Twin » lucia

Point and Shoot

Lucia — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:52:29 +0000

Raised in small-town Missouri, 30-year-old New York photographer Ben Pier left home in his teens. He headed to Chicago to play punk music and study photography at Columbia College. Pier cites no influences, working only with his own instincts to capture the beauty in everyday, fleeting moments. There’s something magical about his photography. Image after enchanting image leaves you wanting more.

So what are your photos all about?
My photos are about the moments, people and things that make up my life. They’re about me…how I feel and what I want to share.

What drew you to photography and what keeps you shooting?
One of the major things early on was that my older brother used to bring home all these photos he made in his high school photography classes. Boxes of black and white prints of him and his friends skateboarding and hanging
out. I was like 13, and would sneak into his room when he was gone and spread them out on the carpet. They seemed so real and so finished. Like he had made this magazine or comic book all about his life. I was really drawn to them and wanted to make my own from then on.

Your docu-style portraits involve a wide variety of different and interesting characters-where do you find your models and how do you choose them?
I find them on the street mostly…or friends or friends of friends. I really enjoy approaching people on the street now…I was really terrified of it for a long time.

Who would be your dream subject?
A girl.

What do you consider to be your best photograph?
I look at its all one big project or series – so take your pick.

What’s your camera/film of choice?
I don’t really have a favourite. I use a Mamiya 7 II because that’s the one I bought 6 years ago. But I like a bunch of different cameras. As far as film goes I use whatever I can find laying around.

What does the future hold?
I’m going to read for a bit and then turn in. I’ve got an early call time in the morning.

www.benpier.com/

Just Like Jesus

Lucia — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:52:48 +0000

A steady hand, super sharp vision and infinite patience make artist Dalton Ghetti’s impossibly tiny pencil tip sculptures possible. For the last twenty-five years the Brazilian-born, Connecticut based carpenter has been spending spare moments carving everything from boots to buttons into graphite with the aid of a blade, needle and knife. These miniature masterpieces can take years to complete, and are so delicate that inevitably they often break. But Dalton persists, making miraculous, microscopic art to give away to his friends. So he’s a carpenter, his works defy the rules of convention and he’s generous to a fault. Remind you of anyone?

www.pencilrevolution.com

The Limits of Control

Lucia — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:34:38 +0000

You don’t often hear Mexico and Sheffield mentioned in the same sentence – but Mexican cover band, The Limits, are the exception. Named after the cult Sheffield club which closed in 1992, The Limits play nothing but covers of songs by the likes of Pulp, Def Leppard, Human League, ABC, Joe Cocker and the Arctic Monkeys.

The truth is, The Limits are the invention of Mexico City artist Laureana Toledo. Her brilliant project – ‘The Name of the Band is The Limit’ is a 30-minute documentary, and a magazine that borrows from the iconic format of The Face – all in their honour. Page after page of primary coloured layouts leave you wishing that the band – and The Face – really existed.

Laureana Toledo’s debut book, ‘The Limit’, is available at Trolley Books, £24.
www.trolleybooks.com

Primary Colours

Lucia — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:51:36 +0000

The Horrors’ frontman Faris Badwan is more than just a pretty voice – he draws ferociously too. This week the singer presents an exhibition of over 100 original artworks and drawings at The Book Club in Hoxton.

Fans of the band will know that the St. Martins College of Art graduate has produced all The Horrors’ own artwork, as well as sleeve’s for Hatcham Social and The Charlatans. And like fellow musican-cum-artists Devendra Banhart and Bob Dylan his art does not disappoint – it’s delicate, intricate and perhaps predictably always drawn in black. Chris Cunningham, director of the band’s debut, ‘Sheena is a Parasite’, says, “Faris’s sketchbooks are a self-contained and private, little universe…” Here’s your way in.

‘Drawing A Straight Number Nine’ runs from the 11th – 29th August at The Book Club, 100 Leonard Street, London.

www.wearetbc.com/

We Can Work It Out

Lucia — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:52:30 +0000

Loren Platt is the co-founder of the popular Nineties revival club night, and blog, Work It. She also finds the time to style for magazines, produce Adidas and Reebok shoots, and has just graduated from London College of Fashion’s Fashion Journalism MA with a distinction. Now, she’s joined forces with Ruby Savage to form The Firm. Here, Twin finds out what it’s all about.

What is The Firm?

The Firm is a creative collective that brings people together off-line, building a community that will support, inspire and create. We form an economic platform for emerging talent by producing exhibitions, initiating collaborations and providing support and business development. Our motto is – ‘The commune speaks louder, watch us grow’.

What inspired you to start The Firm?

Being an independent creative, living and working in London can be isolating. We were very aware that we are a part of a much bigger creative community, and we felt it was time to bring people together. It started with The Firm dinners, where guests are personally invited with a hand written note. This was our way of meeting our ‘on-line’ friends face-to-face, to share, become inspired and perhaps even go on to create together.

Who is part of the team?

The team has grown from our own extended network of friends and acquaintances. But, The Firm is now extending beyond to include people who share the independent nature of our work. It crosses all creative mediums – artists, illustrators, designers, photographers, musicians, journalists, film-makers, make-up artists, stylists, DJs, producers. This means that all bases are covered. If someone in The Firm needs another skill, they have access to it.

What have you worked on so far?

Most recently we’ve produced the debut solo shows of photographer Nina Manandhar and artist Josephine Ada Chinonye Chime. Art direction wise, we’ve put together a project with Dickies – see a preview, here, http://thefirmbiz.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/the-firm-x-dickies.

What does the future hold for The Firm?

More dinners, film nights and collaborations. We are also opening our own space, where we can continue to bring together creative talent off-line, and widen participation within our local community.

www.thefirmbiz.co.uk

Top image: Loren Platt and Ruby Savage

The Firm team dressed for the Dickies shoot

The Firm dinners

The Firm presents Nina Manandhar

Double Vision

Lucia — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:35:49 +0000

Twin brothers Gert and Uwe Tobias create fantastic, vivid and abstract works of art. Together, through ceramic sculpture, large-scale woodcuts, gouache paintings and typewriter sketches, they draw on the folklore of their native Transylvania.

Now, the Tobias twins’ work goes on show at Nottingham Contemporary. The pair blend ghoulishness – skeletons and monsters abound – with a bright, bold colour palette that recalls modern graphic design. In their hands, Transylvania’s haunting legend won’t be fading anytime soon.

‘Gert & Uwe Tobias’ runs until the end of October at Nottingham Contemporary.

www.nottinghamcontemporary.org

Above image L-R: Gert & Uwe Tobias, all photography Alistair Overbruck.

Untitled, 2010, coloured woodcut mounted on canvas, 200 x 600 cm.

Untitled, 2010, woodcut on paper , 216 x 194 cm.

Higher States of Conciousness

Lucia — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:06:58 +0000

Holly Miranda is the modest type. Her softly spoken, dreamy debut album, ‘The Magician’s Private Library’, concerns that limbo state between sleep and wakefulness. Even though it’s produced by TV on the Radio’s David Sitek it doesn’t shout for attention like many of its Brooklyn peers. Musically, Miranda inhabits an altogether quieter space. This is soulful, thoughtful and deep-spun pop that requires a bit of hush. And we’re happy to oblige.

Holly Miranda plays Borderline on the 26th July, and Westminster Library on the 27th July. ‘The Magician’s Private Library’ is out now on XL Records.

www.hollymiranda.com

Playgroup

Lucia — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:25:48 +0000

As children play, they act out their dreams and naïve notions of adulthood. But not many children have their imaginative antics documented in the same enchanting way as Guille and Belinda. For five years, photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti followed the youthful exploits of these mismatched cousins from rural Argentina, as they cast themselves as everyone from Madonna, to Millias’s Ophelia. It’s enough to compel you to dig out your fancy dress box.

‘The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of their Dreams’ is now a published book by Nazraeli Press, £40. www.nazraeli.com

http://alessandrasanguinetti.com/

Top Image: Ophelias, 2002.

Credit for all images: From the series ‘The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of their Dreams’, Chromogenic Print, © Alessandra Sanguinetti, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York and Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.

Madonna, 2001.

The models, 2000.

The black cloud, 2001.

Reiss’s pieces

Lucia — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:20:31 +0000

Twin enjoyed a sneaky peak of Reiss’s AW10 campaign at the Soho Hotel last week. The brand have cleverly commissioned Jamie Morgan to create a fashion film to show off their upcoming collection. Entitled, ‘Elements’ the two minute black and white short heralds dramatic climatic condition – as models battle against wind, rain and blizzards. We love the silent, powerful and symbolic presence of a glossy thoroughbred horse, which leaves one with the question – is style nature or nurture?

Oh so quiet

Lucia — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:07:35 +0000

As night falls, four spotlights cross the stage at Somerset House to spell out the name of a band whose success this year has been huge. “It’s good to be home,” announce The XX. Without a chart hit, the minimalist Wandsworth trio have found love everywhere from the critics to Shakira, who covered ‘Islands’ at Glastonbury. Tonight, they stick to their simple set-up – the softness of Madley-Croft’s voice complimenting Sim’s deeper, husky tones, while on an elevated platform, Jamie Smith plays electronic drums. Up close, The XX thrill, and in the process give power to all the shy, introverted and Emo kids of the world.

thexx.info/