What inspired you to create artwork and become an artist? (events, feelings, experiences...)
I have had the chance to collaborate with the greatest photographers in the world of photography, having worked for 13 years at the prestigious Magnum agency, mainly as an image retoucher. I was therefore lucky enough to spend long hours in the company of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joseph Koudelka, Sebastiào Salgado, Raymond Depardon, Martin Parr, Antoine d'Agata and many others. This was a key and founding element of my photographic vision and the beginning of my very first shots.
What is your artistic background, the techniques and subjects you have experimented with to date?
I started with film, digital not being ready yet. I worked in 24X36 and more particularly with my ancient and inseparable Rolleiflex 6X6. At the time it was easy to buy a used film camera and thus resell it almost the same price a few months later. This made me experiment with a large number of cameras of different formats. I also tested the view camera, the pinhole camera, panoramic cameras and many other strange photo machines.
What are the 3 aspects that differentiate you from other artists, making your work unique?
- Well, I would say that having mastered Photoshop and photomontage for a long time, I was able to access the magic and dreamlike quality of surrealism and thus imbue my sweet unconscious madness through my images.
- The materials are sharp, graphic, in deep black and white. The contrasts are sometimes bordering on the obscure. The colors are more rarely used, always carefully crafted and sometimes colorized by me.
- "Disturbing" situations, funny too, witty and often dark, all in a poetic universe, at least that's how I feel... My personal cocktail to drink without moderation.
Where does your inspiration come from?
Some of my favorite photographers, painters, and artists are Roger Ballen, Peter Joel Witkin, and Gilbert Garcin. Painters like Magritte, Jerome Bosch, Edward Hopper, and Otto Dix. Illustrators like Topor and Moebius. And then, of course, cinema: Stanley Kubrick, Aki Kaurismaki, Lynch, and Tim Burton.
What is your artistic approach? What visions, sensations, or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?
I'm not looking for anything, I'm not analyzing anything, I'm simply trying to transmit a spark of light in a global and obscure jumble. See your own messages, your own emotions, pick at it, get drunk, take it.
What is the creative process of your works? Spontaneous or with a long preparatory process (technique, inspiration from art classics or other)?
Spontaneous, totally spontaneous! Impatient. So impatient that I often follow my own model so as not to wait for the future meeting with a model. It's terrible. I can photograph in any condition, completely disregarding the light, the location, the people. I'm like a reptile facing a swarm of insects. Uncontrollable. I still sometimes sit down and prepare my subjects, my settings, but it's quite rare!
Do you use a particular working technique? If so, can you explain it?
For self-portraits, I place the camera on a tripod and my camera's software allows me to view the shot live on my smartphone! Long live technology! Otherwise, I now sometimes use a cap with a micro hole on my digital camera to transform it into a pinhole camera. I rarely use the flash, or only at festive evenings to capture faces. A rudimentary LED panel can help me achieve bright lights and deep shadows.
Are there any innovative aspects to your work? Can you tell us what they are?
I would be very pretentious to talk about photographic novelty in my work. We are so influenced by our culture, our social codes, our education that I would be very unconscious to claim to bring something new to photography. On the other hand, a photographer friend pointed out to me that I did have a very recognizable "touch", an ectoplasmic signature that hovered above my works for those who know how to see it... The premortem spirit of the artist!
Do you have a format or medium that you are most comfortable with? If so, why?
I went from 24X36 (horizontal and vertical) to square format and now I work mainly in 4/3 vertical. A more modern format (Instagram) which allowed me to renew my angle of view. Very curious by nature, I test and appropriate everything that comes within my reach...
Where do you produce your work? At home, in a shared studio, or in your own studio? And in this space, how do you organize your creative work?
Anywhere! I move very easily and I adapt accordingly. I have this freedom to be able to project myself into any space. And if it is too restricted then I take several photos and put the pieces back together! For post-production, however, I created a small digital workshop at home, in my room, on my old Mac with a very outdated system. I like this DIY and artisanal version of photography, far from a non-existent perfection.
Does your job require you to travel to meet new collectors, for trade fairs or exhibitions? If so, what does it bring you?
Quite a bit. I'm just starting to reveal some of my work. I still have a lot to show, especially on Art Majeur, which is a fantastic medium. I sometimes do a few exhibitions. Especially at 104 in Paris; I was very proud! It's difficult to approach gallery owners in Paris. It's an obstacle course and extremely time-consuming. I take this time to create, and I neglected selling for a long time. But here I am now!
How do you imagine the evolution of your work and your career as an artist in the future?
In a very positive way, I have total confidence. I'm continuing, I'm moving forward! Lots of projects are underway. I'm very happy with this situation, full of gratitude for this incredible opportunity to have an artistic streak. I think it's wonderful!
What is the theme, style or technique of your latest artistic production?
Pinhole photography, I work without a lens for the moment, just a perforated cap on a digital camera. I find it so contradictory! And yet it works! A snub to all the bitter grumblers who still claim that before it was better. All techniques are good to use, no matter. Art is the opening of the senses and the mind without any judgment.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
It was at 104 in Paris in 2022, one of the most fashionable contemporary spaces in the capital. A "popular museum" in the former funeral parlors of the city of Paris! A huge space of life and culture. It was a surrealist exhibition called "The Inner Animal." A series of 24 photos of young autistic people that I had composed thanks to their unique universe in direct collaboration with them. I will present this series on your platform very soon.
If you could create one famous work in the history of art, which would you choose? And why?
Without a doubt, "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch. An avant-garde marvel of surrealism. A totally crazy clerical commission for the time. The first punk painter. A miraculous, political, and protest masterpiece, yet the church of the time venerated it. 500 years before Dali, Bosch is the undisputed precursor of pictorial unconsciousness.
If you could invite any famous artist (dead or alive) to dinner, who would it be? How would you suggest they spend the evening?
Joel Peter Witkin. We've met before, but only briefly. I liked him right away! Despite a very special, morbid, and often cadaverous, yet intensely spiritual world, he's a very funny, very joyful spirit, dressed in all colors! A humble and approachable clown artist. Little ego, a UFO in the photographic universe. I would really like to share a good time at the table with this joyful fellow of sublime creativity.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
| ArtMajeur Magazine
