kemp -------------18-19 -------------52-53
-------------12-15
-------------20-33
-------------40-47
-------------38-39 -------------48-49
------------------51
Is a photo artist based in London. His work has been published several times including in the British journal of photography and creative review’s photography annual 2006. Sam was a selected winner in the 2008 Magenta Flash forward emerging photographers competition. He has exhibited internationally including Canada and the United states as well as at London’s Host gallery. (See www.samkemp.co.uk for more of his work.)
Robert Clayton
This fashion designer and illustrator graduated his MA from London College of Fashion, and was selected by Vogue magazine as the new designer to watch. Working with fashion designers such as Andrew Majtenji and Anisa & Co. he is currently getting ready to show his own fashion label during the fashion weeks to follow. (bbertfashions2003@yahoo.com)
Fredrik Lindblad
Fredrik is a professional photographer based between Helsinki, Finland and Edinburgh, UK. The majority of his work consists of event photography and commercial projects. He’s also a keen landscape photographer and extremely skilled in postproduction. (www.kinli.smugmug.com)
Special Thanks to Everyone who helped me to create this magazine: my sister Nina, Fredrik, James Anderson, Rob De Niet, Rufus Ketting, Kirsten Alldred, Sam Kemp, Nati, Bert and Stephen. Glamorama 5
The
Glamorama 6
Man...
Glamorama 7
Profile Bret Easton Ellis Who is the Man behind the controversial novels Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, The Informers, Glamorama and Lunar Park? After four years of silence this man, Bret Easton Ellis, has returned to his birth town, Los Angeles, and is working on a new novel that, surely, will blow us all away again.
Bret Easton Ellis is probably best-known for his ice-cold portrayal of a serial killer in 1991’s American Psycho. Like in this best-seller, Ellis’ work subsists in a complex world between imagination and reality. Often the theme of his writing is unreservedly shocking but simplified; the characters in his books are often vain psychopaths, druggies, womanizers (or vampires) – but mostly very numb about the reality that surrounds them. Reflecting and over-exaggerating the stereotypical state-of-mind in North America, from 1980’s to today, is inspiration to Ellis’ work, making it relatable in many ways. In his words (from interview with Richard Wang in 2001 for Index Magazine): ‘My work is really about a culture that pisses me off, and a world that we live in that values all the wrong things.’ Ellis’ simplicity and minimalist approach to his writing either makes you love him in awe, or absolutely hate him with white shock on your face.
than his father, and even today keeps in close contact with her. In an interview with Paul Flynn in December 8th in 2008 for Fantastic Man Ellis, mentions that he dines every Sunday at her mother’s house and that her mother keeps him posted with the latest ‘Ellis’ gossip: ‘She sends me all these links. So that’s really how I keep up’, Bret concludes to Paul. Also, Bret’s grandmother was a children’s author and due to his bad grades in school, instead of summer school, he went to stay with his grandparents working in one of his grandfather’s hotels in Nevada. This ended up making a huge impact in his future life. Ellis tells Jaime Clark, in an interview which took place in November 4th in 1996 and in October 22nd 1998: ‘I went to work at one of my grandfather’s hotels in Nevada to shape me up because I was a real horror, a really bad kid. I stayed about four weeks before my grandfather fired me but the “experiment” actually worked. I really did shape up’.
Bret grew up in Los Angeles where most of his books are set. He seemingly had a very comfortable life growing up with ‘two younger sisters, and we’re a standard Southern California family: mom, dad, two sisters, dog, pool, divorce, Valium addiction, convertibles, weekends in Palm Springs’, as Ellis explains to Richard Wang. With a complex and semi-abusive father relationship, which is also strongly mirrored in his work, Ellis surprisingly dedicated his latest novel Lunar Park partly to him. Robert Ellis was alcoholic and made unfixable wreckage in Bret’s life from an early age. ‘I developed a dialogue with myself in order to express what I really couldn’t share with anyone else’, Bret reveals to Richard Wang. Although Bret’s parents didn’t divorce until he was in eleventh grade, he grew closer to his mom
Ellis is very honest about his life. There seems to be no skeletons in his closet – it’s all been published or covered in the gossip columns. Being up and front also about his addiction to drugs, he reveals to Richard Wang, ‘I’ve been around people who’ve done drugs, and I’ve done drugs myself’. Ellis was a close friend with Robert Downey Jr., who has had very publicized addiction problems, also, when he OD’d. ‘At twenty-three, I assumed that was just wild, glamorous, Hollywood behavior. Whereas now I look back on that night and think, “That was just so fucked up.” One of the saddest things was that Robert cut a lot of people from his life when he went through rehab. So it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen him’, Ellis tells Richard Wang. Ellis is also very honest about his bisexuality. His partnership
Text by Martina Akrenius Glamorama 8
(www. http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/eastonellis/)
Bret Easton Ellis
Born: Los Angeles, CA Residence: Los Angeles and New York City Birthday: March 7, 1964 Education: BA, Bennington College, 1986 Height: 6’ Weight: 220 Marital status: Single (if fictional Jayne Dennis doesn’t count) Phobias: Animals Day Job: Novelist, visiting professor of creative writing Works published: Less Than Zero (1985), The Rules of Attraction (1987), American Psycho (1991), The Informers (1994), Glamorama (1998) and Lunar Park (2005). Works in progress: Follow up to Less Than Zero, Imperial Bedrooms (Expected 2010)
Glamorama 9
with Jay McInerney and Michael Wade Kaplan has been much publicized and Ellis doesn’t deny any of these rumors. Bisexuality is often reflected in his work through gay characters and, surely explains the lack of a leading woman in his personal life. Throughout Ellis’ life, his parents have encouraged him to read and write, actually his first book was called ‘Harry the Flat Pancake’ at a very early age Ellis reveals to Jaime Clarke. So, writing seemed to be as a natural choice of a career to Ellis. Bret’s father initially wanted him to become a business man, which was never in his plans, but after the success of his novels, ‘it helped ease the tension I had with my father in some weird way. He started acting differently, taking me much more seriously’, Bret utters to Richard Wang. Ellis did indeed start to write novels at an early age and continued improving his writing skills in university, in Bennington. His work has always followed the same style, which ended up getting his first novel published Less Than Zero in his junior year in 1985. Ellis explains to Richard Wang about his university years: ‘I felt directionless in a lot of other areas of my life. But I think I took the lack of confidence I had everywhere else and focused it on writing’. Some of Ellis’s writing surely feels like a dialogue that the author could be having with himself – how much of this dialog is from his continuing the discussion he started in his head as a small boy? Ellis has often been attacked for the intolerable violence in his novels, his character’s passivity, and their ethics, generally described as being devoid of morals. This may be because of his issues with his father or the ‘fear’ of the normal ‘idyllic’ family that isn’t as idyllic as it looks from outside. Ellis’ style of writing is referred to as minimal; short sentences and paragraphs with powerful words that make an impact. The plot in Ellis’ novels is loosely the same in each book – the fact that there really isn’t one. The vague sentences are repeated and characters act suspiciously about their lives and then it’s time, in figure of speech, to go home. These themes in his writing were already represented yearly in his career, for example at the end of Less Than Zero: ‘These images stayed with me even after I left the city. Images so violent and malicious that they seemed to be my only point of reference for a long time afterwards. After I left’, which are finishing words of the book. There are also occurring characters that are visions of real people in his life; such as the character Patrick Bateman, in American Psycho, is originally based on his father. The
same characters appear in more than one of his books, as an example, in The Rules of Attraction one of the main characters, Victor, is the lead character in Glamorama, and Sean Bateman in The Rules of Attraction is Patrick Bateman’s brother. In addition being very ‘loyal’ to his characters in his novels, Ellis is always very nostalgic to the 1980s. There are always the black Wayfarer sunglasses, the band Duran Duran playing in the background and someone doing a line of coke whilst the MTV is powwowing in next room. Eventually Ellis moved to New York City and began to work on his forthcoming novels The Rules of Attraction and American Psycho. He began to gain fame and was partying a lot. ‘We’re partying a little, moving from club to club, and soon I noticed it was dawn’ Ellis describes to Richard Wang. Ellis was hanging out with his literary ‘Brat Pack’ posse from Studio 54 to hotel suites. ‘I was taken seriously. I was a joke. I was avant-garde. I was a traditionalist. I was underrated. I was over rated. I was partly guilty. I had orchestrated the controversy. I was incapable of orchestrating anything. I was considered the most misogynistic writer in existence. I was a victim of the burgeoning culture of the politically correct’, Ellis writes in Lunar Park (2005). This novel is semi-autobiographical, which also won the 2005 International Horror Guild award for best novel. After Lunar Park, Ellis has been working on a novel Teenage Pussy, which still remains unpublished. Ellis is presently working on a sequel to his first novel Less Than Zero, The Imperial Bedrooms. ‘I don’t think there’s a time when I’m not writing. I don’t know. I go to movies. I read a lot, I hang out with my friends. I don’t climb mountains or race yachts, or whatever. It’s a pretty simple life’, Ellis adds to Richard Wang. What else lies in the future of Bret Easton Ellis? Although his works have been transcended to the big screen in the past – not all of them in collaboration with the author – Ellis is now due to present a film adaptation of Tthe Informers, working with Nicholas Jarecki on the screenplay. Bret is rumored, according to Page Six in November 30th 2008, to be working on another screenplay on the tragic love story of artist couple Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake’s death. Also, Ellis has developed a TV series called ‘The Canyons’, which was picked up by Showtime in 2006. Has the novelist turned to the big screen for good or is he, at the age of 45, trying to re-create his image? So, what lies in the future of Mr. Ellis? If we know his past, it’s going to be something grand – Bret Easton Ellis is a phenomenon.
Glamorama 10
The Work... Less Than Zero A rich college graduate, Clay, returns to LA for a holiday. He discovers
things about his former friends, like Julian who is now a drug dealer and a male prostitute, and that his ex-girlfriend Blair still thinks they are together. The novel follows Clay during his break with him having issues with his family with a nihilistic lifestyle that comes with youth and money. (Movie version in 1987, directed by Marek Kanievska, starring Andrew McCarthy, James Spader and Robert Downey- not in collaboration with the author)
The Rules of Attraction A group of youngsters in their university years at Camden
College. Paul, Sean, Lauren and Victor are all caught up partying too much and mixed in pointless love dramas. (Movie out in 2002, directed by Roger Avary, starring James Van Der Beek, Jessica Biel, Shannyn Sossamon and Ian Somerhalder – not collaboration with the author)
American Psycho Patrick Bateman is a successful New York investment banker with an
alter ego of a serial killer. He is obsessed with his looks, mannerism and at the same time imagines killing everyone in a brutal way. (Movie in 2000, directed by Mary Harron, starring Christian Bale, Josh Lucas and Justin Theroux – not collaboration with the author)
The Informers A collection of novels that Mr. Ellis wrote during his university years.
Stories from different voices everything from a vampire luring teenagers to his home to a pop star touring Japan. (Movie 2009, directed by Gregor Jordan, screenplay by Mr.Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger and Winona Ryder)
Glamorama Victor Ward is a model in New York with the perfect body and life – he is seen
everywhere, dating the hottest models, eating at the best restaurants – but in the eve of a trendy night club opening everything in his life starts to unfold. The future of Victor isn’t looking so bright as he thought.
Lunar Park Semi autobiographical horror novel that is influenced by Steven Spielberg,
following Mr. Ellis’ life in the suburbs with his fictional wife and children. The drug-wearied life suddenly begins to take a scary setting with furniture moving their place and his stepdaughters doll Terby trying to kill him.
Glamorama 11
‘The Terby effect’ Illustrations by Robert Clayton
Glamorama 12
Glamorama 13
Glamorama 14
Glamorama 15
confetti everywhere Glamorama 16
‘There was a song I heard when I was in Lons Angeles by a local group. The song was called ‘Los Angeles’ and the words and images were so harsh and bitter that the song would reverberate in my mind for days...’ Less than zero
Glamorama 17
Culture All that glamour...
‘Gym, Vegan, Yoga, Toga, Cigarette, -I’m so L.A. Arm Candy, Sugar Daddy, Fashion whore, -I’m so L.A. Fur is the new black, and black’s the new grey, -I’m so L.A. My sunglasses match the Cocaine tray, -I’m so L.A.’ (MYNX)
Glamorama 18
‘...a real star never stops trying’. Glamour means attractiveness that is almost too powerful to be real. Glamour is exciting, romantic and very unreachable. The true quality of glamour is a mixture of mystery and grace – it certainly is something that cannot be bought with money or achieved overnight. These are the foremost oppositions to why glamour doesn’t exist in the modern day where most things can be bought and obtained instantaneously – the easy fix for anything is a phone call or an internet click away. Also, the boundaries of stardom have practically disappeared and we know more about the celebrities’ lives than we do about our next-door neighbours, and not all we witness is even close to glamorous. While constantly being chased by a pack of paparazzi it is difficult to appear glamorous, even if you have copious amounts of it, but the crucial point the modern stars seem
to be missing is knowing how much to reveal and when to reveal it – and to understand when you have revealed too much. After all, half the attraction in someone being glamorous is appearing mysterious. It seems that the glamorous days have long been lived. As Marilyn Monroe said: ‘I used to think as I looked at the Hollywood night, ‘there must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest’. And that is the point after all: the dream of the astonishing glamour stays in our hearts while we continue to follow the ‘stars’ of our time. We wish the 40-something man and the Barbie doll next to him would stop pretending money buys them a perfect life. As Mae West once put it: ‘A real star never stops’. Indeed, a real star never stops trying.
Text by Martina Akrenius
Glamorama 19
Glamorama 20
‘We’ll slide down the surface of things’ Photography Sam Kemp Editing Fredrik Lindblad Styling Martina Akrenius
Dress Hussein Chalayan
Glamorama 21
Dress Stylists’ own Shoes Marc By Marc Jocobs Bracelet Fendi Lace mask Stylists’ own Glamorama 22
Glamorama 23
Rings and necklace all Azzessorize
Glamorama 24
Dress H & M Gloves Top Shop Necklace Azzessorize
Glamorama 25
Jewellery by Azzessorize
Rings and necklace all Accessories
Glamorama 26
Necklace Top Shop Mask Photographer’s own
Glamorama 27
Chain necklace Top Shop Mask Photographers own
Dress Hussein Chalayan Necklace Chanel Statue Photographers own
Glamorama 28
Glamorama 29
Dress Hussein Chalayan Necklace Chanel
Glamorama 30
Dress H&M Chain necklace H & M Mask Photographers own Shoes Marc by Marc Jacobs
Glamorama 31
Leggins Sass & Bide Shoes Chloe
Glamorama 32
Glamorama 33
Shirt Vivienne Westwood Red Label Model Zydrune Seskeviciute
Culture Bringing back the Brat Pack...
Does anyone remember the Brat Pack? No, not the song, or the band nor the codename for some bad shoulder pads from the 1980’s – it’s the name of a distinct group of young actors. So, what happened to them...?
Glamorama 34
Photography by Natalie Eloise David
Glamorama 35
T
‘Oh, what happens if my kids read this book and they see their dad snorting coke off a Porsche?’
he ‘Brat Pack’ name derives from the 1980’s. This name was first used referring to a group of youngsters who played ‘coming-to-age’ teenager roles in movies in 1985 such as the Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire. Of course, the Brat Pack was a witty reuse of the name ‘Rat Pack’ from the 1950’s and 1960’s referring to a group of entertainers of the time such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. The unofficial origin and the reuses of this name aim to describe a group of similarly powerful personalities within a certain industry who are considered extremely talented and unique in a new and ‘funky’ way. In addition to the 80’s Brat Pack, there was also a ‘literary Brat Pack’, labeled in 1987 by the Village Voice, NY, who were coined together according to their similar style of writing. They were a posse of young fiction writers who were like the new rock and roll stars, and included authors such as Jay McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis and Tama Janowitz. The 1980’s was a fascinating and groundbreaking age for a lot of people for various reasons. Times were changing and the fashion and entertainment industries were blooming with exquisite, completely unique icons such as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna, also it was the beginning of some of the most influential fashion designers such as Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. Most of all the 80s was a pioneering time for teenagers – it was possible to find one’s voices through clothing and to rebel and resist different ideologies through rituals. The Brat Pack was a group of young teenagers within the movie industry who were coming to a more mature age, and included actors such as Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald. They were all part of the cast in the film Breakfast Club, which was an influential film about teenagers in the 80s. These kids were making money by the buckets and were often in the covers of every magazine on the newsstand. Other actors connected to the Pack included Andrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, Matthew Broderick and Charlie Sheen – which are all known names still appearing on the covers of the magazines and in popular TV programmes. As an example, Rob Lowe is playing in hit series’ West Wing (1999-2006) and Brothers and Sisters (2006), and Molly Ringwald in series Medium (2006) and The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008). Unlike these actors, who held onto their stardom, the literary Pack seemed to disappear from the face of earth after a couple years. As their fifteen minutes were up so abruptly, how much of significance did the episode of Brat Pack really hold?
Glamorama 36
Back when the literary Brat Pack ‘ruled’, the bohemiantortured-poet ethos was somewhat the dominating look in fashion and seen everywhere. This ‘suffering writer look’, chain smoking and wearing clunky black nerd glasses, has never since quite looked so chic. The literary Brat Pack was like a pack of rock stars. The gossip pages were filled with accounts of these young authors hanky-panky with models, just like old-time rockers – it was Jay with Naomi, Bret with Bianca, Tama with Andy and the whole gang indeed at Studio 54. These club-hopping novelists were getting extensive advances on their work, giant publicity pushes and serious Hollywood deals. It was like Paris in the ‘1920s or Greenwich Village in the ‘1950s, only with blow and paparazzi. In their novels these authors managed to capture a certain youthful desperation but with wit and humor, that was relatable to the youth of the time. But why hasn’t their careers carried on to the 21st century with the same influence? It seems that most of them had an absolute one-eighty in their lives; they moved to the suburb, had kids and seem to lead lifestyles that seem like they are walking on eggshells compared to their lives in the past. Tama Jonowits did release a novel ‘By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee’ in 1996 but camps out in the suburbia now – or maybe in a trailer park like characters in her novel; who knows. Jay McInerney had a wife and a kid in the Upper East side NY, but is now divorced. He released his latest novel ‘The Good Life’ in 2006 – ironically reflecting his ch oice in family life. No wonder he hasn’t written any hit novels lately, when he revealed in an interview with Lynn Barber, for the Observer September 10th 2000 that even his agent has criticized his writings: ‘God that’s the way you were writing 15 years ago - grow up!’ This is all excluding Bret Easton Ellis, however, who seems to be making a comeback currently with a new novel and with a newer calmer version of himself. He seems to be acting in an older gentleman mannerism, with a certain ‘survivor’ air around him. But to the most part, it certainly seems that the party of the literary Pack is over. There is both something very strange and insincere but also mesmerizing and chic about their past, but also about their future. Ellis described meeting Jay, in an interview with Robert Birnbaum in January 19 2006 for the Morning News US: ‘There were a lot of tears, a lot of hugs, a lot of ‘I love you, mans.’ He has kids now and says, ‘Oh, what happens if my kids read this book and they see their dad snorting coke off a Porsche? And I’m thinking, Jay, my God,
the stuff you’ve written and what people know about your reputation…please’. Indeed, the literary Brat Pack was bathing in the limelight in the 80’s. But now, it almost feels like these writers are hiding away, living in a state of fear – or simply just have nothing more to write. Is the speculation of their writing being superficial true – or is the ‘By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee’ a masterpiece we just didn’t realize come by? So, are we expecting new Brat Packs or the revival of the old ones anytime soon? The Brat Packs are dead. They are alive in our memories of authors being rock stars and teenagers trying their wings for the first time. The truth is that the modern day doesn’t want any of that. It’s normal for teenagers to rebel – it’s almost concerning if they don’t – but the author’s of our time are not treated as rock stars, but teenager actors are. Maybe we will discover a new Pack of authors somewhere in the future, just don’t hold your breath till it happens…
Text by Martina Akrenius
Glamorama 37
Art A brush with Japan... Japanese art manages to capture the essence of their subtle, polite and refined culture. This was seen in No-ism exhibition, in Bodhi Gallery, London UK, which gathered five talented London based Japanese painters together to a group contemporary art exhibition. This showcased these artists’ recent works and was filled with innovative ideas through powerful colors and images. The paintings were the end result of a journey from an idea to a visual outcome, through a 4 month maturing process. The notion of no-ism is the refusal and denial of any set belief systems – there are no boundaries between the artists’ practices in art. No-ism as a word is deconstructed into no and ism, where no is used to express refusal, denial, emphasis or disagreement and ism is used to distinctive a doctrine, system or theory. This is reflected in all these artists’ paintings. And, indeed, the aim of this exhibition was to evoke conversations, stimulate and captivate the artistic voyage to a dialogue between the painting and the viewer. Japanese culture values art in its most esteemed form and Japanese art is known for its most vibrant use of techniques, colours, details and methods all around the world. Going back 10 millennia to Kano Eitoku’s work, right to the modern day of the illustrations of Takashi Murakami, Japan is one of the most innovative nations competing with the most multi-cultural art, fashion and architecture. Even their traditional food, sushi, is almost a piece of art, with paying attention to the presentation as much as the quality of the food. Taking into account all these stereotypical concepts about Japanese culture, no-ism is even more interesting as an artistic approach; are these Japanese artists trying to go against all traditions and what’s-been-donebefore by refusing to represent any single ideology? In fact, looking around at the exhibition one couldn’t help but notice that this refusal was a strong ideology. There was some traditionalism to be seen, however. Indeed, Japanese culture is filled with different astonishing colours, but one of the most important ones, as seen in their flag, is red. Hiroshi Kariya showcased a series of narrative paintings entitled ‘The Red Room’, inspired by TV series ‘Twin Peaks’, by David Lynch. In Twin Peaks, The Red Room is draped with heavy velvet curtains and is a creation of imagination that appears as a nightmare, or as a dream, where the truth is
set free in a very mystical and disturbing setting. Hiroshi’s paintings show his understanding of the Red Room, using big and small canvases with acrylic paint. The paintings are violent: blood red with symbols such as human bowels and crosses. Earlier works of Kariya have been showcased in ‘180 Things I Hate’, Dazed & Confused Gallery, London (2007) as an example, ‘Kafka International’, AVA Gallery at UEL, London (2007). He has also been rewarded The Sheila Robinson Award, for the best use of drawing (June 2007). Hiroshi contributed to the No-ism exhibition with seven paintings, which all are interpretations of the Red Room. The symbolism in his paintings was very abstract, stirring plenty of conversation and questions. One other artist’s work that attracted a lot of attention at the exhibition was that of Yuko Nasu. She is a master in painting portraits, and to her art isn’t about making people comfortable or cheerful. ‘I want to feel passion, energy or how the life is hard and tough from artworks’. She has a long history in London, having solo exhibitions, such as Imaginary Portraits (2007) in Zizi Gallery, and many group exhibitions, such as Jerwood Contemporary Painters (2008) in Jerwood space, London/ Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales. Her work in Bodhi gallery, named ‘Imaginary Portrait Series’, was inspired by celebrity culture and the conflict between Japanese and British culture. Yuko’s work is usually about people you can’t recognize, but her most famous work is the portrayal of Kate Moss in her solo exhibition in John Doe Arts Gallery, London, in 2009. Yuko explains her grasp of art: ‘My aim is to remind the audience of someone they know when they look at my work. The person they see depends on who they are’. Yuko has been awarded the Jerwood Contemporary Painters prize in 2008 and Bloomberg New Contemporaries prize in 2006. For the exhibition in Bodhi Galley, Yuko has contributed 4 large oil paintings. Hiroshi, Yuko and the other artists share the same work studio before and after No-ism. Maybe they will stay together or go each their different ways, whatever happens, it will be interesting to discover the new works emerging from this talented quintet. One thing is for sure; we haven’t seen the last of them.
No-ism, exhibition in Bodhi Gallery E1, 19th-26th March 2009 (Artists: Yuko Nasu, Hiroshi Kariya, Masahiro Suda, Naoki Koyama and Masaki Yada Glamorama 38
‘Imaginary Portrait Series’ by Yuko Nasu
Hiroshi Kariya, Yuko Nasu
‘Red Room’ by Hiroshi Kariya
Text by Martina Akrenius
Glamorama 39
Kate Moss by Yuko Nasu
‘wonder if he’s for sale?’ Photography Natalie Eloise David Styling Martina Akrenius
Shirt Vvivienne Westwood Trousers Mjölk Black pattern lace ups Model’s own
Glamorama 40
Glamorama 41
Blazer Mjölk T-shirt Models own Hat Stylists’ own Lighter Scribbles
Black suit Cos Shirt Emma Willis Bow tie Peckham & Rye
Glamorama 42
Glamorama 43
Black suit Cos Shirt Emma Willis Bow tie Peckham & Rye Shoes B store
Jacket Siv Støldal
Glamorama 44
Glamorama 45
Blazer and trousers Stylists’ own Shirt Reiss Hankerchief Models own
Glamorama 46
Glamorama 47
Jacket Stylists’ own Shirt Emma Willis Silk tie Milano Trousers MjÜlk Model Stephen Kelly
Art HuMobisten
© HuMobisten
A performance artist duo called HuMobisten are a cool bunch to be around. Influenced by consumerism, pop art and the whole world really, Rufus Ketting, 33, and Gyz la Riviere, 33, are already ‘famous’ back home, but might well be conquering the world any day now. ‘…when I say famous I really mean ‘Hey that’s the guy of which we know his name, but we’re not really sure what he did to become this famous’. So… Also I get called ‘Gyz’ a lot. Which is really funny sometimes. I told Gyz about this and he came up with the following solution: next time that happens just say ‘Gyz is the fat one’ (I’m somewhat big).’ Rufus Ketting. Dutch people are known to be innovative and an artistic breed, with the most astonishing talents dating all the way back to the 17th century, to the times of some of the most remarkable painters such as Rembrandt and Vincent Van Gogh. Coming back to the modern day, the Dutch are eager to create something new and innovative, such as performance art. HuMobisten is a ‘pop art’ duo who are highly driven by consumerism. But, do they make fun of consumerism? ‘When making something about yourself, you just know it HAS to be about others as well. So when we make fun of consumerism, we’re probably making fun of that of our own. And when we make fun of our own consuming selves, we’re making fun of consumerism in general’, Rufus explains. This duo is interested in making the world we live in into an art form, performing, in not only the Netherlands, but also in places such as Switzerland, Portugal, Finland and Vienna. Their website has a running blog, where their videos have reached to countries such as Turkey and United Kingdom. In addition to their performances, HuMobisten, are intrigued by brand logos and are into making their own T-shirts with gripping prints, which they are selling on their webpage. ‘We made a really awesome sweater once, we only made about thirty copies of ’em and I guess they were sold out before you could say ‘reprint’. Since I’ve lost my own copy we definitely have to make new ones of (at least) that design. I guess we’ve been a bit lazy on the promotion aspect of being an artist, we’ve been too occupied with the work itself’, Rufus tells me. They seem to be a very humorous bunch, are you serious about some things in particular, why? ‘We’re pretty serious about humor, as serious as we are to all the rest. I explained it earlier, but I don’t mind stressing it. If
you simply must try and wipe the smile off my face though, you should show me images of rape or animals in pain because of human idiocy. For the rest, stock exchange markets crashing, war, art, opinions, news paper headlines, love, books and films, crashing airplanes, tidal waves destroying villages, shitty mail, sickness and death… don’t get me wrong, they’re all of importance, but these things do not affect my sense of taking life any more or less serious. They’re all part of life, I mean let’s face it. But people unable to respect anything living due to lack of love, that gets to me’. The performances of HuMobisten can be considered as somewhat ‘strange’. But, what is special about this duo, is the personalities they bring into their performances. ‘We take it just as serious as we take it not serious. You can see that in our work, it’s really real. More real than Hip-Hop. More real than art’. HuMobisten take inspirations from anything really, Rufus tells me about figures such as Stanley Kubric, Ludwig van Beethoven, Daft Punk, Albert Einstein, Jesus, the person that came up with the idea to make the movie ‘BIG’, Friedrich Nietszche, Wim T. Schippers, Hisham Bharoocha, Michel Gondry and Andy Kaufman, who have influenced him as a person. Also, ‘If it wasn’t for Warhol we (as a race) would have still been under the impression that the avant-garde was something elitist’. HuMobisten take these influences and turn them it into performances – always underlying a deeper meaning. HuMobisten performance ‘Parting’ (2005), in Rotterdam and Finland, is a perfect example of their sarcastic take on life. Dressed in red suits, red patent lace ups, Mickey Mouse-like white gloves and red painted faces – Rufus and Ryz investigated the Blues and the Soul of parting someone or something. ‘Parting evidently sucks. Parting is loss…Parting is frees you. Parting hurts.’ Their performances touch each one in the audience in a different way. Arrogance has always been an influence for the duo, why? ‘Hell yeah! Mainly because it’s all about people finding their ideas, sound and or images important enough to make other
Text by Martina Akrenius Glamorama 48
(See http://www.humobisten.com)
Performance, ‘parting’, photography by Roel van Tour © Humobisten people their audience and have them be spectators to the whole of it. It’s so arrogant that artists had to come up with words like ‘audience’ and ‘to spectate’ instead of ‘viewers present’ and ‘look’, ‘hear’ or ‘they who are (t)here’. Those words would have been way too unholy for something as important as art’. Rufus Ketting If Rufus Ketting wasn’t a performance artist, he’d ‘very much like to be a shepherd or a cowboy’, he tells me, surely with a hint of sarcasm. Educated as a graphic designer, Ryz as a visual artist, this partnership is all about complementing each other’s skills. Besides HuMobisten, Rufus and Gyz ‘curate exhibitions, make music, are DJ’s, throw parties, make books and are even now starting to make actual films’. ‘We can only spend so much time together without getting really sick of each other, but when we’re together for a short while it really works…We’re like dynamite’ Rufus revels.
So, What lies in the future of HuMobisten? ‘Well, we’re asked to do something in San Francisco which is great since I think our work has more to do with the US than we’d like to believe. Or at least with the relationship between the old and the new world and which one’s which again? Plus in the long run we’re each going our own separate ways more and more so, and that could work out really good for both of us as well. Lately though we’ve been working together as HuMobisten a lot again. Maybe our bond’s just too strong. So, nothing’s certain at this point.’ Rufus explains. Overall, HuMobisten is an extremely sympathetic duo, who are expressing the world as they see it. Guess it’s like Laurent Dombrowicz once put it: ‘If you want it done right, do it yourself’. Rufus ponders: ‘So far it’s been DIY all the way. Wouldn’t mind if it would change though, but not into ‘don’t do it at all’. That would be lame’. ‘We simply have to do what we do. We cannot do, make or act otherwise. Because of this, when we rock we rock hard’ finishes Rufus Ketting.
Glamorama 49
Photography By Martina Akrenius
Glamorama 50
Fiction The Trip Went to a random party in central London, drank too much champagne, a random taxi driver went nuts and left me halfway on my way home, walked in the rain, got home, realised my plane leaves in a few hours, stuffed clean clothes into a LV tote, got to the airport, smoked a pack of cigarettes, had red wine on the plane whilst a hobo looking man stared at me the whole journey. Got to Schripol Amsterdam, saw a hot guy with blond hair, flirted a little, waited hours for someone to pick me up, drank some white wine, tried to understand some Dutch writing, got into a BMW, drank champagne and ended up in Rotterdam. Heard some good tunes, smoked weed and fell asleep, woke up, ended up in Amsterdam in a wicked nightclub
that was all beds and had a weird transsexual host, went to a toilet that said Homo on the door, smoked cigarettes and drank 4 bottles of rose MoÍt, forgot the names of the people I was with at least 5 times, someone calling me Bob the whole journey. Bought some postcards but never found stamps, took pictures of random people, pretended to be a photographer, visited a museum, met some cool people, forgot the name of the hotel I was staying at, didn’t see any windmills. Got to a bar in Jonge Roelensteeg, drank a lot of red wine, got to a BMW, back in Rotterdam, drank more wine and decided it was time to go home. I know longer who I am. I feel like a ghost.
Text by Martina Akrenius
Glamorama 51
The fan...
We cultivate ourselves by taking influences from around us – mainly by reading. But what happens if you don’t quite comprehend where the fictional world ends and real world begins? London Preppy, as he calls himself, is a fan of Bret Easton Ellis’ work and leads a lifestyle that is straight from one of his novels…
Text by Martina Akrenius
Glamorama 52
Should the fictional world be taken seriously sometimes? The nihilistic, violent and even sadistic settings of Bret Easton Ellis (BEE) are certainly not something you would call ‘self-help’ books: Bret Easton Ellis’s books are mostly about violent characters that are in the condition of being ‘nothing’. What they all have in common is a lack of empathy, life goals or anything that is considered to be decent or pure. In 1991, when American Psycho was to be published, Simon & Schuster, Mr. Ellis’ publishing company, decided to pass on the project because of the substantially violent content of the book and due to external pressure from Simon & Schuster’s parent company, Gulf & Western. By tossing the book aside, they missed the chance of publishing one of the most influential works of our time. Or was it a miss? The amount of criticism leveled at Bret Easton Ellis for his books, and from portraying such violent monsters as the main character, Patrick Bateman, in American Psycho cannot be concealed. So, has the ‘avantgarde’ mastermind created an army of real beasts? Meet London Preppy (who wishes not to be named). He is a fan of Mr. Ellis and validated his true dedication in 2007 by tattooing ‘Bret Easton Ellis’ on his bulging left bicep. London Preppy is known for running a blog on the Internet which he calls ‘Nihilistic 21st century urban stories’. In his words, it’s ‘a combination of world-weary, over-educated disgust at the shallowness of the world and lots about self abuse and pumping up your body so it looks real nice. Is it all fact, is it fiction, who the fuck knows.’ The content of the blog follows the ‘Ellis style’ with Preppy popping copious amounts of different pills: ‘a comprehensive list of: 96 tablets of Tylenol PM, 32 Nytol QuickCaps, 26 Zopiclone (7.5mg) and 12 ½ Valium (10mg)’ and showing his obsession with his looks by going to the gym every day. Preppy appears numb about his presence and the life around him; listing his designer outfits for the day, getting bored at nightclubs and as Preppy enlightens in his blog ‘plodding through life in a pointless manner’. Everyday life to him is ‘performing repetitive tasks day after day’ in ‘the edge of complete and utter indifference’, and warns his readers about ‘happy’ people: ‘those people have been born with a complete lack of cognitive ability – stay clear of them’. The notion of ‘life is short’ and ‘you only live once’ apparently makes Preppy nauseous: ‘What I say to those people is that if they like life so much, they can have mine too’, as it says in his blog. Should the life of Preppy be considered just as vanity or an end result of taking BEE’s world too seriously? Several of Mr. Ellis’s books have also reached the movie screens. Although they haven’t all been carried out with straightforward collaboration with the author, they have managed to grasp the (somewhat) disturbing content of his fictional world. The latest film adaptation of Mr. Ellis’s work is based on The Informers. The screenplay was created in collaboration with the author, and the movie premiered in the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 in Utah, USA, starring
actors such as Winona Ryder, Brandon Routh and Brad Renfro. In a short summary, The Informers is a collection of short stories, ranging from a vampire who lures teenagers to his home, to a pop star who is rampaging through Japan on tour– all influenced with the latest designer drugs and filthy rich people in the newest trendy nightclubs. Brad Renfro, 25, the child star of `The Client,’ was found dead after an overdose of heroin in January 2008 in LA short after finishing shooting The Informers. Even though Renfo had substance problems before the movie, you cannot but wonder how the part in The Informers influenced this young actor? Maybe he was a fan of Mr. Ellis’ work and the part in the movie encouraged him to do even more drugs. You might presume the role affected him in some way, but of course we will never know for sure. This distressing tragedy can, of course, be related with the death of Heath Ledger early in 2008 in New York. He had just finished shooting the role of Joker in Batman, The Dark Knight, which ended up rewarding him an Oscar for his performance after his death. Heath had a long career in acting but the part in Dark Knight was surely most incredible role of his life – not to mention the last one. The character of Joker is an unbalanced criminal mastermind who hides under a mask of clown painted face. Jack Nicholson famously played this role in an earlier version of Batman in, 1989, and allegedly warned Heath how the role of playing a schizophrenic mass murderer could effect him. The speculation of how the role of Joker affected him continues, Joe Neumaier, among many, reports in Daily Mail US in January 24th 2008 ‘some think it was a nightmare that led to his tragic death’. Have the limits of facts and fiction come too hazy or open to flexibility for some people? As London Preppy asked earlier, ‘it is all fact, is it fiction, who the fuck knows’? London Preppy does apparently ensure that he is just ‘fascinated’ by the world Mr. Ellis creates in his books and therefore, maintains he is not a stalker fan. ‘I appreciate his philosophy as it comes through his writing. I share similar concerns. Therefore, I don’t consider myself “a fan”. I don’t want to go through his rubbish or get his autograph’. But is his blog all evidence to the contrary? Preppy started his blog over two years ago as a diary that he shared with friends. ‘As it grew bigger and bigger I started writing less personal stuff and it became an amalgamation of fiction and reality’. His latest blog entry is an excited note on an article on Fantastic Man no. 9 in spring 2009, interview with BEE by John Flynn, mentioning his name. Preppy writes: ‘So there we have it. Bret Easton Ellis’ Mum has seen this blog. Bret Easton Ellis has seen this blog. If this doesn’t mean London Preppy has come full circle, I don’t know what does.’ The worrying fact is that the mentioning of London Preppy was in connection of talking about ‘crazy’ fans. Paul Flynn writes in Fantastic Man: ‘How does it feel to know that there is a stranger wandering about with your name tattooed on him? BEE: “It’s strange, you know?” This time there is a longer pause than usual’.
Glamorama 53
Where are we going? I asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. “Just driving”. “But this road does not go anywhere,” I told him. “That doesn’t matter.” “What does?” I asked, after a little while. “Just that we’re on it, dude,” he said. Less Than Zero
Glamorama 54
Glamorama 55
disappear here