Jil Sander SS20 Campaign – A Scenic Italian Roadtrip
Jil Sander creative directors Lucie and Luke Meier went on an Italian road trip with photographer Olivier Kervern for their latest SS20 Campaign. Set before the scenic views of the island of Sicily , the photographer captures the beauty in key elements of the landscape shared with the duo’s intricate work.
“The beauty in the balance of conflicting yet complementary elements that runs throughout Lucie & Luke Meiers work at Jil Sander has here one of its mirrors. Harmony within opposites, open fields and Baroque, fluid and sculptural forms, masculine and feminine, concrete and lace. Archetypes, ascetic and voluptuous.”
In the campaign , both male and female models are shot sporting key pieces from the collection which aid in creating ardent moments of emotion and poetic movement. The Jil Sander SS20 collection will soon be available online.
American social and practice installation artist Theaster Gates has opened his first major UK exhibition in collaboration with Tate Liverpool. Titled Amaglam, the exhibit explores the complex issues of race, territory and inequality in the USA.
More specifically, the artist zooms in on the history of Malaga, a small island off the coast of Maine which served as home to an ethnically mixed community in the 19th century. Close to the end of their time, the inhabitants were forced to leave the mainland sans any offerings of housing jobs or support. Amalgam explores this narrative using a combination of sculpture, installation, film and dance. An accompanying film , dubbed Dance of Malaga 2019, features the work of acclaimed American dancer Kyle Abraham as well as the artist’s musical collective – The Black Monks , who produce the film’s score. Their music also echoes throughout the exhibition . Theaster Gates: Amalgam is currently on show at Tate Liverpool until May 3rd 2020.
Not long ago, Gucci announced their second collaboration with Walt Disney in preparation for the Chinese New Year 2020. In celebration of 2020 — the Year of the Mouse, the partnership sees a lineup of Mickey Mouse branded goods fused with the signature Gucci aesthetic. A stand out piece being the GG logo canvas coat features all-over miniature Mickeys, tracks suits, jumpers, bag packs, purses, bucket hats and sneakers feature similar designs.
Just in time for the new year, the Italian brand also released the accompanying campaign featuring some signature Gucci faces and the mascot himself staged at Disneyland. Shot by Harmony Korine, the campaign captures moments of an adventurous day between rollacoasters, tea-cup rides and cotton candy on the grounds of the most magical place on earth. The Disney x Gucci capsule collection is set to be released on January 3rd online and select stores worldwide.
The 1980’s in New York City was a period known for several genres of creativity including music, fashion and of course art. There exists a fair share of names who have all helped define contemporary art as it is today, but two of the most prominent influential names are Jean Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.
Which is why the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne has presented the work of the two artists in an exhibition entitled Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines.
The exhibition offers interesting insights into the artists’ unique visual languages, and reveal for the first time, the intersections between their lives and ideas throughout their friendship. Curated by Dr Dieter Bucchart, it features over 200 artworks including samples of their work to exclusive collaborations as the audience is given a glimpse inside their star studded world with names like Grace Jones , Andy Warhol and Madonna. The exhibition is currently open to the public and will run until the 13th of April 2020. For more info visit NGV.
“The Hoodie” – An exhibition by the Het Nieuwe Instituut
If one was to compose a list of the most political articles of clothing in modern day fashion, the hoodie would undoubtedly be in the top five of that line up. The garment which went through it’s prime evolution period with Champion in the 1930’s has grown to tell a variety of several narratives including perspectives in music, subculture, androgyny, gender fluidity and most pressingly tales of social equality. Throughout the past two decades with the aid of the media, the hoodie has come to be accused as the narrators in many cases of police brutality & racism.
“The Hoodie” exhibition, recently opened at the Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam curated by water and curator Lou Stoppard is an in-depth mixed media showcase involving artworks, garments, printed matter, digital footage, social media posts and other cultural artefacts to tell the story of the garment’s history in society.
It explores and examines conversation themes which enable its viewer to consider and reflect on the hoodie’s complicated relationship with contemporary culture from streetwear icon to workwear to political garment. It features work from a lineup of seminal artists and photographers including David Hammons , Campbell Addy, Sasha Huber, John Edmonds & Lucy Orta as well as brands such as Rick Owens, Off-White, VETEMENETS and Vexed Generation. The exhibition will run until April 2020 and will also be accompanied by a digital magazine featuring specially commissioned essays, interviews and visuals.
‘February II, 2019’ by Devan Shimoyama‘EUnify – Berlin 2019’ by Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek, Exactitudes 168
‘Adut Akech wears Balenciaga in i-D’s The Earthwise Issue, Fall 2018’ , photographed by Campbell Addy, Styling by Alastair McKimm
Vetements Ready To Wear Fall Winter 2016 Paris, France
Copyright: Gio Staiano
The latest venture of Italian Maison Fendi sees the launch of a model of sneakers suitable for the likes of all genders. The gender fluid design features arch shapes and curved lines that accentuate a signature chunky sole. Its design is crafted from a selection of fabrics including a glossy neoprene or technical mesh for its upper, as well as a tone-tone suede on its body.
The colour way ranges from white, black to reds and a pop of pink. The sneaker also features a 35mm heel which subtly adds an extra boost of height. The FENDI FFluid will soon be available in boutiques in a new sporty lace-up version with trekking laces from December 2019. Visit FENDI for more info.
Polar Night – a visual poem of Alaska’s changing snowscape by Mark Mahaney
American photographer Mark Mahaney is one of the talented creatives who contributed to Twin Magazine’s latest print issue. His feature which included a short photo series in the issue is expounded in his recently published hardcover book entitled Polar Night. Mahaney creates a compilation of images documenting a passage through the rapidly changing landscape of Alaska’s northernmost town of Utiqiagvik.
“It’s an exploration of prolonged darkness, told through the strange beauty of a snowscape cast in a two month shadow. The unnatural lights that flare in the sun’s absence and the shapes that emerge from the landscape are unexpectedly beautiful in their softness and harshness. It’s hard to see past the heavy gaze of climate change in an arctic town, though Polar Night is a visual poem about endurance isolation and survival, ” reads it’s foreword.
Polar Night is now available for pre-order here, and will beginning shipping shortly.
Unsigned – a new zine curated by BBH dedicated to showcasing diverse undiscovered talents
Unsigned came to fruition by dint of strong will, creative vision and a desire to celebrate emerging talent in all its forms.
Surrounded by creatives struggling to find sufficient avenues to showcase their work, Tom Burns felt inspired to provide an event that allowed just this. Working alongside Art Director Stephanie Flynn, Film producer Nnena Nwakodo and Strategist Sofia Bodger at the global advertising agency BBH – they saw an opportunity to do just this at the agency. Through its creative department UP @ BBH – the cultural heart of BBH, a curated programme of art, music, film, technology, talks and events – this team launched the first Unsigned in 2018.
Twin spoke with the Unsigned team and a selection of artists included in the most recent issue of it’s zine to learn more about its journey towards democratising the creative industry.
The idea itself was initially pitched as a talent fair to be hosted at BBH; The idea would be to invite a variety of artists into the agency to pitch up a space and showcase their work, with their books and prints on show for people to view. When the idea was given the go ahead, and the team established, they went on to develop the concept and see how it could be best placed within the industry.
Unsigned grew out of their close and insightful collaboration. The team explains;
“Our observation was that the advertising industry was losing relevance. In 1990, 31% of UK adults thought that the adverts were as good as the programme, in 2018 it dropped to a meagre 14% (TGI, 2018). One reason for this is that we too often resort to established talent over emerging talent. More so than ever before. Tighter deadlines and smaller budgets mean it’s easy to become complacent. To take the safe route. Brands are nervous and need to sell, which leads to producers and creatives alike defaulting to that ‘safe pair of hands’ talent rather than taking a risk.”
Unsigned was created as a tool to challenge perspectives within the agency, opening its eyes to the plethora of individuals working within the creative and cultural realms who may often be overlooked for commissioned work due to a lack of experience; Unsigned was an opportunity for us to observe the pool of fantastic, diverse makers surrounding us.
Attending degree shows, using social media, call outs, word-of-mouth, and recommendations to source talent, the team explored every avenue in order to find and showcase raw, cutting edge and diverse content;
“Over the months, the artists would be invited into the agency to meet and chat through their work. They’d often bring in a portfolio, or perhaps an iPad and go through their projects. It’s been an incredibly exciting experience meeting all these artists and has massively enhanced the team’s art buying knowledge. It’s also been an invaluable way to remain educated on current trends within the art world, and take note on some of the key narratives that lead their work.”
Speaking with photographers and visual storytellers Anett Pósalaki, Jonathan Wykes, Daniel Jackont and Domino Leaha from this year’s issue provides insight into the events success as offering visibility to emerging talent within the creative industry.
Born in Hungary, Anett Pósalaki’s images are not replicas of a reality, not even composed alternative dimensions. Instead, they are lucky segments of life, where everything has found its perfect place. Pósalaki explains;
“these little details become a manifesto of quietness, leaving a sense of what life should be. My work is to show all the tranquility around me, around everyone. “
For Pósalaki, the zine gave her the opportunity to showcase her work to a new audience, offering up potential collaborations with designers and magazines. Similarly both Daniel Jackont and Domino Leah highlight the access that Unsigned provided for them as foreigners to London’s creative scene.
Living and working in Tel Aviv, Burns came across the photographic work of Jackont through instagram;
“Earlier this year, Tom discovered my work and invited me to join the Unsigned exhibition. The event’s concept gave me an opportunity to make acquaintance with new approaches and mix different styles of photography and visual arts. Presenting my work alongside brilliant artists and creators from all around the globe. Thanks to the exhibition, I was noticed and have been contacted with regards to inquiries and UK representation.”
Originating from a small village in Italy, Domino Leaha’s images are often intimate snapshots into the lives of her subjects;
“I like to capture their vulnerability, without touching them. I think of them as delicate objects. They are precious to me. I want to see their scars I want to push their boundaries and see how far they will let go. I am interested in those boundaries that lie between strangers. There is an immense mystery in that space, it is a place where anything is possible. “
Describing herself as shy, Domino explains the importance of Unsigned to help elevate and promote her work;
“I don’t like to share or advertise my work a lot so for me it was really a challenge to be able to do this and I felt great. Also the opportunity to be seen and that people can actually asked to work for them or share your work is amazing. “
Image by Jonathan Wykes
British photographer Jonathan Wykes draws inspiration from popular culture – with an interest in fashion and hair styling – fusing these elements together to present a fantasised version of his subjects. For Wykes, Unsigned was the first public showcasing of his works;
“It introduced me to a community of other unrepresented artists out there, having the opportunity to be featured in an exhibition of upcoming talent has definitely been an exciting experience for me. The exposure from the show has been beneficial and I’m extremely grateful to Tom Burns and the rest of the team for recognising all of our work and for bringing us all together.”
Since 2018 the Unsigned zine has grown from featuring 31 artists across Film, Photography and Illustration to now include an additional total of 49. This year’s exhibition to celebrate its second issue attracted over 600 visitors, featuring 33 large scale prints and over 350 prints as well as 9 individual screenings for the directors, which included an installation by exciting up and coming filmmaker Starkie Reay. 2019 also featured a live performance from soul sister duo, The KTNA. The team itself expanded in its second year to accommodate its fine execution, with Beth Mechem, Thandi Mibre, Lauren Gillies and Angus Lees completing the Unsigned team.
This BBH initiative will continue to bring underrepresented emerging talent to the fore, providing a platform for this work within the agency and the wider industry. Stay tuned for Unsigned’s 2020 plans, which Burns explains are to make it: … “bigger, better and even more collaborative. We want to push the creative potential, and make sure we are vigilant of being as inclusive to all different diversities along the way.”
Photographer Bolade Banjo recently announced the release of his photographic story “The Mirrors within” in the latest issue of i-D Magazine. The inspiration behind the series stemmed from the work of photographer Anna Puschel’s book Layer of Reality where she explores experiences with the concept of Synesthesia, which is the condition of connecting colours, emotions and memories. From this , the photographer took away the knowledge of how the tonality of colours hold connections to memory and inherit acts as an emotional factor of life. Which is how he began exploring the archive of his reportage shot in the past few years and was able to spot the moments which these patterns had manifested themselves and now had been evident as emotive inspirations for samples of his present day work.
“I’ve come to understand reflection is a process that allows for personal expansion and greater awareness, something that has taken me some time to accept. Looking back at this rhythmic arrangement. I’m able to connect all these collected moments to navigate the ever-changing world, ” he explains.
Throughout the series, Banjo takes his audience on a sensorial journey throughout the concerning nature’s various channel of perceiving memory as he connects moments and images that from a wider view, acts almost as an visual auto-biography of his artistic journey. The full version of the story can be found in i-D Winter issue NO.358 – 2019.
Roses : The symbolism of flowers is rooted in the power of nature, is the theme behind Alexander McQueen’s recently opened exhibition at their store on Old Bond Street in London. The showcase has been all curated around two of the brand’s iconic closing pieces designed around the form and energy of flowers. The most recent being the swirling red Rose dress crafted by Sarah Burton which closed the Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2019 show, and the other an intricate dress constructed by Lee Alexander McQueen himself with fresh flower for the end of the Sarabande SS2007 show.
Throughout the exhibit, the complex shaping of the Red Rose dress is documented through a variety of methods including the showcase of samples and background research as well as a video featuring head of atelier Judy Halil, as she takes us through the step by step process at the McQueen studios. The Sarabande dress, once filled with fresh flowers is now set at the entrance of the showcase, accompanied by other flower inspired pieces from the SS2007 collection as well as gowns with English roses, camellias , exploded carnation-shapes , garden flowers and bees that fill the space.
Guests are also invited to walk among each piece, pick up each label and discovery the history behind each dress. Roses can be found on the second floor of the Alexander McQueen store and is now open to the public.
FENDI’s latest episode of #BaguetteFriendsForever features Netflix’s Sabrina
For the latest episode of their Baguette BFF series, Fendi tapped Kiernan Shipka , star of Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina , to travel on an adventure around Rome with her best friend, movie director Christian Coppola.
The short film first sees the actress in her bedroom surrounded by her Baguette Bags, when her attention is suddenly brought to the honk at her window from Christian and his yellow scooter. From here the duo is filmed exploring the city , eating gelato, tossing coins in the Trevi Fountain and finally to their arrival at Fendi’s Headquarters where they playfully explore the modern architecture of the building. Throughout the trip the Baguette can be spotted in different versions , from the FF embossed large , to a pink & blue pastel mini baguette to the newly added mens baguette in brown leather.
FENDI first launched the campaign #BaguetteFriendsForever earlier this year which included a series of short films featuring the storylines of inseparable groups of friends around the world throughout one of their daily routines which is centred around the iconic Fendi baguette. The first episode was titled “The Baguette is Back” and was an adventure set in the streets of Shanghai China. The second episode Titled “The Missing Baguette,” was shot in Hong Kong. All pieces are currently available in stores worldwide and online, to shop the looks , visit Fendi.
The brand that culminated from three relationships founded at Marni is one of beauty, strength and a contemporary elegance.
Colville doesn’t have a brand bio, it has a manifesto: a dedicated vision, that it hopes to instil in those who encounter it. A meeting of three fabulous minds, Colville was consummated from a Venn diagram of insight, expertise and experience. From Lucinda Chambers, the stylist and ex-fashion director of Vogue UK, to the Marni designers Molly Molloy and Kirsten Foss, this is a label that has not entered the market light-handedly. Striding into familiar waters, this time with no obligations, Colville feels like a giant sigh of exhilaration: a long time coming from three impressive women who have spent decades strengthening and celebrating visions. Now they can carve out their own.
With the name a reference to a street David Hockney frequented in the 1970’s the initial associations are set before one even claps eyes on the clothes. Colour, modernism, a uniqueness of touch and ingenuity of vision: all aspects we see this brand emanating, and thus paying homage to a history of modern art, thus three lives also spent exploring and adoring the arts. It’s a smattering of London too, rooting their designs as a sort of cultured and cool friendliness – the love of a half pint in Francis Bacon’s favourite pub as much as his works that hang in the Tate.
Colville commenced with an AW19 collection in 2018, a collection of depth and brevity. With graphic hand drawn prints, unexpected shapes, cropped lengths, drawstring tightenings and thickly overlaid silks draped in voluminous and generous furls around the body.
The woman they design for are neither expected or stereotyped caricatures on the fashion track. Described in their manifesto, they are “hunters and gatherers, odd and individual: so are our women. Building their own reality as a product of the imagination and living it.”
It would be too easy to pull the similarities between Marni and the near-intergalactic jewellery, like proud UFO sculptures, the ruched and determined bold layering of Lucinda’s oft mimicked styling, This would be lazy. Of course, their past will enter this brave new future: after all, they all helped carve Marni’s instantly recognisable aesthetic for so long.
Talking to the three creators, Colville is only furthered in the mind as an intelligent label, creating collections – exclusive to Matches Fashion – that are joyful celebrations of colour, considered balances of separates, and brave designs of unique jewellery, bags and accessories that not only appeal to women of substance, but push the boundaries out of noteworthy shapes, formulation and aesthetics. Hooray for Colville: a brand that thinks and acts for the woman with brains, culture, art and creativity at her core.
How has your collated, extensive and reputable experiences resulted in Colville’s aesthetics and the manifesto of the brand?
I think our collated experience has what has helped us shape and Colville, our collective knowledge and strengths have bought a brand together that we didn’t perhaps expect. We started designing a wardrobe for the 3 of us, really that’s what it came down to. Something for each of us, 3 aesthetics combined.
Why do you call your brand a sum, rather than a mix of ideas?
It’s a sum as it has a unique and distinctive voice and vision of its own, Colville. When we are talking through ideas we often say, that’s very Colville, and we know what that means. It’s a certain freedom of expression, bold and quietly beautiful at the same time, the mix.
What does Colville draw inspiration from?
We are inspired by anything and everything.
We look at so many corners of life and its offerings to feed our collections. As three working together, it is important for us to be receptive to mixed references.
Tell us about the brand’s inception
We knew we wanted to continue our working relationships when we all left Marni. We couldn’t imagine not continuing our creative collaboration, it made sense and then suddenly one day we are doing it on our own and it’s growing!
Do you feel there are paradoxes at play in your collections?
Yes probably purely for the fact that we are 3 women with different aesthetic tastes that come together. We can do a tailored coat in black but then we love a drawstring bold floral print dress. We all see the point of each other’s ideas; I think that mix is what makes us unique and perhaps paradoxical.
Is Colville a direct manifestation of art and culture?
I think it’s a direct result of what we are feeling in that moment, it’s more of an emotional response to what we want to wear, having said that we go to exhibitions and films etc and those experiences permeate into our collections subconsciously.
Does music hold any relevance in your collections?
Well we are always listening to it and it’s important to all of us, I think we can remember the music we were listening to while we were emailing late at night replying to emails!
What was the last thing that made you excited? Lucinda: the last thing I was excited about was two minutes ago thinking about a shoot…. and who was going to do that.
Molly : Working at the bag factory this morning and seeing the new prototypes.
A collaboration announced a few weeks ago, luxury fashion brand Prada has officially launched the first by-product of their partnership with adidas as a homage to the German sportswear brand.
The first drop features a version of the Adidas Original shoe — a sneaker which has been a staple of the brand since its inceptions in 1969, is re-introduced with luxury through Prada’s full-grain leather for its upper, Adidas signature rubber shell toe and triple-stripe heel alongside Prada’s logotype. The shoe is aptly paired with a version of Prada’s bawling bag which has been modified to echo the original bowling bag and give hints towards the Adidas gym bag as it’s executed in superior calf leather with a sports nylon strap.
The mini collection will hit Prada stores on December 4th and will be offered in a total of only 700 pieces worldwide, both male and female. Each piece has also been numbered with the unique serial to number of its production order.
Earlier this year Saint Laurent introduced a project of theirs entitled SELF — a series of stories capturing several aspects of the Saint Laurent personality and underlining the complexity of various individuals through the eyes of artists selected by creative director Anthony Vaccarello. The latest version of the series is its fifth installation titled ‘A night in Shanghai’ and has been curated by Chinese artist Wong Kar Was and directed by Wing Shya.
A night in Shanghai tells a story about the introspective research of ourselves which begins from breaking balance. Ju Xiaowen is captured searching for the balance in life by comparing the past and the present while looking for who she is within .
‘Wong Kar Wai envisions individual feelings; his art is like a vivid dream projected into real life, which emphasizes the contrast between the fragile aspect of humanity and reality. It was a very instinctive process based on mutual respect and admiration, in the movie you can find and feel the Saint Laurent fantasy taking shape as natural consequence,’ comments Vaccarello.
The short movie will also be exclusively presents at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai art district, open to the public from the 22nd to the 24th of November.
In homage to their late designer Karl Lagerfeld , Fendi presents their Karliagraphy bag. Designed with a squared shaped in soft leather, patent leather and exotics, the bag is accentuated with the iconic double F logo which was designed by Lagerfeld himself in 1981.
It renders itself complete with a strap in chain or leather than adds the factor of functionality while also allowing for easy transition from day to night.
On theme with their latest resort show , last week, Italian fashion house Prada launched their Resort 2020 campaign under the direction of seditious simplicity.
The campaign shot by photographers Keizo Kitajima and Drew Vickers gives a fresh take on advertising as it is physically presented the campaign in the form of tactile paper images wrapped around bouquets of flowers. Each one gives perspective of the very different images framed by the duo, showcasing their contrasting photography styles.
One side sees the work of NYC based photographer Drew Vickers as he presents elegant, emotional black & white images of his Prada Resort decked subjects, whilst Japanese photographer Keizo Kitakima’s work complements this with the subjects alive and in motion, recalling his dynamic street photography from as far back as the 70’s .
The products of the Prada Resort 2020 campaign can be discovered at local florists around the cities of London, Milan, Moscow , New York, Paris, Shanghai & Tokyo and the full collection can be seen on Prada.com
PAMPAS by Jessica Bishopp – A Short Film on how to spot a Swinger
For her directorial debut filmmaker and artist Jessica Bishopp explores the practice of swinging — habitual group sex or the swapping of swapping of sexual partners — in the 1970’s. In an imaginative documentary, she the rumoured notion that suburban swingers identify themselves within the community by planting a feathery planted called Pampas on their front lawns as hidden invitations to each other.
The documentary features the voices of a group of women discussing the rumours that were connected to the plant as they also reminisce on the swinging parties that occurred in the 70’s. With model and author Naomi Shimada centerstage , the film gives a peek into the worlds of female desire, subcultures, botanical myths and this intriguing suburban legend.
A few weeks ago, NYC based not-for-profit foundation Aperture opened its doors to The New Black Vanguard — an exhibition of photography between art and fashion curated by Antwaun Sargent.
The New Black Vanguard is a visual documentary of fifteen artists who works fuse the genres of art and fashion through innovative perspective. It compiles the images of these talents that have recently been on reign in magazines, ad campaigns & museums across the world , be it New York, London, Johannesburg or Lagos. Each piece of work opens up conversations from different perspectives around the roles of the black body and black lives as a subject matter, collectively celebrating black creativity in fashion and art.
Not only through the hands of photographers, but stylists, designers and other creatives as well. The exhibition includes selected works from photographers including Campbell Addy, Arielle Bobb-Willis, Micaiah Carter, Tyler Mitchell, Daniel Obasi, Justin French and a few others. It will be open throughout the rest of the year and will come to a close on January 18, 2020. For more information visit Aperture.
Jamal Nxedlana, Late Leisure, 2019
Campbell Addy, Adut Akech, 2019Dana Scruggs, ,
Nyadhour, Elevated, Death Valley, California, 2019
Taking inspiration from Tyrolean mountains and New York, Austrian twin sisters Melanie and Stephanie Hausberger make striking work about womanhood, connection and nature. Twin caught up with the twin sisters to talk about the synchronicity of creativity, New York hang outs and the creative power of two.
Duplications in nature and the female form are subjects that you return to in your works. What are you both drawn to?
Recently we were going though our works we created when we were really young and its striking how figures and the female form always have been the major subject. Being identical twins we always were very much of aware of people judging our differences and compare us. In our work its about the way these figures embody the world, the way they relate to one another. And then of course there is body image, which is another big theme we are interested in since we have a history of struggling with it.
Also, growing up we never really had access to art museums or gallery, for us getting a magazine like I-D or Vogue, was a big deal. They certainly influenced our aesthetics and style too, the people featured but also the fashion ads and campaigns. We like to add nature since its timeless and also calming. Expressionist artists work such as Kirchner or Otto Mueller also incorporated a lot of natural scenes, and those works are the first ones we were exposed to. Also we grew up in the Alps, being outside in nature was a big part of our childhood.
But we think our work has many layers and is quite complex sometimes, as art should be, so there is always the possibility to have a different perspective and one can read many things into our work. We like to let the viewer question our work, and we like if its not too obvious.
What does your creative process look like?
We are not working from photographs or pictures, its all out from our imagination and the accumulated input and inspiration. We are really sensitive to colors, patters, atmospheres and we always explore the places we are traveling to, whether for work or pleasure, often wonder how beautiful something is although nobody else seems to notice.
Also, we are very much influenced and inspired by the history and language of painting, we look and read a lot about art, so whether consciously or unconsciously we incorporate all this in our work.
We love how art opens up new horizons and teaches one to think in different ways. For us, Painting and drawing is our way to reflect and explore everything, and we love how working together on a painting you never quite know what it will come out in the end since you don’t have full control – it can happen that I paint over something my sister just painted so one really has to let go of control.
On larger drawings we also work on at the same time, with smaller ones we switch around until its finished.
When it comes to creativity, do you think collaboration is generally more powerful than individual effort?
We find that our collaboration is a huge blessing – unless we have a hard time agreeing on something. We both have a very strong sense of what we want to make, so it can happen that we argue for a while…but that is rare because we instinctively know what the other wants and vice versa, maybe thats a twin thing… In the end every work we make is a teamwork and we work toward a common vision. So yes, if things run well, a collaborative process can be more powerful than an individual one.
As both individuals and artists your visual identity is very distinct, how did this develop?
Well, it is probably a mix of many things. The location (in the Tyrolean Alps) we grew up, our early influences, our own curious characters, and of course New York. We both always knew what we liked or disliked aesthetically. Early one we were drawn towards paintings and drawings, even though at that point we had no idea that one can become an artist per se. We both remember always feeling the impulsion to make things, not only to look. We are very interested in many subjects outside art which eventually inform our work. Aesthetic decisions were always much easier for us than deciding on the mundane things of daily life. Its interesting that even though we spent time apart for longer periods, attending different schools at times, we were always drawn to the same artists and art movements.
What do you see as the relationship between photography and drawing / painting?
Photography is a quick medium and for us, since we draw very quickly they both are quite similar in their ability to capture impressions and moments.
Photography has always played a part in our live, shooting each other all these years when growing up and studying in New York.
We both have this urge to record things, which we used to do through solely drawing before the iPhone came out. Now drawing and photography go side by side. We photograph a lot of inspirations, have separate folders sorted by theme and so on, but when it comes to painting then we try and trust our own instinct and ability to
You both studied in New York, did the city help to shape or impact your work?
We love NY, its pace and energy perfectly lends itself to our lifestyle. The city definitely shaped our work – we love the New York School artists such as De Kooning, Lee Krassner, Joan Mitchell and also Francesco Clemente and Alex Katz. Those mixed with Austrian and German Expressionism seems to be the base of our work.
What are your favourite places in New York?
Our regular go to spot has always been Souen, unfortunately there is only one left. Tomoe Sushi has the best sashimi platters, and we love classic New York restaurants more than the new “trendy” ones, such as Odeon, Balthazar or Raoul’s. For drinks in the evenings, when we go its usually Paul’s Baby Grant, Primos or Alley Cat at the Beekman Hotel. Bemelsman’s Bar at the Carlyle Hotel is also really beautiful.
Which other creative duos are you inspired by?
We like what Gert and Uwe Tobias are doing and the Haas Brothers, and we think there are a couple of Filmmaker duos such as the Dardenne Brothers, which we think make great work together.
What are you working on at the moment, and what are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?
Right now we are preparing work for an upcoming show in Brussels in December. The rest of the year we Milan, where we are excited to work on a new body of work.
Ingrid Deuss Gallery presents : “When I saw the mountains for the first time, I thought they were clouds ” by Joost Vandebrug
Later this month, Antwerp based Gallery Ingrid Deuss Gallery is set to present an exhibition by Dutch photographer and filmmaker Joost Vandebrug. The showcase, titled “When I saw the mountains for the first time, I thought they were clouds,” will feature fifteen of Vanebrug’s photographs made between 2011 and 2018 when he immersed himself in the street life of Romania’s capital, Bucharest.
The images are an honest documentary of the photographer’s six years spent, where he captured the daily lives of the street children of the city. The photo series represents an extension of his acclaimed film “Bruce Lee and the Outlaw (2018)” where he followed the life of the young Nicu who becomes his muse as well as his guide to the emotional underworld of homeless children and people protected under the wings of Florin Hora, a.k.a Bruce Lee.
All the images for the exhibition will be showcased on Japanese washi paper, which helps in showcasing a similar unpredictability and vulnerability related to the way in which the photographer experienced the project in Romania.
The exhibition will open its doors on November 24th and will run until January 25th.
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