Photographer Series #27: giashotkatemoss

Gia de Leo is a pseudonym, a museum guard, a student of cultural history and theory. Based in Berlin, she is currently writing a master thesis on the viral images of Alan Kurdi - the three-year-old Syrian boy of Kurdish ethnic background whose image made global headlines after he drowned on 2 September 2015 in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of the Syrian refugee crisis.

iskm: How do you describe your art work?

Gia de Leo (GdL): I would prefer to say I am creating digital images not art works. Maybe it is art. Maybe not. That’s in the eye of the viewer.

iskm: How did you come to utilize collage?

Some years ago I wanted to remix digital reproductions of artworks but most of them were not available or difficult to find online. So I started to make collages out of my art and images from my book collection … But after a while I was sad over my book destruction and wanted to keep them, stopped and dumped all collages.

So I started to remix digital works. I play with those tiny images by using reproductions of some successful artists, remixing them with their own works or unknown artists, memes, news images, my own photographs or whatever appears on my screen. It feels much better as I am not destroying anything “real”.

iskm: As you talk about remixing images, can you speak to the role of (or your perspective on) appropriation in the context of remixing?

GdL: Generally this expansion of the realm of imaginary and reality amazes and scares me. Image overflow. Image saturation. The belief in the authenticity of photography is fading. Everything is speeding up. Most images live only for a short breath. We are breathing images as air, consuming them. But they do not disappear.

iskm: Imagery as a form of ‘net art’?

GdL: Net art or better net images fascinate me because of their accessibility to anyone with an internet connection. Free from traditional art institutions and the art market everyone can nowadays declare himself as an artist. New social communities are formed opening up new image or art worlds and markets. For me questions arise like: Do memes have a more visual and sometimes even political power than images of artworks? Why are images of artworks more copyright protected than images of dead refugee children? What is the difference between a regular image, a meme or an image of an artwork? When is a selfie an artwork?  Who defines what art is online? Does the question what art is still matter online? Is the author now finally dead? Who cares?

iskm: And now we all appropriate the imagery …

GdL: Yes, anarchist appropriation is happening constantly. Kill your idols and kill yourself. If one would see my remixes separated from each other one could not tell who did it. I am using other online platforms to publish other kinds of remixes. Maybe you could identify the Picasso or the Warhol used but not the author as they all vary in their imagery. Memes have for me in this sense of the dead or killed author a role model function even if some of them lack any political correctness and of course too many people are excluded from this development, as they have no access at all.

Gia de Leo's collage $3,346,456

iskm: When you posted the collage $3,346,456 recently online you wrote “Homeless Thomas W. died from the cold around the corner of Kurfürstendamm, the main shopping street in Berlin. RIP.” Who was Thomas W.?

GdL: Homeless Thomas W. died on the 16th of January 2016 from exposure at Kurfürstendamm, the main shopping street in Berlin. Next to him they found his shopping cart filled with personal items. People described him as a very friendly person. I read about his story in the newspaper and immediately started to mix all available kinds of images in my mind on the screen of my smartphone.

iskm: Did you know him?

GdL: I did not know Thomas W. personally but daily I meet homeless people. My father was a homeless alcoholic for some time too. Back then I was twelve years old, I cared but could not help. Maybe that is why my reaction was so impulsively emotional.

iskm: How did you make the collage? What are the source images and why did you select them?

GdL: When I thought of Thomas W., the shopping mall, his shopping cart simultaneously artworks appeared in my mind like Duane Hanson’s sculpture Supermarket Lady (1979), Sylvie Fleury’s empty, gold-plated shopping cart and Doug Aitken’s work with the shopping cart standing there lost and alone on the roof of a park deck. Consumerism, supermarket and this simple thing of a shopping cart, which is functioning in different kinds of meanings and markets were a link between my very spontaneous image selection. And of course Andreas Gursky is a star in the contemporary “supermarket of art“. His photograph 99 Cent (2001) of a supermarket sold with a price of $3,346,456 at a Christie’s auction, becoming one of the most expensive photographs. I titled my remix after the price of Gurskys work. In total contrast my remix is a cheap digital image, not available for sale, shared with everybody, produced in an hour on a smart phone, a remix in low resolution. If you print it you maybe see nothing anymore. It may disappear.

iskm: Why Kate Moss?

GdL: The photograph of Kate Moss shopping in her bikini reminds me somehow in her almost flying movement with the swinging ponytail of the “ninfa fiorentina“ in the painting “The Birth of John the Baptist” (1485-1490) by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Aby Warburg described her as an ‘ecstatic nymph’. In my image, Kate Moss is compared to the most homeless people, who are wandering through the cities wrapped in many layers of clothes in the winter time, wearing a bikini, skinny, having her shopping cart filled with consumer goods. A symbol of the easy breezy sunny side of shopping life. A real model who gets paid for professional shootings, to inspire people to consume. An icon in many senses, but also for the insatiable consumerism of images.

iskm: Which photographers/artists would you most want to most see involved in ishotkatemoss?

GdL: Those who inspire me are and will be part of my remixes. Regular images and images of artworks by people and artists.

I have mentioned others that inspired me for this image, but also I greatly respect the photography project ”Sycamore and Romaine“ by Martin Schoeller. He portraits homeless people with dignity by giving them back identities and telling their stories. Nobody needs to be ashamed to be homeless. A society who is not able to provide free housing and financial aid for the poor and troubled could be. Isn’t it absurd or even perverted that image stock markets like Getty print their logo and the name of photographers on images of homeless people - while the people “the models“ stay anonymous? They stay poor and homeless while others are profiting. It just feels wrong to me.

And to us too. Even though it underlies and is inherent in every aspect of the www.ishotkatemoss.com project - which now includes Gia de Leo's digital collage with Thomas W. - we have recently not spent a great deal of time reflecting on pure commercialization behind the use of images. Of course, kate is our metaphor for this and we felt that highlighting $3,346,456 and the ideas behind it were critically important. You can see more of Gia de Leo's socially conscious work on instagram.

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Photographer Series #26: elhamshotkatemoss

Elham Goodarzi was born and raised in Iran. Currently residing in Tehran, Elham has studied architecture and, through her instagram feed, she documents day-to-day life while also highlighting her artwork that distinguishes her history, culture and perspective on the modern world. 

Elham's artwork recently posted on instagram

In the wake of our exploration (in Photographer Series #25) of Maria Sheila Miani's insertion of today's fashion icons into well known impressionist paintings, ishotkatemoss was particularly attracted to Elham's collages that utilized miniatures and other Persian symbolism contrasted with modern western imagery.

iskm: How would you describe your artwork? 

Elham Goodarzi (EG): My artwork is created influences by time; the time that has passed, the time that will come and the time that I'm currently living. And the fact that, in my opinion, there is no more that much of difference between “eastern” culture and “western” culture. And what we currently have at least in my country is a combination of different cultures and some times it’s weird but necessary.  

iskm: Do you feel that the interaction of time and influence, is specifically unique and different in Iran?

EG: Well I think you can experiment with this interaction in Iran more than any other place. We had a rich and brilliant culture and fortunately we kept it for hundreds of years and now the interaction between our heritage and what we have now has created this big contradiction in our lives. On the other hand we have a growing western culture and our desire to reach a modern lifestyle. The combination of all of this had influence my work a lot.

Elham's collage, "Brought out of heaven"

iskm: Is your work primarily collage?

EG: Well I don't always do collage but collage is one way for me to put my ideas on paper as soon as possible. I also use video arts as well. I see all this as a process, a process to come up with an description of my life and sometimes just putting colors on canvas of attaching pieces of pictures together seems not to work out, so I have to search and experience other ways like digital art or even architecture.

iskm: Why do you use images of kate moss?

EG: Kate moss is the girl that everyone wants to be and everyone wants to be with. Of course, not everyone ;)

iskm: Even in Iran?

EG: Kate Moss is a sample and picture of what everyone wants to be. Of course in Iran like anywhere else in word people have ideals and none, in many respects, of them are that far from what Kate Moss is and Marilyn Monroe was once.

iskm: How do you search and choose your source images? Are you looking for specific styles? Specific artists? How do you select the image to insert?

"Kate Moss turns saint"

EG: It is all about the idea and picture I have in my mind and how I develop that. Most of the images in my works are from the internet. Often I search for something specific. Sometimes what I choose is something completely different and sometimes what I see in my searches changes my whole idea. I usually don’t do any specific changes to the image just have to crop them.

iskm: You use Persian miniatures often in your collages - why?

EG: The choosing of miniatures is a clear reference to my Persian culture. Persian miniatures amuse me in so many ways. Particularly the way that it stops time and in its weird perspective tells you a story.

iskm: Can you explain the idea of contrasting an ancient form, such as miniatures, with the modern expression of a playboy image?

EG: I have had this thing with Persian miniature for quite a long time. I see miniatures as a strong way to tell a story on one small piece of paper, modern life fits in miniature quite well. Even with a Playboy picture.

iskm: Why playboy imagery specifically?

EG: Playboy is a manly company with manly products. In that context I had to offer all those men a present. So what’s better that a Playboy bunny as a gift?

iskm: Has playboy been present in Iran for some time, or only arrived recently? 

EG: Playboy never had been present in Iran as far as I know, but everyone accesses the internet and so you can see the images anytime you want.

iskm: Is any of the content you are searching for, playboy or otherwise,  ever blocked? Do you have trouble accessing images?

EG: About the internet, sometimes there is trouble with some websites but people know how to deal with them. And I guess besides that problem we can access any content.

iskm: Much of your artwork comments on the role and/or perception of the role of women and their sexuality. Can you speak to how and why you choose such symbols and engage in such conversation?

EG: What I was trying to tell was what everyone are whispering, but yet are afraid to talk about it. I guess some people still are shy about their sexual life and generally their personal life. But today we are far away from anything personal. All we want to do is to create a world that everyone else thinks we are living, even if we are not living that life. My conversations are based on daily real interactions that are funny but still very true.

"Hyper Sexual in Castle"

iskm: Do you think that Iran is still whispering about women’s rights? sexuality? fashion? porn? media? etc

EG: Of course it does just as other the rest of the world is. We access media and modern life styles quite the same as other countries (most of the people from other countries however think we don’t). Of course the picture that is present in media of Iran is different from what it is in so many ways.

iskm: Which artists would you most want to most see involved in ishotkatemoss?  

EG: There are so many. One of my favorite artists is Robert Rauschenberg. I started wondering about collage while looking at his work. He is one of the greatest artists of all time and the presentation of his feelings through art has influenced me a lot. I think that if Raucshenberg had wanted to collage with Kate Moss, he would create something as interesting as de Kooning’s Marilyn Monroe.

And while we can only dream of seeing a Rauschenberg kate, you can actually see more of Elham’s work and ongoing perspective of life in Iran at www.instagram/elhamgoodrz/.

And so whether you are in Tehran or New York, remember to ...

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Photographer Series #25: mariashotkatemoss

Maria Sheila Miani lives with the history of fashion in Milan. She studied to be a fashion editor in both Europe and the US, has had articles published in Vogue.it and Vogue Italia magazine, and works for Italian blogger and fashion designer Chiara Ferragni. Maria also comments on her perception of fashion and the industry through her own art projects.

Maria's "But first let me take a selfie"

“As soon as I came back from LA, I decided I wanted to reach an audience of people who share my interest for fashion. People who feel fascinated by this world, who are inspired but do not necessarily want to be a fashion designer. Therefore, I began creating personal projects, not just for my own sake, but to share with others.”

iskm: How would you describe your art practice?

Maria Sheila Miani (MSM): Liberating and personal. Each of my art projects are born by ideas that I have while walking on a streets, cooking, reading. From an idea, I try to express something bigger, a feeling or a perception I have of the world.

iskm: Can you explain your “Is Art in Fashion” instagram project?

MSM: “Is Art in Fashion” is a a series of collages. I select a famous painter (Van Gogh, Picasso, Salvador Dalì, Manet), select a number of his works and then I pick a fashion model and I insert her in the various paintings.

Kate & "Still life with melon and peaches, 1866"

iskm: How did it come to start?

MSM: One day I was doing my daily walk in my city, Rome, and I saw a poster advertising an exhibition of the famous French painter, Henri Matisse. It showed a table with a bowl of fruit and I thought that it would look cool if I put a model in the painting – a collage! That is how it started.

iskm: How do you choose the source artist and art?

MSM: First of all I pick an artist. Usually I try to choose one that interests me in that particular moment, either because I have recently studied the artist or because I see an exhibition of his work. If I feel more connected to the artist, I understand better what he wanted to portray and therefore I can choose which model to insert. I research his style, in which century did he live, to better understand his background and then select 10-15 of the artist's works.

Kate & "Portrait of Lady Gonzales"

iskm: And the choice of model? How/why do you choose the model and the artist to pair?

MSM: I always try to pick a model whose features are completely in contrast with the kind of people that are in the paintings of the artist. For instance, for Gauguin’s works, which portrait exotic women from a very primitive lifestyle in Tahiti, I chose to use Daphne Groenveld as the model. Her features are completely the opposite of Gauguin’s kind of women. She is pale, blonde, has huge lips and bambi eyes. In most fashion editorials she resembles a Barbie doll and wears very expensive clothes. For Vermeer’s paintings, which are set back in the 17th century when women wore very modest clothes and behaved in a very reserved manner, I inserted Gisele Bundchen, the most famous Brazilian model whose lifestyle is all about yoga and sports. She also has an incredible body that fashion magazines love to photograph in swimsuits and short dresses.

Kate & "The Absinthe Drinker"

iskm: How do you do then create the collage?

MSM: I open every painting in Photoshop and begin inserting various pictures of the model, each from a different editorial. I usually insert 3 to 5 images, the ones where the model seems to be interacting with the painting, before I find the one that best suits.

iskm: What was the initial pairing? How long before you came to use kate?

MSM: The project began with Lily McMenamy and Matisse then moved to Kate Moss as soon as I finished the first series. When I began the project I was living in Rome, and I would be working in my sitting room, where we keep the television. I would see Kate Moss daily, during tv spots.

Kate & "Parisienne study of Ellen Andree 1874"

iskm: Why kate with Manet?

MSM: Kate Moss and Manet together are invincible. They are both considered “rebels”.Manet is the father of Impressionism, one of the most important art movements that completely changed the perception of art and its relationship with reality. Even more, Manet lived in a century when women were obliged by society to behave, to wear a certain type of clothes and had limited possibilities. Kate Moss instead is a rebel, a rock and roll woman who would never follow these rules.

iskm: In your opinion, has kate also “changed the perception of art and its relationship with reality”?

MSM: I guess you can say that Kate Moss image has been reproduced so many times that she belongs to a mass media culture. It was natural that somebody would use her image to transform it, and if this person is an artist, then to create art. Especially in the digital era, when you can find tons of images of such a famous person, it is easy to take these pictures and make them yours. Kate Moss managed to create a universe around her, made of her lifestyle, personality and career path. People feel drawn to her because she has made her life memorable. I, as an artist, can see so many different aspects of her in her pictures that it is almost natural to create something out of them.

Maria's "Love Doesn't Hurt, but Betrayal Does!"

iskm: One of our favorite pieces from the series is Manet's “La Muerte del Torero”. Why did you use a kate playboy image for this collage?

MSM: When I chose Kate Moss from Playboy, l could see a connection between the dead torero on the floor and her, on the ground too, with a very intriguing expression. To me, in that collage, she seems worried but at the same time she has a “killer-gaze”. She just killed her lover, you betrayed her, and her look seems like she is about to do the same to you, if you will tell somebody. This is how my imagination works, this is how I create my collages.

Kate & Manet's "Nana, 1877"

iskm: You always reference the source artist as “he”? Have you ever worked with a female source artist? If not, why not?

MSM: I am using painters that date back to many centuries ago. I studied the history of art, and until the last century, it is really hard to think of a famous female artist. To me, it is not only to know the name of the artist, but I want to know their life and what they wanted to express through their art.

iskm: And you refer to the models as “her”. What about male models?

MSM: I won’t wait to use a female painter to insert a male model. I have not used them yet because the male fashion has become popular only recently. I can think of many famous male models, but very of them have a strong image as female models such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell or Coco Rocha.

iskm: You have used kate in other series - you had an image of her within your legolize-fashion series. Can you explain this project?

MSM: My Lego project consists in making a Lego version of the fashion world. I began by doing magazines covers, because they are so iconic and recognizable. However I recently began doing fashion campaign too. Gucci, the fashion brand, contacted me to make me be part of the second series of #GucciGram. Therefore I lego-lized their Fall 2015 campaign.

iskm: Life imitates art! How do you see the work relating to the “Is Art in Fashion”?

MSM: Both works are an expression of my imagination. Even more, it's how I like to relate to the fashion system. I believe it is a very fun and creative world from the surface but it is actually made of hard work. Which is the ingredient of my projects.

Kate & "Luncheon on the grass"

iskm: Which photographers/artists would you most want to most see involved in ishotkatemoss?

MSM: I am in awe of many artists. I think that I would really like to see how Darcel Dissapoints creates Kate Moss with his style. What I like about him is that he created this figure, and managed to create and entire world of real characters.

You can see more of Maria Sheila Miani’s imagination at www.mariasheilamiani.com and on instagram @mariasheilamiani.

And just like Manet and Maria, you too can Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Photographer Series #24: jenshotkatemoss

About 6 weeks ago, ishotkatemoss featured kate inspiredculinary delights proving the point that ‘plenty tastes as good as skinny feels’!

Through this exploration, we stumbled upon the work of Jen Allanson, for whom we sent hungry eyes, as we looked longingly towards a berry dessert. Upon further exploration, we found that there was a great deal more that met the eyes, and stomach.

Jen Allanson runs a training and development business in Liverpool, UK. When she is not doing that, she heads to her studio in an old dock warehouse, which she shares with more than 20 artists, and creates a wide variety of drawings, prints, assemblages … in between taking photographs and also creating political and societal commentaries, captured under her catch-all of ‘Blah’.

Jen told me that once she was likened “… to a puppy seen, constantly stopping to sniff and look at everything. I am excitable, a little unruly and largely unmanageable.“ Well, we liked what she was managing to do in her unmanageable way in the 'Kate Moss Eyes on Food' project and thought it was worth delving into Jen’s practice and ideas …

 

iskm: How would you describe your art work?

Jen Allanson (JA): I make art to help me make sense of the world. It’s a mirror. So, I’d probably describe my artwork as autobiographical in that its most often this is what I saw, this is how I felt, this is what this is means. In the case of the 'Kate Moss Eyes on Food' series of collages it was simply this is something that made me laugh.

Jen's first 'Kate Moss Eyes on Food' collage

iskm: Why food? Why kate moss?

JA: The first 'Kate Moss Eyes on Food' collage was an accident. I was in a business hotel in a Northern UK town cutting up a glossy magazine while watching tv. In the paper-cut chaos that ensued Kate Moss’s eyes ended up on a picture of some stuffed mushrooms. It made me laugh. I could still recognise her even when she was just eyes on food. I scanned it and sent it to a couple of friends who thought it was funny too. So I made a series, posting them to a Tumblr gallery (beginning May 2014) and sharing them with friends via social media.

iskm: How did people react?

JA: I got a great response. People sent me more pictures of Kate Moss through the post (all the collages are physical, cut paper collages). I searched ebay and bought clippings and collected magazine pages. I hadn’t realised there were people out there who collect and sell clippings of celebrities.

iskm: And where did you get your food images? Are they all locally sourced?

JA: The food pictures came from all sorts of places - food magazines, photography magazines, old cookery books.

iskm: How many collages did you create?

JA: I made around 60 collages over the course of a couple of months. 46 made it onto the site, the others I haven’t fallen in love with yet (I may never). I continued making them until I ran out of steam and something else captured my attention (collecting shopping lists from supermarket trolleys, to be honest).

iskm: We also spotted that you also used kate’s eyes on non-food images, such as the picture of the horse. Was this something you began exploring beyond the plate?

JA: The horse picture came from a vintage copy of Paris Match. Horse meat is eaten widely in France and there had been a recent ‘horse meat in our beef’ scandal in the UK. It’s bizarre where we draw the line between food and friend, so arbitrary.

iskm: Do you see this work as being a broader social commentary?

JA: I can’t pretend 'Kate Moss Eyes on Food' is a serious (or even semi-serious) art project. So there really aren’t any sensible answers to any ‘Why?’ questions related to Kate Moss Eyes on Food. I think it would be disingenuous of me to make some up. I was just the conduit through which this particular idea passed. I’m just the medium. The message is whatever you choose ;-)

 

iskm: When we found your work on Tumblr, the latest post was from January 1st, 2015. Did you stop making pieces for the series?

JA: It’s funny, but at the time I was making the collages Kate wasn’t much in the press/media. She’s had a renaissance in the glossies, but my interest in the project has waned now, so I just spot her on the magazine stand and think ‘Ah, of only that had been out when I was scouring the world for pictures to cut her eyes from!’ … I still have a stash of Kate’s paper eyes, so I may make more in the future, if the mood takes me. 

iskm: Yet the last time we visited the tumblr site, we saw two recently added images. Are you continuing the project?

JA: The new collages have certainly been sparked by my going back to visit this project at your prompting. So yes, there may be a few more to come …

iskm: Which photographers/artists would you most want to most see involved in ishotkatemoss? 

JA: Probably David Shrigley. His work is irreverent and funny. It serves as a reminder that life, and art, shouldn’t be taken too seriously. 

More of Jen’s enjoyable work can be seen at: www.jenallanson.com and, in addition to her collages being added to the ishotkatemoss collage, you can see the 'Kate Moss Eyes on Food' series at katemosseyesonfood.tumblr.com. 

Going to go get a bite to eat now …

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Photographer Series #23: ryanshotkatemoss

Ryan Oliver is a Bristol based artist whose collage/photomontage works have been exhibited throughout the UK and also have been featured in numerous publications. His current practice examines the visual language of high fashion and lifestyle periodicals. 

Oliver's 'Untitled', photomontage/2015
- an example of a recent non-kate collage

He looks at the ideas of beauty and perfection being “constantly scrutinized, cut from the original context and juxtaposed with strenuous misalliance”. His creations facilitate a dialogue between the innuendo laden visual languages of fashion imagery with pornography. He does this very effectively by exchanging something implicit for the explicit. 

Ryan has stated, “I derive great satisfaction from abducting imagery aimed at the consumer and inverting the content to communicate divergent views ... my work confronts fashion's covenant of eternal youth; tumorous flesh, death and grief are imposed as rebuttal".

In the following excerpt - taken from an interview for 'East London Line', March 2011 (conducted by Angus Spawton-Rice) - Ryan spoke as to how he came to such ideas, giving context as to his kate work we explore with him:

A section of 'Girl with pearls',
photomontage with sellotape/2010

I began to work with collage when I studied illustration at university, where, the fulfillment of a given brief was the only concern. After graduation, when liberated from the constraints of an illustrative mindset, I expanded my practice. High fashion/lifestyle periodicals became my primary resource from which I scoured for and salvaged my imagery. During this laborious process, the visual language of fashion photography/advertising became apparent, beauty/perfection and sexualisation being the two constants. Due to my close proximity with this material I became concerned with the position of women regarding image and representation. Collage is the perfect medium for such a rebuttal. Collage by its very nature is disparaging of its source material; a destructive gesture of cutting and slicing a pre-existing image, only to be redeemed by the perpetrator, as he or she sees fit. It is a response and is countering to what was presented originally.

iskm: Why Kate Moss? Is she a primary source for you in this confrontation?

Ryan Oliver (RO): The pieces that I submitted (to ishotkatemoss) are samples taken from various periods in my practice. Kate Moss has never had preferential treatment in my studio. I select models/images on aesthetics (posture, gaze, colour, tone) and the capacity to communicate a new dialogue. However, Kate Moss is an icon and I am conscious that her inclusion affords a work gravitas that an alternate muse would not.

iskm: How many works have you created using kate?

RO: I've created four images using Kate Moss, all of which are collage with no other means of manipulation. I'm terribly traditionalist when it comes to collage/photomontage; scissors and a glue stick is all I permit myself.

'Death Moss', photomontage with resin finish/2012

iskm: How/why did you select the source images that you did for ‘Death Moss’?

RO: With ‘Death Moss’ I began with multiple black and white images of the dead and their grieving relations, sourced from ‘Bizarre’ magazine. My intention was to juxtapose these with a high fashion image of a model to contrast vitality and beauty worship with necrosis and bereavement. 

iskm: And why this specific image of kate as the source?

RO: I chose this image of Kate Moss, which would become ‘Death Moss’ not simply for the physical ‘scaffold’ for which I could impose mortality but the seduction of the sexual gaze. Whilst initially conflicting, this amalgamation has transformed Kate Moss into a succubus, an ‘angel of death’, hence the title ‘Death Moss’.

'Kate (shame series)', collage/2013

iskm: You impose harsh, powerful and confronting imagery against the backdrop of modern ideas of beauty in order to ‘confront fashion’s covenant’. Do you feel that you need to make people uncomfortable in order to get the message through today? 'Kate (shame series)' as an example is far more understated. Is there a role for subtlety in this conversation?

RO: My work is initially constrained by the source material I can acquire. I endeavor to appropriate the imagery honestly to create aesthetic and contextual interest, sometimes subtly and sometimes less so. I can’t imagine considering anything too risqué and would never personally censor my work. I am a firm believer that offence is taken not given.

 

Oliver's 'Untitled-6 (marriage series)', photomontage 2009

iskm: Where do you find the line drawn between pornography and fashion? As an example, are you challenging (or emphasizing the lack of) this line in your Untitled-6 Kate collage? 

RO: There is of course a difference; pornography is explicit, sex is the product. Fashion imagery (to varying degrees) is implicit, using sexuality to incentivize. ‘Untitled 6’ is a mirroring of the posture, gaze and sexual ‘availability’ that is present in the language of pornography and fashion imagery alike.

In an earlier interview I mentioned that I invert content to communicate divergent views. This is the essence of collage. As The Dadaist Hugo Ball expressed, "For us, art is not an end in itself ... but it is an opportunity for the true perception and criticism of the times we live in." Over the past two decades, the use of increasingly explicit sexual imagery in the media, especially in consumer-oriented print advertising has become almost commonplace. Sex sells. I don't suspect much will change in the next ten, twenty years.

iskm: Which artist/s and/or photographer/s would you most want to most see involved in ishotkatemoss?

RO: I would really like to see what the Chapman brothers or John Stezaker would contribute; the Chapmans for their particular brand of irreverence and Stezaker for his economic yet masterful form of appropriation.

In the meantime, we can certainly continue to be challenged by Ryan’s own irreverent, appropriated imagery by viewing more of his collage work at www.ryanoliverart.com

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Photographer Series #22: SEELshotkatemoss

Born in the late 70s in Île-de-France, Sylvain Bousseton, aka ‘SINKE’, aka ‘SEEL’, has been “exercising pictorial activity” since 1996. His desire to display his artistic talents on open spaces began at an early age. Specifically, his taste for drawing led him to re-paint his parent’s living room: “It is a very good memory, but maybe not for everyone in my family!”

 

SEEL's BOMBUS 002

He discovered graphic art while skateboarding and through graffiti, where he drew its nickname "think" and then "five" (‘cinq’ in French) and finally "Sinke". While at university, Sylvain studied art and visual communication before working with a design firm and assisting several brands of street wear. 

Paralleling his professional activity, Sylvian organized and participated in several exhibitions, based around the intersection of graffiti, graphic design and painting.

Sylvain took the pseudonym ‘SEEL’ in 2010, abandoned exhibitions to focus on creating a free form of display, in order to be “out of sight of others”, specifically so as to reconnect with his first love: drawing. 

SEEL explains: “My inspirations are diverse: Whether it be a leaf, JJ Audubon, Aslan (the French pin-up artist), tattoo art, typography of the 70s and 80s … or things that return me to my childhood.”

iskm: How would you describe your work?

SEEL: The starting point is still typography, drawing and the approach of the letter which remain the central elements at the base of my creations. I am drawn to the female form and often mix an image with types and collages taken from subway advertising because I love the spontaneity and the recycling of the visual pollution of our society.

iskm: Your imagery and symbolism often use images of destruction and death (skulls, planes, guns) but not in an overtly harsh way. Why use these images in your work?

SEEL: For me, planes, skulls, guns are representations of vanity and it's why there are always important in my work. I can't stop focusing on things like death because “death is life”.

iskm: Why Kate Moss?

SEEL: At first, I would say that it is by chance, a coincidence - I really liked the pose in the original picture, which I have taken for my drawing. But the fact that it is a world famous model upset me because I was always working with the idea of anonymous people. Nevertheless, she represents the best and the worst at the same time, in a similar vain to the idea of, and relationship between, death and life … the iconic beauty and futility of the fashion business. So I adopted kate as my model. Naturally.

Kate by Alas & Piggott

iskm: How do you select your source kate image/s and what is your process for appropriation?

SEEL: I usually create a "hybrid" girl, using different parts from different bodies, in order to make a desired pose. But for the Kate Moss series I worked directly from an image of her. Then I used only a rotring to draw with dots, before combining my drawing with graphic parts taken from various collages. 

iskm: And you also screen print your kate onto background images?

SEEL: Yes, I create unique screen print series on collage backgrounds taken from old vintage playboy magazines, subway advertising or spray paint on paper and then I hand screen print the Kate Moss image in Black before doing any touching up if needed. I take background images that inspire me, whatever they are or wherever they come from - but I love the old vintage adult magazine, I don't know why but perhaps it reminds me of my childhood or bygone days!

iskm: Where do you find your source images?

SEEL: I have been collecting pictures since I was kid, and of course with the web the access to images is now Huge. However, I am more and more interested in vintage magazines, such as playboy, in order to select the models I want to draw ...

iskm: How do you find the magazines and why choose the vintage adult pictures?

SEEL: I found a collection of playboy and French magazines a few year ago... And some are from my father's collection. I used to look at them in secret when I was kid … so I love those. I don't know why, perhaps they give me more emotions, memories or puts me in a nostalgic mood.

A photo of SEEL's street work posted by a member of the public on instagram

iskm: We found your work on social media posted by others. Is the internet and social media now the latest form of public display and, as such, taken the role of street image graffiti?

SEEL: I used to be more active on the streets when I worked with graffiti, more than 10 years ago. For a few years I did not even display what I did. I was not too motivated to show what I do cause I only wanted to do it for me because I just wanted to draw.

I am not so active in the streets but I am slowly working back into it … I don't really like the social networks and displaying work that way. I am a little bit of a loner so I don't know how people interact with what I do. However, one year ago I wanted to be back on the street because it is the place of the ART...

iskm: Which photographers/artists would you most want to most see involved in ishotkatemoss?

SEEL: Aslan is one of my favorite artists. For me he is a master for the vintage pin up. He used to draw a playmate every month in a French adult magazine call LUI during the eighties. Unfortunately, he recently died so it is too late …

We here at ishotkatemoss find SEEL’s art powerful and compelling. If you are fortunate enough to be in Paris, keep an eye out for his images on the street. Alternatively, you can experience more of his creations at www.seelecta.fr

SEEL: Thanks for your support. Keep it up!

Just like SEEL dear readers ...

Observe. Slow Down. Shot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com