Isabella Cecconi | THE HARLOW

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IMAGE MAKER – GUY BOURDIN

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Isabella Cecconi

UK’s hosting the largest exhibition of photographer Guy Bourdin, influential, enigmatic fashion photographer. The show features over 100 works and previously unseen material from the photographer’s estate, from 1955 to 1987. On display Bourdin’s distinguished 40-year career from Man Ray’s protégé to photography revolutionary in his own right and explore his pursuit of perfection.

@Somersert House, London – until March the 15th 2015

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SLITHERSTITION

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Take away your horror and repugnance, look what I found – as I was browsing and discovering something new, which has been so far my favourite thing to do. I found Andrew McGibbon, photographer: enchanting colors, perfect picture shots, portrays and curious subjects. Symbols of good, symbols of evil, tradition and iconography. Matter of fact since the very beginning of human beliefs, the snake has always been a creature to be feared. Feared and respected. Sometimes badly treated too. Thus, the serpent has always deserved a sort of second look, beyond its slithering and dark hypnosis. In an endeavor to break common suppositions, that snakes are just evil, Andrew McGibbon has shot a series of photographs called Slitherstition which depict snakes with a bright and colored background to emphasise their beauty and design. The project looks pretty awesome, and it surely gives snakes another look.

Still Scared?I’m mesmerized!

http://andrewmcgibbon.co

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AWOL ERIZKU

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Ethiopia-born, NewYork-based artist, Awol Erizku wanders a wide range of mediums including photography, sculpture, and video installation. He remixes disparate artistic movements and traditions, from the photorealist still lives of Dutch Masters to spare, Minimalist constructions, giving them distinctly 21st century updates. Art history gets integrated with contemporary fabrics, styles, and symbols with a provocatively allusive sensibility and aesthetic. Erizku’s images are historical portraits where moods and psychological presences are equally distinct. He doesn’t employ models for hire, instead he chooses his subjects from the world around him : passersbys on the street, a man or women sitting near him in the subway car. An intuitive and expressing process.

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SWELL, MATEUSZ SARELLO

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

In a mid summer night I opened and browsed what days before had arrived as a parcel. In touching it, a pleasant silky feeling coming from the canvas of the black coated-in-cloth cover.

In the first half of the book, the following:

Road.Winter.Void.

 Void of everything that is important. I am trying to think about the “road.” I cannot. I am completely exhausted.  All in all, I am going only because of the weather. The prospect of wind, snow, and my flashes on the beach did not let me sleep.  Besides, I am afraid of the few days of thinking only about her, and this way I will have the Baltic Sea. My Baltic Sea.  Instead of.

Swell is a tale of the untold, a beating documentary of a boy and his heart, a story of survival and attempt to surviving. It’s the portrait of a lone adventurer in the dark real world, where feelings hurt as much as memories. A tale of the unplanned, a story of love reconstruction, of metamortphosis. Swell is a love story where the author’ s third eye is constantly fulfilled by a great regenerating presence: the Baltic Sea. Its giant waves and cold turboleance mirror the photographer’s state of mind and thoughts, in a harmony of forces. Pictures are simple, out-of-common dash of poetry.

“Swell” by Mateusz Sarello, is a squared little masterpiece, a chicken soup for the heart, an invincible summer, in the midst of winter.

http://mateuszsarello.com

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EDEN AND AFTER, NAN GOLDIN

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

What would you expect from Nan Goldin? I would say something insane! In her constant evolving images, the brand new collection of photographs of children, is an astonishing happy-loving project, quite mesmerizing to my eyes. Being one of the world’s most influential contemporary photographers with a loyal love for intimate/provocative works, Eden and After demonstrates that flash lights can give space to real lights, that drug addicts can be switched with beautiful kids. Some photographs depict children alone, others show them in familial and social groups. From pregnancy and newborns through to teenagers, some subjects have been documented by Nan through their entire lives. The book may look sweet from the outside, but underneath the playful photos of children runs a deeply tale about the joy and power of childhood and the inevitable end to the freedom that comes with it. Goldin seeks out the secrets children seem to hold, hoping to reveal something about children that is both deeply hidden and transparently evident.

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COMFORT ZONE, REAL PEOPLE, REAL STORIES

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

While spending a weekend at the seaside, I’ve decided to visit a public beach that I haven’t seen since I was a little boy. There I saw a possibility to recite a lot of stories only from looking at the things that people bring with them. I’ve got so inspired that I had to quit what I was doing at the time and indulge into a new project. I came back the very next week with all my equipment needed for a photoshoot. I started this series because I was surprised how a certain place or surrounding can affect people’s behavior.

Lithuanian photographer Tadao Cern had a peculiar idea for his photography series snapping awkward portraits of people sleeping on the beach. Stretched, curled, all the bodies display the characteristics of each human being. Pictures are quirky but familiar, beautiful and extravagant.

http://www.tadaocern.com

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J. QUAZI KING

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

He is Brooklyn based. He is a fashion and lifestyle photographer.His name is J. Quazi King and was born in Equatorial Guinea. His pictures focus on mesmerizing portraiture. Quazi had a childhood fascination with photography, but decided to explore it just some time ago. His work is haunting, neat, sharp and real. Self-taught, he started his career by documenting everyday scenes on the streets of New York and the result, so far, has been just radiant.

http://quazimottoonwax.com

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JOHN BENNETT FITTS

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Maybe the right word is melancholia. John Bennett Fitts, born in 1977 is an American photographer with a focus on emptiness. In his series No Lifeguard On Duty, there are large color photographs of empty 60’s-motel swimming pools, all abandoned and cracked. The shots were taken at sunset and the light is warm and familiar.Fitts describes an urban environment with an outer worldly quality.He has exhibited around the world and received various awards.His body of work gives us an insight into the Los Angeles area, exploring the abandonment and decline of sites. Fitts makes emptiness look beautiful and the simplicity and absence of human presence a portayal of decaying America.

jbennettfitts.com

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FILM IS NOT DEAD AT ALL! MICHAEL SHINDLER

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

On his webpage there are just few words to describe his work: Tintypes made by the authentic wet-plate collodion process. Camera formats from 4×5 to 14×17. Based in San Francisco.
Minimal description for an amazing project and place. In fact, Micheal Shindler opened in 2011 the world’s first Tintype portrait studio. The process of tintypes photography is delicate and requires skills. Tintype was first introduced in the 1850s, over a hundred and sixty years ago. The process takes around ten minutes and is delicate and messy. One slip-up and you’ll have to do the whole thing all over again. I guess it’s time to go to Frisco and have a portrait..

http://www.michaelshindler.com

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DIGITAL INK: CHEYENNE RANDALL

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Who is a tattooist? It usually is an individual who applies permanent decorative tattoos. The craft is achieved by apprenticeship, under a trainer or and experienced mentor. To become a tatooist, you must have a passion for art and for drawing and be able to draw. But what if this skill, based on ink evolves into a visual media? Art on skin with Cheyenne Randall has become art on photo images. A tattoo artist, a digital artist, a 360° artist. The old perfect techniques mixes with new technological devices..and the result is rather mesmerizing. I had the chance of stumbling into Cheyenne art and fell in love with it immediately. Old images get twisted but maintain a refined and elegant allure. What follows is a small interview we had:

Hi, my name is Cheyenne I’m…

… a mixed media and digital artist from Seattle, Wa

What is a tattoo according to your opinion?

Ink permanently placed under the skin through the use of a sharp penetrating device.

I think what makes a good tattoo is what ever makes the person who’s body is on it happy. I’ve been tattooed by some really awesome people with years of tattooing and still one of my favorite tattoos is a homemade “stick and poke” tattoo one of my best friends gave me. it’s a heart with an upside down cross above it. it’s a good tattoo.

Do you have a favorite tattoo style? Traditional? Tribal?

Yes American Traditional is my personal favorite. It’s timeless. I can get a panther head today and it’ll still be a panther head when I’m 80 same as the panther heads on 80 year olds right now. I also think the same thing with Japanese Traditional. It’s an incredibly beautiful craft that I respect immensely.

What inspires you the most?

Thinking about how hard my mom worked her butt off single handedly to put food on the table and to hear all the many times she’s mentioned how much she just wants a modest little house so she can garden and such. I get that vision of her in her garden as she’s getting older and it drives me more and more each day to make that happen for her. Through art it’s a tough road but I think it can be done.

Is there a criteria you use to choose a personality instead of another one?

Yeah sort I won’t touch famous people just for being famous unless its tongue and cheek or parody or i’m just in a goofy mood like my Miley Cyrus mix ups for instance. It is a type of commentary on what I call “candy fame” just garbage in the airwaves and covers of tabloids in line at the grocery store. It’s crucial for me to pick people that have left lasting impressions on me. People of substance. People with talent. Classic beauty. As an artist just looking at some people can be joyful. Acknowledging the lines and beauty of a young Liz Taylor. I have a difficult time sometimes with drawling a line with some people. I’ve pulled Kurt Cobains photos into photoshop and just don’t feel it’s right. at least I haven’t found a way to work on his image without it feeling like I’m trying too hard. It’s not necessary for me to do Shopped Tattoos on people just because it’d be cool. The whole process as a whole has to feel right or I abort.

You have Native American Ancestry. (We loved the pic of little Cheyenne with braids) Do you feel your origins influence your art?

Thanks yeah I always like to tease people and tell them that photos of me with my braids was my little sister or thats my daughter.

Yes absolutely I have a strong sense of connection to my father or his echoing spirit. He passed away when I was in high school. He was an incredibly gifted artist, perhaps in my opinion one of the best. His drawing were absolutely next level. I’ll attach one. He was full blooded Lakota born and raised on Rosebud Indian Reservation. But he wasn’t much of a traditionalist. He didn’t sweat or do sundance. He was on his own trip. Sort of a blend hippie / renaissance man. He always lived out of the city in a farm home and made knives, grew marijuana and painted out by a big Oak tree. But he spoke Lakota and influenced me in many ways. He artwork always had some type of Native imagery in it. He was proud of our culture. As I am in my life today. I bring that into my original artwork very much. In fact I often say when I”m drawing it’s like my dad takes over my hand.

Wouldn’t it be nice if with the use of technology we could really re-imagine or re-create what we are?

In some ways yes. I don’t really see that being too far from a reality. I do personal commissions all the time where I put tattoo’s on peoples personal photos they send in. I’ve been told that’s change there lives and they now are going to go out and start collecting body art. Its pretty badass.

The Harlow suggest our readers to discover Cheyenne Randall art on:

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VIVIAN MAIER, JEU DE PAUME

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

The archetypal of self-taught photographer, with a sense of observation and an eye for composition. She was a nanny, a street photogapher, whose talent may be comparable with that of the major figures of American street photography such as Lisette Model, Helen Levitt or Diane Arbus. The exhibition presented at Jeu de Paume is the largest ever exhibition in France devoted to Vivian Maier. It includes 120 black and white and colour gelatin silver prints, as well as Super 8 films she made. Maier was discovered by chance by John Maloof, who discovered her astonishing photos by chance in 2007 at an auction. what came out was that Maier was a discreet person and a loner. She took more than 120,000 photos over a period of thirty years and only showed this work to a mere handful of people during her lifetime. She lived as a governess, but all her free time and every day off was spent walking through the streets of New York, with a camera slung around her neck. The children she looked after described her as a cultivated and open-minded woman, generous but not very warm. Vivian Maier remained totally unknown until her death in April 2009. Photography seemed to be much more than a passion to her. Her activity was the result of a deeply felt need, almost an obsession. A unique occasion. LET’S GO TO PARIS!

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SUE FORD @NGV

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Sue Ford was a pioneer of Australian photography, and one of the most important practitioners to emerge in the wave of 1970s feminist photographers. Celebrating her artistic life and career The National Gallery of Victoria will bring together key photographs, digital prints, collages and films created over an almost fifty-year period, as well as important archival materials. Ford’s work was both personal and political, and showed a fascination with private, shared and forgotten histories. Ford who passed away in 2010 studied photography at RMIT and in 1974 was the first Australian photographer to be given a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria.

17 APR 2014 – 24 AUG 2014

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JILL GREENBERG

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

There are few days left. Best known for her amazingly anthropomorphic and affectionate portraits of monkeys and bears, Jill Greenberg captures the powerful, romantic, and enigmatic nature of horses through her signature lens in photographs that make these animals all the more otherworldly yet familiar. ‘Horses’ is an elegiac exploration of these heroic and often idealized creatures. Transformed by Greenberg’s lens, the horse’s powerful physical beauty becomes a hyper-real vision, and her gorgeous prints seduce us in a subtle manner with sensuous, painterly textures. Stunning photographs of Friesians, Andalusians, Arabian stallions, thoroughbred performance horses. You have time until March the 15^th@ O’Born Contemporary.

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RON GALLELLA

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Le paparazzo extraordinaire, photographer Ron Galella. The man who snapped Michael Jackson, Brooke Shields, Jackie O without her sunglasses, Brigitte Bardot. The Godfather of the paparazzi culture. His photographs can be seen in hundreds of publications including Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair, People, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The New York Times and Life. Known for his obsessive treatment of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the subsequent legal battles associated with it (do you remember the movie Smash that Camera?). Marlon Brando punched him in the face breaking the photographer’s jaw and knocking out five of his teeth. Widely regarded as the most famous and most controversial celebrity photographer in the world. The Museum of Modern Art New York and San Francisco, the Tate Modern in London, and the Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin, among many others, all maintain collections of Galella’s iconic works.

Above Picture, 1971 – Ali MacGraw attending the 43rd Annual Academy Awards

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OLYMPUS XA

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Together with the Contax T, the Olympus XA, was a 35 mm camera and one of the smallest rangefinder cameras ever made. It was designed by Yoshihisa Maitani and featured a fast 35mm f/2.8 lens, and aperture priority metering. The camera was capable of taking extremely high quality photographs. A great pocketably slim size, loved by amateurs, and those who demanded great results: automatic enough to provide sharp, well exposed photos. A great camera from the Olympus tradition of compactness combined with technical virtuosity.

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ERNEST GOH

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

I said WOW! When I first saw his pictures. Singaporean photographer and visual artist, Ernest Goh, is a magnificent explorer of the natural world. In his photo book, Cocks, there is a collection of a particular Malaysian breed of chickens, known as Ayam Serama. Goh was awarded in second place in the Nature & Wildlife category at the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards (Professional Competition). He started his career as a newspaper photographer for The Straits Times, Singapore’s national daily, and nowadays works independently. His shots explore a close relationship between animals and their human masters. Humans anthropomorphize their pets, and Goh has vividly captured these characteristics with realist portraits. Serama are actually bred for competition in Malaysia. They are prized for their size and are real feathered warriors. Goh, as cited in his bio, ‘considers his passion for animals a natural extension of his interest in photographing the human condition.’ I personally consider his photography as impressive!

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WHAT A YASHICA!

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Back to film rolls please, back to waiting for a film development, back to quality, back to excitement. Yashica t4 o Yashica t5, had a nice handling, with the sharp shutter. it took little pressure to fire them but in the mid ’90s these models were one of the greatest cameras ever. The t4 or t5, if you lived across the pond, could be considered a cousin to the much more expensive Contax T2 which had been referred to as “the Fashion Photographer’s Secret Weapon.” Yashica discontinued the T4 in 2002. It had a wide, fairly fast 35mm 3.5 autofocus Zeiss lens, two things made the T4 Super really stand out from all other super-compact auto-everything point and shoot cameras. The Carl Zeiss lens and the Super scope waist-level viewfinder which allowed you to compose your shots as if you were using a twin lens reflex camera. Great photo toys of all time.

Richard Mosse. Man-Size, North Kivu, eastern Congo, 2011

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DEUTSCHE BöRSE 2014

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

The amazing annual photographic award exhibition, will be back with four new nominations, worthy £30,000. The Photographers’ Gallery’s has in fact, reopened after a full facelift where the upper floors now boast two airy new galleries. The four shortlisted artists for the annual £30,000 prize will display from rebel fighters to themselves. Visually and politically charged depiction of a turbulent Congo shots will get along with black and white self-portraits or a scientific photographical approach. Ready for the competition?

16-18 Ramillies St -London

www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk

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VIVIEN LEIGH

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

A previously unseen and newly acquired photograph of one of Britain’s most important actresses, Vivien Leigh, and her husband Laurence Olivier, taken at the height of their celebrity status are, since November 2013 on display at the National Portrait Gallery of London. The photograph is shown alongside with two rarely seen portraits of the couple that mark the start of the Gallery’s program celebrating the centenary of Leigh’s birth. The three photographs exhibited in the Gallery are of an extensive display, Starring Vivien Leigh: A Centenary Celebration. Telling the story of the film and theatre career of the widely celebrated actress, focusing on her Oscar-winning role in Gone With the Wind, the display features over 50 portraits of Leigh alongside a selection of rare memorabilia including magazine covers, film stills and press books. Many of the photographs in the display have not been exhibited in the Gallery before. I guess it’s time to go to London.

http://www.npg.org.uk/

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ST.MORITZ OR CHAMONIX? A WINTER WONDERLAND

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

How cool are they? When breezy days aren’t over there’s nothing left to do than being wrapped in a fun pattern pullover or in this case, shooting with a the new winter editions of Lomo! Experimenting with crazy colour filters and magical optical effects, the Sardine and the Diana F are magical cameras. Canvas covered with Christmas themed prints in festive colours, La Sardine St. Moritz with its wide-angle perspective is a very practical also convenient camera as it uses all types of 35mm film, making it easy and ideal for any crazy, sporty and adventurous holidays. At the same time, the Diana F+ Chamonix is great if you want to shoot in squares and create dreamy medium-format photos.Getting ready for an analogue retreat? Scandinavian-inspired woolly jumper will have a hard time as you will embrace amazing snow-covered views, Christmas markets, and your family’s outfits in New Years Eve party. Lomo, a winter wonderland. Continue Reading →

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HERB RITTS

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

It will open tomorrow, wednesday the 11^th of December 2013. Rome will host a retrospective on Herb Ritts, photographer of strength, dreams and the Hollywood star system. Ritts established an international reputation for his distinctive photographs of fashion models, nudes and celebrities. From the late 1970s until his untimely death from AIDS in 2002, he created photographs that successfully bridged the gap between art and commerce. Great interpreter of fashion photography, he had countless famous portrait’s sitters: Madonna, Michael Jackson, Richard Gere. His work has been exhibited in numerous museums, where shiny Versace and perfect bodies were fully immersed in light. Glossy photographs of dreamlike fashion will be all displayed. Over 100 precious photographs of different sizes, from the impressive platinum prints to the series of prints with silver salts medium format, up to large spectacular blowups will glow at the Rome Auditorium. Ritts’ style, unmistakable and powerful showed what a cultured and sensitive man he was: a lover of art and history of photography. In fact, Ritts was studying classical compositions, the plasticity of dialogue between bodies in Renaissance art when “kidnapped” by the formal rigor of the German photographer Herbert List. He then understood the mystery that lied at the bottom of those perfect compositions of light and volume.

You have time until march the 2014. Watcha waiting for? Hurry up!

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LEICA M (RED)

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

A one of a kind Leica camera designed by Apple’s Jony Ive has been sold for more than $1.8 million at a charity auction. The stunning Leica M, co-designed by Marc Newsom, was a one-off piece made to benefit the (RED) campaign to fight HIV and Aids in Africa. The magnesium die-cast camera had an estimated list price of $500,000 to $750,000 but eventually sold for more than twice as much as the upper estimate. The camera features (along with its gorgeous, unique design) a full-format CMOS sensor, a powerful processor, and a 50mm f/2 ASPH lens. It’s the ideal intersection of design, craftsmanship, and charity. Good on ya Leica!

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TEN THOUSAND WAVES

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

A film installation projected onto nine double-sided screens arranged in a dynamic structure, this will be Ten Thousand Waves by Julien Isaac. Interweaving the contemporary Chinese culture with its ancient myths, Isaac recounts the story of 16th-century fishermen lost and imperiled at sea. Central to the legend is the sea goddess figure who leads the fishermen to safety. Shot at the Shanghai Film Studios, actress Zhao Tao takes part in a reenactment of the classic 1930s Chinese film The Goddess. The installation is staged on the streets of both modern and old Shanghai, including music and sounds that fuse Eastern and Western traditions. Ten Thousand Waves was conceived and created over four years. The audience will move freely around the place with the ability to watch from whichever vantage points they choose. Can’t hardly wait!

November 25, 2013–February 17, 2014

www.moma.org

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KAROLINA JONDERKO

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Neat, clean, creative, direct, light, positive, attractive. This is what I thought when I first saw one of Karolina Jonderko’s images. Her photography is sharp and has, since the very beginning, given me the idea of realness. There’s a perfect balance of composition, of rule of thirds, of close ups. The result is brilliant, haunting. The Harlow has had the chance of a brief interview with her. What follows is a written conversation we had. We invite you all to discover this amazing artist of morbid eloquence, it’s well worth watching.

What is photography to you?

For me photography is a voice. I’ve never been good with words. Photography gives me the chance to communicate with people and express what I want to say. I read pictures as if someone was telling me a story. No matter if it’s a single image or a photoreportage. Photographs tell us something about the photographer who took them. Continue Reading →

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SHINE BRIGHT LIKE…DIAMONDS AND PEARLS!

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Sensual, voluptuous, Belgian! This is Marc Lagrange; one of the most original and talented erotic photographers with a distinctive approach to settings, to sexy scenes, to timeless images. Combining glamour with alluring heroines, Lagrange creates a personal and sophisticated photography. His new book, Diamonds and Pearls is a little treasure to have, a jewel for home coffee tables and for luxurious eyes. We love it!

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HORST P. HORST

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

We have an entire year to get ready for the retrospective of the work of magnificent master photographer Horst P. Horst. German American, he spanned his career for six decades, photographing the exquisite creations of couturiers such as Chanel, Schiaparelli and Vionnet. He launched many models and experimented with early colour techniques. His pictures are meticulously composed, lit by great art and keenness. The exhibition will display Horst’s best known photographs alongside unpublished and rarely exhibited vintage prints. From surreal to still lives, from portraits of Hollywood stars to nudes and nature studies. A creative process through archive film footage, original contact sheets, sketchbooks and letters.

6 September 2014 – 4 January 2015

http://www.vam.ac.uk/

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PARIS PHOTO 2013

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

The 17th edition of Paris Photo, will take place from November the 14th until the 17th at the Grand Palais in Paris. 136 galleries, 28 publishers and booksellers will reaffirm Paris Photo’s role as the most prestigious international fair dedicated to photography.

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THE BUSH – MY HEART IS A FOREST

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to Dream; Hamlet- William Shakespeare

Diego Buongiorno, composer, producer, creator of The Bush. Diego Buongiorno, live performer of My Heart is a Forest. An innovative project where the viewer is led in a narrative path made of dreams, magic, pulsing beats. My Heart is a Forest is Buongiorno’s experimental and live novel, a tale where the unwritten and the unsaid becomes the creative process itself. The spectator listens and lives the scene with no boundaries. The imaginary meets fairytales where a northern atmosphere is linked to the tones of a forest, from light to dark, from dusk to dawn. More than 60 internationally known Artists have been involved in this project. Musicians, photographers, visual artists, illustrators, directors and designers, representing 18 different countries in this epic journey into music and contemporary art. My heart is a Forest is a complete and complex mise en scene, a beatbox of emotions where all the senses get woken up, and feel alive. The presence of videos, which roll the imagery, the stage choreography best embodied by the deeply compelling performance of its artists performing, transforms the show into a work of art. The center piece: a box with a real pulsing heart, generating energy. Sounds move throughout the stage in new and interesting ways. The overall effect, is a truly innovative experience, aesthetically interesting and rich in context. The overwhelming music, integrated to the visual and the spatial experience creates a platform for multimedia exploration.

Admittedly, you either love or hate this kind of works as there’s no middle ground, being the performance crazy-large and crazy-intimate to impress everyone equally. Being an earthquake of feelings, I got absolutely blown away. A must see.

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WHEN THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME: ZOE STRAUSS

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Self-taught photographer and political activist, Zoe Strauss sees her work as a type of social intervention, and she has often used billboards and public meetings as venues. Strauss bought her first camera at the age of thirty, in order to execute her a project she’d long been planning, “I-95” (2000-2010). Each year on the first Sunday in May, Strauss would attach her photos to pillars underneath a bridge on the I-95 highway in Philadelphia. The photos were on view for three hours, after which they were free for the taking. Zoe Strauss describes her work as “an epic narrative about the beauty and struggle of everyday life.” Strauss’s subjects are broad but her primary focus is on working-class experience, including the most disenfranchised people and places. Her photographs offer a poignant, troubling portrait of contemporary America. Untrained as a photographer she founded the Philadelphia Public Art Project in 1995 with the objective of exhibiting art in nontraditional venues. Strauss provided us with an honest, uncensored view of economic and social realities. She often focused on people on the fringes of society, or those who are “just getting by.” She began by photographing people in and around her city, and has since taken pictures all over the world, with an eye, she says to exploring “the strength in how we figure out our lives, and the truth of how sometimes we can’t work it out.” Strauss’ photographs are grounded in her clear-sighted empathy, which allows the viewer to feel like part of the exchange between photographer and subject.

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POOL HOUSE PROJECT – GIULIO DELETTREZ FENDI

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Sea, sun, surf. What a threesome. What a flaming riding sport. What a high quality, eco friendly, passion. Surfing is synonym of beauty, strength, balance, waterlove and respect. A kind of happiness whose aim needs a good mean. A good surfer uses a good surfing board, a board that must be durable of proven, with contemporary components, with classical shapes. Every surfboard must have unique and crafty details. Giulio Delettrez Fendi, sea lover, surfer and gifted surfboard maker is founder of the Pool House Project. We asked him few questions as he uses a variety of construction techniques and materials. Solid-wood gets worked out and the final result is a crafty board, just for you.

What is Pool House Project? When and How did the idea come to your mind?

Pool House Project is an experiment, in the sense that it is an approach to something relatively new to me. It is a continuous research for new techniques and materials to create a surfboard which I deem functional and appealing. Freedom of trial is amazing. The ability to change and implement is great, the best part happens during the production process, learning new things, this is the real reward. I could say I started considering shaping surfboards while on a surf trip on a remote island of the Maldives, at the end of a good day of surf with friends met on the trip. That day the swell was pumping and a wave smashed the nose of my board on the coral reef. Once back at the island’s town we started repairing dings on our boards while chatting. A Japanese guy next to me had quite a technique at fixing his board, so I asked: “Do you shape boards?” He replied “No way! That’s a really tough job?” That’s when I started searching the web for all the information I could find on making one’s own surfboards. I got most of it from there, along with books and films, occasionally I will talk to people in the business, but mostly for the pleasure, as I believe everyone should come to his own conclusions and do his own thing. Continue Reading →

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LETTERA 12

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

This post is personally dedicated to my Lettera 12. It is my personal wiz-bang typer. A later variant of Olivetti’s Lettera 10, it is smaller than it might appear. Colorful, featherweight, its body is made of cast-injected ABS polymer casing, maybe the lightest of the Olivetti’s typewriters. Portable I might say. Made in Spain in the 70’s, it is, to me, a pretty looking piece. I like the sleek futuristic styling, the sharp corners, its colors (there are many variants, from lime to orange). It seems to be a toy but instead it’s a great addition (and really elevates) someone’s Olivetti collection. Stop using your Mac, go back to Olivetti!

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PATRIK FAIGENBAUM

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Patrik Faigenbaum, yes, the international acclaimed photographer. The one whose portraits of Italian families directly come from his personal pictorial experience and from the expressively powerful tradition of photography itself. Parisian by birth, Patrik Faigenbaum has travelled throughout Europe creating portraits of people and places. Initially trained as a painter, his images are real photographic tableaux, where shadows and light melt revealing intimacy, capturing the nuances of the situations and people he has encountered. His portraits become an essential motif, depicting the human and the place. It seems like there’s Avedon or Eugene Smith or Brandt influence as subjects are always portrayed in their environment instead of a studio. To my point of view his masterpieces are his portraits of Italian aristocratic families. From Oct the 4th until Jan the 19th 2014, Rome’s Académie de France will display Feigenbaum works, we should all have the chance to visit the exhibition. Noblesse, oblige.

http://www.patrickfaigenbaum.com

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ERWIN OLAF, HOMAGE TO BERLIN

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

From my point of you, it’s hard to say if Erwin Olaf’s portraits arouse more pity or mirth. Alone figures, facing away with either resignation or frowning to the viewer. Profound images, perfectly in light (he’s a skillfull master), almost decadent with a tone of burlesques, a touch of costumed-like past. There is seriousness and mockery, precision and meticulously-planned situations linked between historical and contemporary art. A photographical narrative that delights viewers with large colour prints. For his homage to Berlin, Erwin Olaf visited seven locations around the capital representative of a subjective aesthetic and historical significance. From this historically inspired viewpoint, Olaf gazes into the Berlin of today, known internationally as an unconventional, creative, young and free-spirited city. A must see exhibition.

6.09.2913 – 19.10.2013

http://www.galerie-wagner-partner.com

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MAY THE CIRCLE REMAIN UNBROKEN

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

For us she is and always be Corinne The Great! Corinne Day, the British photographer whose pictures influenced the 90’s style and the 90’s perception of fashion photography. Corinne, the longtime and close friends of many of her sitters (most famously Kate Moss, who she discovered). Her candid portraits which we have all seen on magazines, her notable photographs of Moss’s freshness. Corinne the regularly commissioned photographer for Vogue. In August 2010, after many years of health struggling she died of cancer. May the Circle Remain Unbroken is a celebration of her pictures, and her immense self-taught talent. SUPER WANT.

http://www.morelbooks.com/corinneday.html

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G16, AND THE PLEASURE IN YOUR HANDS!

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Compact or Reflex? Compact cameras are going through change lately, on size, sensors. We must admit, the market is fierce. Considering my passion for Canon I’ve been dwelling over many different choices. The Eos M for instance, or the new 5d Mark III. It took me some time to decide what to do, being a reflex user. The result was the new Canon Power Shot G16. The camera is smaller than earlier models of the series but still a fairly wedge in the hand. It has an 85 per cent field-of-view optical viewfinder, and a built in wi fi connector. Connected cameras let you share your photos everywhere and anytime these days. Although similar to the previous G15, the G16 also includes a new DIGIC 6 image processor which allows for faster autofocusing, burst shooting, and movie capture. The box is opened. Now I have to shoot and let you know what I really think. Let’s hope for the best..but I’m sure it will.

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GREY VILLET

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Quick, sharp, neat, concentrated photos. Viewers, spectators of the match, of highschool players. The intesity of surprise, of winners, of the heart beating. These are some of the fantastic images of Grey Villet, a master. Life Magazine shooter, purist of the image, genius in capturing moments, words, thoughts and emotions. Villet’s work as a freelance photographer and photojournalist spanned decades and subjects. He captured the human condition, a sample of dayily gestures, the behaviour of people in history. Browsing the web or googling his name will be a surprise and a real meal for your eyes. Bon Apetit!

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WOMEN, AVEDON

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

On September 5th, Gagosian London will open a selection of photographs from The Richard Avedon Foundation. The exhibition presents a selection of photographs from the 1960s and 1970s, specifically focusing on images of women in motion, a leitmotif of Avedon’s fashion photography. Veruschka, Malgosia Bela and Gisele Bundchen, Twiggy, Ingrid Boulting, Avedon’s images established new benchmarks in the history of fashion photography. See you on the 5th then!

www.gagosian.com

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WHEN IN DOUBT, CLICK! GARRY WINOGRAND

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Looking back in photography history I brushed up and re-discovered those prolific avant guardists shooters, and I thought about Garry Winogrand, to me, the father of American street photography. He surely left so many magnificent images and is one of my favorite shooters. I consider him one of those who make you gain a photographic insight, wisdom. He was passionate, true. I never understood a lot of the things that he said about photography like why you should wait a year or two before developing your shots, why photographs don’t tell stories, and how photographers mistake emotion for what makes great photographs. Although I didn’t really get what he was saying, I was intrigued. His philosophy in photography was treasure. He would walk out of the building, with his Leica’s leather strap wrapped around his hand, check the light, adjust the shutter and snap. Constantly looking around. His unfortunate early-death (at age 56) left behind 2,500 rolls of undeveloped film, 6,500 rolls of developed but not proofed exposures (not made into contact sheets), and contact sheets made from about 3,000 rolls. However I think one thing that we can learn from Winogrand is to follow our instincts and our guts, and go for our shots. If a person is too far away, we should either run or walk to them and go for the shot. Photography is also, touching, tasting, being there, I see therefore I click.

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ANDREW LYMAN

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Records of life and records of reality. Little is written about Andrew Lyman, an artist, a student, a photographer, a multi-faced human being. Surely, his pictures were magnets to my eyes. His shots are colourful and the tones seem flashy, subjects are cut into parts: heads, legs, fingers dunking in milk, as if he would drive attention to the importance of details. His photography is captivating and intriguing. His shots are beautifully edited, like in the picture perfect series ‘Together Alone’. Images communicate with each other, intimacy and solitude get linked with the mundane and reality seems bizzarre. Daily life is just this: the surrounding sensations of our senses while interacting with people. Alone together, all alone, together all alone.

andrewlymanart dot com

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BETH GALTON PHOTOGRAPHY

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

If you visit her web page, you will immediately want to try and taste and eat food. Beth Galton is a professional studio photographer based in New York. Her specialty is food photography. She has a supreme attention to detail and a strong sense of composition. These elements has allowed her to acquire a noteworthy client list and she has been published in many cookbooks. With her photography she has offered a whole new perspective on the idea of food. Cut Food is, for instance, an amazing photo series that draws attention on food that has been literally sawed in half. The results is surprising, with unique geometric patterns and a stunning conceptual food photography. I still ask myself how she did shoot the Cappuccino’s image..

http://bethgalton.com

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