notcot

what a great surprise to see yourself featured (again) on one of my most favorite blogs notcot.org! this time in connection with kate cusack's zipper jewelry shoot i did together with my team (dina yassin, aldys minaya, jamal hodges) a year ago.

this shoot occurred to be very controversial and raised lots of discussion on photoforums after images have been published. for many people it was shocking to see a model of a mature age in a otherwise typical jewelry advertising shoot. however, for me the idea was not to shock but to be honest in the first place and send a certain message to the audience.

kate's jewelry is sophisticated. it requires certain experience and confidence of the one who will be wearing it, otherwise it will overpower the owner. put it on a 18y.o. beauty and it'll clash. kate doesn't aim her jewelry for teenage audience. instead, her jewelry compliments a beauty of an elegant age. 
candace woodward, kate's close family friend, seemed to be our perfect model. it was an amazing experience working with her.

dream catcher

our coat story in december "holiday" issue of ROUGE magazine:

stylist: ursula agurto
make-up: anetta klemens
hair: daniel santos
photo assistants: aric gutnick and zoe roman
fashion assistant: evan narvaez
models: zenia sevastianova & caroline de marqui @ major model management NYC

project "christmas tree"

this year our christmas tree is a found object (it is technically just half of the christmas tree my boyfriend found on the street last year) and its ornaments are polaroids of real christmas tree ornaments and toys, mixed with some pictures we took last christmas during our fairy trip to vermont.

happy winter holidays! stay cozy and warm!

mortal engine

i was completely mesmerized by mortal engine. this dance-video-music-laser performance creates a surreal ever-shifting world in which the limits of the human body are an illusion. crackling light and staining shadows represent the most perfect or sinister of soulds.

mortal engine looks at relationships, connection and disconnection, isolation and togetherness, in a state of continuous flux. conflicts between the self and shadowy other, struggle to escape inner darkness - mortality, sexuality, desire.

apart from concept, what also amazed me is the harmony of human and technical parts of the performance. interactive projections were meticulously designed to respond to dancers' fine movements. both were at the top level but without competing and overpowering each other.

art basel miami 2009

this year it was my first time going to miami art basel, and i am already anticipating the next one.
inspiring to say the least, 3 days at the fair left me art overdosed and with an immense urge to create something (outside of photography) myself.

definitely, it was fun gallery hopping in design district but yet selection of art and its level at convention center was hard to beat. ironically, most of the galleries bared "NY" prefix in it's name and were coming from chelsea neighborhood where i spend most of my working time freelancing. however, it was worth the trip to see everything under one roof, as well as i believe that curators' selection of pieces was being tightened up according to the high-standards of basel fair. lots of striking conceptual art from well-known as well as emerging artists. to name a few of my favorites artists and categories:

- black wireless map of NY done with graphite on metal (way more impressive than a camera could capture)

- photorealistic  paintings of urban landscape on used cardboard

- evan penny's distorted "4D" wax portraits

- witty light signs 

- distorted mirror installations

- series of abstract paintings and sculptures using simple play of color, texture and shape

generally speaking, i think most of the exhibits could go under the tag "smart art" - something that looks simple at first sight, but has a double-meaning, something between the lines, with lots of cultural, social, political, historial references only an experienced viewer will be able to decipher if he takes a closer look at it. going through gallery to gallery you feel like you are solving riddles created by artists to entertain and inspire.


p.s. i appologize for the poor quality of the snapshots taken on my blackberry since my "big" camera was not allowed inside the pavilion without press-pass

bill viola "bodies of light"

one of the highlights of the thanksgiving weekend was attending bill viola "bodies of light" at james cohan gallery.

four dark rooms with tall, rectangular plasma hi-def screens; ghost-like milky nude bodies emerging through the other side of the water.  slow motion, ethereal mood; voyeuristic, ambiguous feelings. beautiful, deep, inspiring.

milk&honey

in continuance of a very successful collaboration with hair stylist linh ngyen (look for our "dreamers" story in november issue of ROUGE magazine) we got together again this month to do another ethereal hair story.
this time it was about movement. our model was pernilla from NY models. linh created beautiful airy textures on pernilla's strawberry blond hair while anetta klemens did magic to make model's skin glow.
some shots look like as if they were done underwater. the colors are muted and soft - milk and honey.
sneak preview of the 9-pages story below.

lie sang bong

today i've attended press show of lie sang bong at blank space. his 2010 S/S collection is literally out of this world: something between neo-romantic star-wars and alice in wonderland; with dominating colors of shimmering silver and black, sheer white and quasi-translucede nude; strong geometric shapes with over-sized romantic ornaments.

my favorite pieces from the collection:

linhardt design

i was walking along 3rd avenue up towards 14th street when something unusual in a shop window attracted my attention. it was a vintage gas mask, and a silver a-la freddy krueger glove next to it. it made me stop and cling to the window trying to desipher what kind of store it could be. only then i start noticing pieces of beautiful extravagant yet modern looking jewelry.

lisa linhardt's jewelry design boutique is a must-see  and yet another reason to love new york. lisa designs jewelry herself, as well as she features in her store other artists whose work is in the same direction as hers which means using recycled metals, eco-friendly materials, and ethically sourced gemstones. i fell in love at first sight and couldn't resist a temptation to buy on the spot lisa's signature "bullet" ring which you can see on alicia keys for the cover of "billboard" at as well as on gisele bundchen at numero magazine#101.

 visit at: 156 First Ave., New York, NY 10003

dreamers @ ROUGE magazine (november issue)

8 pages spread with "dreamers" (jae, samantha, tianna @ major models) in ROUGE magazine november issue: