· How everything began, Monica?

Unlike most, when I was a child I never enjoyed drawing. I had cra
yon boxes and some inks and I used to enjoy keeping and observing them. It was not until the adolescence when I began to draw! I used to copy characters from comic books and really soon I felt the need to learn a little bit more…then I started a drawing course and after that, I did a xylography and lithography course. My grandfather had a letterpress company, that’s why engraving became an immediate passion, I identified myself with the process and I wanted to learn more and more, when I decided to study Fine Arts.

· When did you decide to dedicate yourself to the production of artworks fulltime? Had you ever imagined that this could happen to you?

I really committed myself to artistic production three years ago, but it was my goal since when I decided to be a visual artist in my adolescence. As in any profession you need investment, studies and time for an economic return.

Reviewing your designs full of excesses, compositions, colours…

· Do we find in them some indigenous cultural heritage?

 My first contact with pattern design was through indigenous graphics, I was studding body painting when I discovered a book published by Lux Vital about patter design, which was the beginning of an obsession. I bought some books about this subject and soon I started to insert these ideas in my drawings. Now a day, I study pattern design from a larger viewpoint, in different cultures and with different perspectives.

· The spot colours in your illustrations seem to be made by computer. How do you get this effect?

It needs patience, good inks and opaque pigments, preferably. In some cases, instead of brush I use roller to define colour areas with a sticky mask. There are some “tricks” to get a plane area with well-defined edge that facilitates the process.

· The easy way with which you describe magical places and situation fascinates us…How do you manage to create these sophisticated compositions?

I usually define a concept and the colours that I’m going to use in the composition. Then, I prepare the base of the ink with half-tone palette and I define the first image. Generally, his first image is a human figure, from which surrounding environment around will be born. Then I start adding random items on the canvas and each new element raises the next. Is a process of pasting images one over each other, till through the overload information the image becomes a coherent whole.

· We can see that colour is one of the major aspects in your work…Which one never lacks in Monica Rizzoli artworks?

When I begin a painting I do some colour research to define the palette colour that will define the design and I try to create a different and certain palette for each work. But sometimes, there are recurrent colours, like PBr 7 (raw number), which has been very important to me in recent times.

Let’s talk about more specific projects that we find particularly interesting…Even in the college you were the creator of theoretical-practical event called [In.CoRpo.Ro]…

· What did this event involve exactly? What importance it has had in your career as an artist?

[In.Corpo.Ro] was first presented in 2004 and it succeeded in bringing together five artists and two artists associations in a performances evening inside an art gallery.

The second edition was actually on the street, with three performances in the interior of Sao Paulo metro. In the third edition in 2005, in addition to the performances there were conferences and theoretical debates.

In 2006, Priscilla Davanzo and I organized a pdf magazine with articles that talked about the idea of the event and actually, that was the last thing that was done in [In.CoRpo.Ro]. At that time I also conducted performances and, in fact, was then when I started being interested in indigenous body paintings and in the different ways of understanding and representing the human body, what now a day is very important in my work.

After your university time, you worked on a project called “Fêmea” with which you surprise us with a number of different representations of the sexual act, where you explicitly depict intercourses and penetrations…

· How an artist from Sao Paulo gets to talk about this such a complex subject in her country?

Actually, sex is a complicated issue in Brazil, there are many divergent views on the matter, but no consensus. I prefer to understand sex as something inherent in our lives, as something common. Talk about sex becomes easy then, it’s like talking about ourselves, our needs, desires and complexes.

· Do you think the viewer is able to overcome the banality of the first moment and enjoy your artwork without prejudices or fear?

I would like to think so, although this not always happen.

Monica, we are going to close with some short questions…

·From where does the inspiration for your paintings arise?

 From work and daily research.

 · Which is the most Brazilian aspect of your work and which the least?

I don’t know what to answer in this question…

 · Which advice would you give to an artist who is just starting out now?

 I would say: be persistent, dedicated and curious!

Interview by Lara Costafreda, Carpaccio Magazine Collaborator. Some of her artworks were published in Carpaccio Magazine vol.5

Monica Rizzolli website

A few quotes:

The kind of photography that I do has always been quite intimate. This is both a chronicle of events that happen in my life and also an intimate part of it. I am not ashamed to show those processes that occur inside of me. I’ve always been open in my work, and opened my private life backstage. I think that honesty is most important, that is the difference between a good apple and a wormy one.

And you can read the whole interview here: disturber.net/interview-sasha-kurmaz/

Germán Peraire book published by Atem Books titled Diary of nights and days 

Interview with Germán Peraire by Lara Costafreda

With just twenty two years old his photographs have been exhibited in numerous internationally renowned galleries…  Born in Barcelona, Germán Peraire presents us an artwork full of truth, honesty and geniality, not suitable for sensitive minds.

· Germán, how is the daily life of an artist like you?

As I increase my commitment with my work life, my life is much more strongly organized around my work.
I always carry the camera with me, wherever. I spend my time learning things and knowledge, people and places, often related with arts (at this time, I dance contact-improvisation and I take tango and trapeze lessons), I see shows and I have artists and not artists friends, I always walk all over Barcelona, observing the people around me.

This is the substrate of my work: while I’m living, I find people who cross my path (strangers, friends, lovers, I don’t mind) and I take photos of them. Photography is a campaign game. Before I only used to take photos in the studio and I never took the camera out of it. Now, fortunately, I realized that there is no need to stage anything, is in the real life where I find my artwork, where I find myself. I also spent much time studying renowned authors, photographers and not photographers, reviewing the work done and learning from people around me.

· Let’s go a few years back, ¿When did you decide that your life passes through a photo camera?

I’m photographer since I was in my sixteen, when I started to take pictures and reveal them as a hobby. This hobby became very strong and I realized that I could not imagine a greater happiness than devote all my live to photography. When I was 18 years old I went to study photography in “Centre de la Imatge i la Tecnologia Multimèdia” at UPC University.

· Your images contain a vast technical knowledge, is this because of your formation?

Yes, in fact this is the only thing they taught me. The rest -speech, commitment, attitude, etc.- I have learned from books and persons, especially from Lorenzo Mijares, a great Mexican theatre director with whom I have had the privilege to live with during almost two years. From him I learned not just the artist road, but also the road of the person who looks for consciousness and building of one’s life.

· In an occasion you have defined the photography as the “reason of your existence”, as your religion perhaps?

Religion is very serious and also misused word. I just feel myself complete when I listen to my instinct and my necessities (beyond sofa addiction and security). Photography is a need that never leaves me, that makes me feel happy and brought me closer to unforgettable people and experiences. I have the profound conviction that this is an inseparable part of my nature.

· If you could not be a photographer, what would you be?

Simply I would not be, I would be another person.

Looking at your work published on your Website, we are especially surprised and fascinated about all philosophy you hide behind your images…
· Pictures and/or series of photographs are often accompanied by very mature texts and phrases. Why is this vast knowledge and skills in a boy  of only 22?

I only have one work that includes text, called “Statement”. This work was first a personal text about my childhood and my relationship with my parents and the world. Later I decided to illustrate all this in photographs through theatrical performances with actors. It has much symbolism. This work is part of a personal growth and an attempt to bring order, that in the end we all have to do.

· From where does this deep melancholy, sadness and the feeling of disturb that surrounds your photos come? Which adjectives do you use to rate your style and your aesthetic?

I’m still growing as an author. I don’t know what my style will be… There are different emotions in my images. Actually, all the photos are self-portraits in the way I dare to expose them sincerely and humbly.

Your connection with the world of art and especially with the world of performing arts is obvious…
· How is this relation? What does it gives to you, personally and professionally?

They are friends, the artists featured in my pictures. I like being a spectator and I like the fantasy world that surrounds the arts, especially performing ones.

· Artistic photography has often been questioned for being too pretentious… do you think that your pictures are art works?

Art is also a very misused word…Beethoven was an artist and he is very, very high above…the level of consciousness, dedication, humility and mastery this man had deserves a great respect.
Me? I don’t know, I prefer to say that I’m photographer, this is clear. To be an artist in the case I’m, I will need a whole life and a great learning. But as Kandinsky said, this must be the last concern: who is, is, and who is not, is not. It is not about a selection, but dare to answer to your own nature.

The images you present us, breathe a sculptural aesthetic painted in black and white…
· What does the colour mean to you and what importance falls on the light, shadow and volume when you shoot?

I don’t understand the colour, that’s why I work in black and white. Light is everything, is what gives shape and volume, thoughts and emotions. I think that the most important thing for a photographer is know how to make the most of light and use it as a tool, either digital or natural, created or found.

And finally,
· Digital or analogue.

I don’t mind, what matters is what I’m saying. That everyone could find what works better for him, whether digital, analogical or procedures of the nineteenth century. I work in digital.

· The ideal camera and yours.

The perfect camera doesn’t exist; there is the camera that fits your needs better. Now, I work with Canon EOS 5D and 50mm fixed focal lens, but I would like to have a Range Finder digital, like Leica M8 or something similar

· A particularly significant Project.

Those I will do in the future. I want to travel around the world and take pictures of the people I meet.

· A wish for the future.

A prediction, better: I will continue photographing and exposing. The most immediate exposition is on May 26th on 7th July at the gallery Tagomago of Barcelona, who presents me. The exposition will coincide with the publication of my first book, thanks to Atem Books.

· An advise to young artists like you.

Oscar Wilde answered that question in this way: everybody stops writing (in our case photograph). The one who cannot live without doing it is a real author. For those of us who are on the road (including me): we need work, dedication, humility and the courage we need to find the truth of who we are through our work and show it with sincerity. The best picture is the one that is legitimate and sincere.

Interview by Lara Costafreda, Carpaccio Magazine collaborator. The photos of this interview has been published in Carpaccio Magazine Issue #22 and the whole interview has been published on Carpaccio Guide to emerging illustrators, photographers & artists Vol. 4

Germán Peraire website

miachristopher.com

Carpaccio Magazine: Tell us something about you.

Mia Christopher: I currently live and work out of my studio apartment in San Francisco’s Mission District with my two cats, and am finishing my BFA at California College of the Arts.

CM: Which are your influences?

MC: There are a lot of really amazing artists working currently that inspire me. Megan Whitmarsh is one name that comes to mind. I love her embroideries and how she is able to translate her work through many different mediums. I greatly admire Amy Cutler as well. She displays her subjects matter with such a delicate touch, her work is the kind I would want to eat if art were food!

CM: Where do you get inspiration?

MC: Clusters of color found in gray and white spaces, and animals of all kinds. If my mind is blocked it’s nice to go on a walk and see so many different people and animals. Living in San Francisco is a very fortunate thing for me because there is an abundance of street art as well as beautiful landscapes that are very inspiring. Not to mention, within a block you can see so many different fabrics and colors and animals and all sorts of interesting things that become inspiration.

CM: Your favorite book?

MC: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath has been a long time favorite. I also love my favorite children’s books, such as Babar by Jean de Brunhoff and The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright.

CM: Your favorite movie?

MC: The Virgin Suicides or Marie Antoinette – both directed by Sophia Coppola. I also really love Father of The Bride I & II with Steve Martin. I tend to like films that are either exceptionally aesthetically pleasing, emotionally moving, or really cheesy (or any combination of the three).

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Lara Costafreda had an interview with the versatile artist Félicia Atkinson.

From Kaugummi website:  ”Félicia Atkinson is a sound and visual artist and performer born in 1981 in Paris. She uses lo-fi material to draw, improvise music, make little sculptures… She curently resides in Brussels , Belgium.
She has played alone and in collaboration with musicians such as David Daniell, Sylvain Chauveau, Paul Labrecque, Stretchandrelax, on many places like in NYC (knitting factory), Brooklyn (monkey town), Tokyo (o’nest), paris (la fondation cartier pour l’art contemporain), brussels (les ateliers claus) exhibited at Supercore, Brooklyn; Komplot, Brussels; Heidi gallery, Nantes; galerie Polad-Hardouin, Paris…”
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Lara Costafreda: We know from you that you are a well-known multimedia visual artist, musician and performer. Your work includes music, photography, drawing, performance and writing for what we know…
But, Who really is Félicia Atkinson? What can you tell us about you?

Félicia Atkinson: Ha! First I’d like to precise that I am not ” well known” at all. Actually, just a few people know what I do.
But i have a very solid network and support from a bunch of great people, and that’s the most important for me! I don’t want to be famous! Fame is the worst thing that happened to the last two centuries! Who am I? I can tell you that I am a very lazy and impulsive person in the same time: like a small animal, maybe a sloth. I sleep and dream a lot, and suddenly I woke up I do things fast, improvising stuff, and then I go back to dream…
What else? I love cooking and walking. It’s another way do daydream.
Also, I work in a bookstore, which is an occupation I like too.
Oh, and I love love and travelling with love.

LC: Let’s go back some years ago; you were studying Anthropology in Paris when you decided to be an artist! How it was?

FA: When I was a kid I studied music and theatre after school and I loved to draw, but when I achieved my teenage years I was way too shy to keep on. I was just writing poetry and novels in my tiny bedroom, sometimes doing some collages.
It took me three years after high school to allow myself to study art.
But one day I tried, almost by chance, I applied discretely for an art school. And suddenly everything became clear and way more complicated since then in the same time!

LC: As you work with many different disciplines, we are fascinated about how you can get your mind organized..your sketches…your inspirations… Do you separate all the branches in your head?

FA: As I said, it’s impulsive more than compulsive. It’s like wanting one day to eat curry and the other day rigattoni.
I know each time very clearly, when it’s a “drawing call” or a “music call” that comes to me. But I can’t explain why or how.

LC: Which is the connector between the pictures you shot, the texts you write, the lines you draw and the music you compose? Or you just keep it apart and work step by step?

FA: The space and the state that I am in determines everything. If I am in a trailer in the middle of nowhere like upstate New York like last summer, I draw because I have some pencils, and I am inspired by the colours around me. But then I want to record the frogs that make so much noise in the pond next to the trailer. Then I feel like I should sing with that noise and record myself. Then I feel, oh wouldn’t it be nice to make a video for that song. So I shoot the bum fire that is burning in the field. And then I am like, well, I should take a picture of it. And write a poem. etc… It all becomes with a romantic feeling in a special place.

LC: What are you trying to express/say with your art? What would you like to say to your fans or what would you like that they feel when they see, read or listen your artworks?

FA: Everything is already here. You just have to call the things and maybe you’ll see them happening. You need to learn to be patient and to see in the dark. Everything moves. Nothing is permanent but everything will be transformed and come back.

LC: The colour, the composition and the lines are very important in your artworks, How would you define the importance they have in your work?

FA: I see things as a dialogue, a way to compose a community. “Would be the green happy to be next to the blue? I think that shape need to stay alone in this white space, but this one need tons and tons of colours around”… It’s very spontaneous. It’s like cooking or picking flowers.
But also, of course I am very inspired by people like John Cage or Richard Tuttle who have/had a huge conscience of the world. I love also the painter Peter Doig, the way he is in the same time generous and so personal in his paintings.

Let’s talk about some specific projects we highlighted;

LC: You recently left four months in USA thanks to the “Villa Medicis Culture France” scholarship program, what can you explain us about this project?

FA: During spring 2009, I had no home and I was really wondering what should I do with myself. And I discovered this Program that gives a grand to French artists to travel. It is very difficult to get it, so even i applied, I didn’t think it would work. But in October 2009, a lot of nice things happened to me, thanks the fate, and I received a call telling that I had the fellowship.
I travelled for 4 months, from the end of March 2010 to end of July, coast to coast, beginning in Chicago, then NYC then upstate NY, then Portland Oregon then driving with my boyfriend to Los Angeles.
This trip changed my life. I don’t draw and do music the same since then. The colours, the feeling of space and time change me deeply. And the people I met were so incredible, so nice, what a lesson of hosting and friendship I learned!

LC: The other project we are so interested in is the “Rural Project”, by the way, where’s the picture you have in the login page of your website.  What is this experience about?

FA: This happened during that trip. Through a friend of mine who is a Seatle based writer, Drew Kunz, I met Sarah and Greg Lock, who are great people that runs generously this little residency in this tiny town, Gallatin, Upstate New York, in the middle of the woods. I discovered also that one of my very good friend and artist as well, Liza Corsillo, lived 20mn of drive from Gallatin. So I decided to stay in Rural Projects during two weeks, in the trailer, thanks to the kind invitation of the Lock family. It was a very important moment for me because a lot of things concerning my creation changed there.
I could hang out with my friend Liza, do my art, enjoy the nature.
Also, at the end, I caught Lyme disease there and I had to fight it and being cured. It was intense and very inspiring in the same time. I learned a lot.
And so many weird noises around the trailer! So many animals! So many stars in the sky!

LC: Just to end up with the interview, some short questions;
Who are your referent artists, writers, musicians…? Are you fascinated with any special artist’s work?

FA: It’s not exhaustive but..

ARTS

John Baldessari, Henry Darger, Richard Pince, Richard Tuttle, Cy Twombly, Sol Lewitt, Agnes Martin, Sylvia Bachli, Paul Klee,Kasimir Malevich, Robert Rauschenberg, Philip Guston, Alec Soth, Ari Marcopoulos, Amy Granat, Tacita Dean, Ula Von Brandenburg, Paul Cox, Peter Doig, Koo Jeong A, Charles Burns, Jean de Brunhof….

POETRY

Cesare Pavese, Marina Tsvetaieva, Anna Akmatova, EE Cummings, Fernando Pessoa…

MUSIC

Neil Young, Mount Eerie, Grouper, The Alps, Barn Owl, Fursaxa, Gregg Kowalski, Bonnie Prince Billy, Smog, Topaz Rags, Lau Nau, Jozef Van Wissem, Woods, High Wolf, Bardo Pond, Love, Linda Perhacs, Hildedard von Bingen, Hariprasad Churasia, Charles Mingus, Jean Sebastien Bach…

For the moment I check a lot of old library’s archives of images free of copyrights. It’s mesmerizing how anonymous people took such beautiful pictures!
Also, I am very into Nicholas Roeg and Joseph Losey ‘s movies those days. Their very elegant perversity!
Also, during the last past ten years, because of my travels, I had the luck to see a lot of museums in the world, which is great, I totally enjoyed it. But after noticing that most of the time, it’s the same 20 artists that you see in every contemporary museum in the world, you feel that something is going wrong, and now I begin to be interested in artists who where never invited in big museums…
Also, thanks to the wonderful advices from Bartolomé from Kaugummi, I feel updated about all those new free press and zine press and I think a lot of things are happening in the books now, maybe more than in the galleries, and I love it! It is a big kick to all the capitalist speculations that art is the subject of.

LC: Which aspects do you think are much more representative in your work and different with other artists?

FA: I know my art is most of the time ephemeral, improvised, very difficult to document and therefore pretty difficult to be sold and spread. But this is my way of doing and I feel like keeping it rocking the same!

LC: Do you have any major project in mind?

FA: Some records are going to be released soon under my name and also with my new doppelganger Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier. Keep your ears open!
But I don’t like to talk about things before they happen…

LC: What advice would you like to tell to fresh people that are starting just now…?

FA: Be your self twice more than you are!
And of course DO IT YOURSELF !!!!

LC: Félicia, thank you very much for your time and congratulations for your work and your career, in general!

FA: THANKS A LOT LARA and CARPACCIO! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

laracostafreda // CARPACCIO MAGAZINE COLLABORATOR //

Félicia Atkinson links:
http://www.myspace.com/jesuislepetitchevalier
http://www.myspace.com/feliciaatkinsonsongs
http://lowfifelicia.blogspot.com/
http://feliciaatkinson.be/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howienjoythelight/

Name- Ana Cabaleiro Rodríguez
Age- Born in the 70′s.
Where are you from?- Vigo, Galicia.
Your equipment- My favorite is Praktica BC1 but sometimes I shoot with Zenit E, Polaroid sx-70, Polaroid Spectra, Fuji Instax, Olympus OM10 and Yashica t4.
… read more at not common people blog!

CM: Tell us something about you: I live in Mill Valley, California (just outside of San Francisco) with my wife and three kids. I have a great studio near my home surrounded by the water, beach and sailboats. I have been a full time artist (oil painter) for 20 years. When I am not painting I love hiking, swimming and spending time with friends and family.

CM: Why illustration? What’s illustration for you? When you say illustration I am assuming you mean figurative painting..? I enjoy realism and the combination of both the technical challenge and the narrative of the figure.

CM: When and how did you start painting? Why did you choose oil on canvas as your work technique? I was exposed to art and painting at an early age within my family. I started in acrylic but discovered oils soon after. I love the translucent quality, how they handle light and the they have ability to blend wet into wet.

CM: Some people say that you are a photorealistic artist. How you define yourself your artistic style? At a quick glance my work appears to be “photorealistic” however in person, up close, they really feel like “paintings” – full of imperfections and the visible signs of the human hand. The allegorical nature of my work, and how I use water as a metaphor for transfor- mation and renewal, has been described as “Contemporary Renaissance”.

CM: Could you tell us how do you create the paintings? Which processes do you need to do? I use photographs as a loose start- ing point, or reference, for a pose. I have models in swimming pools and I take their picture. I use the photo only to capture their pose, the rest is created in the painting process and is from my imagination.

CM: We know that in 2003 you were living in Costa Brava, Spain. As we are from Costa Brava and we live in Costa Brava, we’d love if you could explain us some of your experience there and we’d like to know if you received influences of this place in some way. The Costa Brava is a very dear and special place for my family and I. We first came to Camallera in 1999 for a stu- dio exchange with Regina Saura. She and her husband lived and painted in my studio in San Francisco, and we stayed in their home for 3 months. We fell in love with the land and people. Luckily, and ironically, the following year I won the Becca De La Primavera in Saint Marti De Empuries. So, we of course returned and lived and painted there for 4 months in the Casa Forestal. Again, we loved the people, land and sea so much that we moved back in 2003. This time to Girona where I had a nice studio and made many great friends. I am not Spanish (or Catalan- :)), but truly feel such a bond and connection with your wonderful culture.

CM: What kind of connection do you find between water and people? We are of water, from water and universally drawn to water to sustain, cleanse and find joy in. I think the egali- tarian aspect of the beach and bathing together in the sea is a beautiful part of humanity. Water also acts as a portal to a nostalgic bridge to our youth; when life was more carefree. When we are submerged, for only a moment, the world above drifts away….

CM: Which are your influences? Other artists, music and my family.

CM: If you couldn’t be an illustrator, what would you be? A teacher

CM: How do you see yourself in ten years from now? The same…only even less hair!

CM: Do you have any advices for new emerging artists? My advice is to work very hard and to stay focused on your dream and your art. I know a lot of great young artists that spend more time thinking and talking about what they want to paint, than actually painting. Nothing is better than just rolling up your sleeve and getting to work. Paint, paint and then paint again. Your true voice will only emerge through working in the studio.

Eric Zener website: ericzener.com

Lara Alegre portrait by María Cerezo

CM: Tell us something about you.
LA: My name is Lara Alegre and i’m 24 years old. I was born in Barcelona and I live nowadays in Barcelona, but last year I lived in Norway and probably next year I will move again. I studied Mathematics but I’ve been always interested in Arts. I love to travel, I love to explore, I’m always willing to do new things, i’m definitely attracted by the unknown. I’m in love with road trips, nature, big spaces. I love fog. And the cold.

CM: Tell us something about you.
LA: My name is Lara Alegre and i’m 24 years old. I was born in Barcelona and I live nowadays in Barcelona, but last year I lived in Norway and probably next year I will move again. I studied Mathematics but I’ve been always interested in Arts. I love to travel, I love to explore, I’m always willing to do new things, i’m definitely attracted by the unknown. I’m in love with road trips, nature, big spaces. I love fog. And the cold.

CM: Why photography?
LA: It came naturally. I never force anything, whatever comes, had to come. Since I started taking pictures, I felt com- fortable behind the camera, and with the time i’ve adapted more to it. Right now, I couldn’t stop making pictures. It’s a necessity!

CM: If you couldn’t take photos, what would you do?
LA: I would go back to writing. Or I would make videos. I like everything that is related with image (but i’m unable to draw), cinema is just shots one after another. Actually, I seriously considered making videos the last times. But we’ll see, first I should get a videocamera!
CM: Any plans for the future? Are your plans related with art, photography?
Future plans? I never really had future plans. The fact of thinking in x time I’ll be doing this or that overwhelms me, even if it’s related with something I really like. I always choose what I prefer to do, and I do it. But I don’t think too far ahead. By now I only know that probably I’ll be living in Germany next year, and I’m really excited about that! Right now I couldn’t live without my camera, and I guess this is not going to change. And the more included in my life it is, personally and professionally, the better!

CM: Any advice for emerging artists…?
LA: I think the most important thing is to love what you do. Everything else will come naturally.

CM: In your photographies a same pattern is repeated. We can see people framed in enormous spaces. You’ve told us that everyday you’re becoming more obsessed with this subject. Why?
LA: I love the feeling that I have when I am in a huge space, where it seems there’s nothing else than myself. I love to know how small I am, to feel the nature, which is so incredible and surprising, and this is so forgotten in the cities. When I went to Norway last year, this feeling became really strong. I’ve been in amazing places: i’ve gone with a kayak through a fjord surrounded by incredibly high mountains, i’ve walked on a neverending frozen lake, I hitch- hicked and I was dropped in a place where there was only snow and a ghost road, i’ve climbed mountains and seen from the top landscapes with not even a village or a house. The feeling I have in each of this trips is indescribable. It’s a happiness which is really hard to classify, and I don’t experience this feeling anywhere else. When I make this pictures i just try to share what I felt in this moment, what I always feel in places like this.

CM: Why “Nobody is nowhere”? The mix between the title “Nobody is nowhere” with what we can see in the little book -people and hou-ses (somebody)- and great spaces (somewhere), makes me think that when these enor- mous spaces are not thought by anybody they become “nowhere”. And when I see people in your photos, they seem to me, some way, contingent.
LA: It’s true that what you can see in the pictures it’s “somebody” “somewhere”. But when i’m in places like this, where everything that surrounds me is so huge and I feel so small, I feel that I’m nobody compared to the surroundings. And the same with the places, for example in a frozen lake, surrounded by snow-covered mountains, you walk on and on , and the landscape is still the same, and probably very close to you there’s another frozen lake surrounded by snow-covered mountains where you would wak on and on… It’s like being lost in a sort of frozen desert. And the feeling is the same in any other space of these sizes. It seems that you’re in the middle of nowhere.

CM: Do you think landscape photogrphy allows the photographer to express himself?
LA: Of course! Here the empathy of the observer is quite decisive. Every person feels connected with some things, and maybe a picture can produce nothing to me, but another person will feel something watching it. And with other pictures it will be the opposite! I love pictures of desolated or desertic landscapes, because I feel connected with the photographer and I can imagine what he/she experienced in this moment. A landscape picture can make me feel a lot more than a portrait. The photographer can always express feelings, but there will be a public that will understand it, and another that won’t.

This interview with Lara Alegre has been published in Carpaccio Magazine Issue #20.

You can get this issue here

Aeschleah DeMartino website: aeschleah.com

Carpaccio Magazine: Tell us something about you (Who are you, what do you do, where are you from…)

Aeschleah: My name is Aeschleah DeMartino. I’m 26 years old. I moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles after high school to study photography. I graduated from The San Francisco Art Institute in 2007 with a BFA and have since been pursuing my career in photography. When I’m not shooting a job or bartending to pay for rent and film; you can usually find me basking in the park, cooking, Netflixing HBO series’ or scouting for my next shoot. Although, all the work I am getting in San Francisco is commercial, I am constantly working on my fashion book. Doing conceptual/fashion ad campaigns and editorials is my dream. I know the industry is in New York, but I’m crossing my fingers that something big will happen for me in the comfort of this amazing city.

CM: When and how did you start taking photos? What are your favorite cameras and why?

A: My Father dappled in photography when I was growing up, so it was always around. But at that time, I only had interest in being in front of the camera, which is kinda funny because I take a lot of self-portraits now. As a kid, I was always making art and being creative in some way, but photography seemed too mechanical. I remember one day my Dad walked into my room and found my vanity stacked on my bed with me balancing on it, painting my ceiling black with a tiny paint brush. I painted a mural of a galaxy over my bed and stuck on hundreds of tiny glow-in-the-dark dots for stars. And then in high school, I took a photo class and quickly realized photography was my calling. I visited a few schools I was considering and fell in love with SFAI. There, I learned to appreciate photography as a fine art. So, I shoot film. I have a digital camera that I use for certain jobs, but my Mamyia 7II is my baby. I also love shooting large-format. I’m saving up for a Toyo! Shooting film is very euphoric for me. When I shoot digitally, I sort of snap away, knowing that I can edit later. With analog cameras, I really think about every single, little detail and when I get “the shot”; I feel it. It’s the best feeling.

CM: Where do you find inspiration? What are your influences and other artists you like?

A: All my concepts start from a location. Once I find a location that inspires me; the ideas start flowing. When I’m in the space, I imagine the models, their moods, wardrobe, etc. Then I’ll go home and start developing the concept and research inspiration shots. My favorite photographer right now is probably Steven Klein. I’ve always loved Guy Bourdin, David LaChappelle, Terry Richardson and Nikki S. Lee. A lot of artists that inspire me are photographers I find on flickr too. I’m pretty competitive, so I like to see what my peers are doing.

CM: If you couldn’t take photos, what would you do?

A: Die. Man, I can’t imagine my life without photography. I know I’d find some kind of artistic outlet, but who knows… I really want to learn to play the cello. I think it’s such a sexy instrument.

CM: How do you see yourself ten years from now? Are you working on a future project?

A: I might have to buckle down and move to New York. I’m trying to stick it out for as long as possible, but it’s a big possibility in my near future. And I’ll be 36 ten years from now, so I’ll probably be making babies. They’ll be bi-lingual because my Latina nanny will speak solely Spanish to them while I’m at work shooting huge ad campaigns and editorial spreads. That’s the plan, anyway.

I’ve got tons of projects and ideas stacked up, but if I tell you, someone might steal them! I am working on a self-portrait project with my friend, Jessica Domino. It’s called The Alphabet Project. We’ve been working on it for a long time. In alphabetical order, we switch off mailing each other a word of our choosing for the other to make a photo about along with the print from the previous letter. We’re on N and it’s my turn. It’ll probably be another year before we get to Z. No one has seen the images. We’re really excited.

CM: Do you have any advice for new emerging artists? (and/or) Do you want to add anything?

A: I don’t know if other artists experience this, but I go on creative roller coasters. Where sometimes I’m on a roll and can’t stop taking pictures and then sometimes I feel like everything I’m making is shit. I get really depressed and stop shooting. But the only way to get out of that slump is to shoot your way out. As discouraging as it feels, you have to pick up the camera and create until you make something great again.

credits:

photography: aeschleah
wardrobe stylist: erin frederick
hair stylists: melissa ruiz & kristina goett
makeup artist: elizabeth salamanca
models: morgan [at] FORD & alexandra [at] NEXT

The third interview we’re publishing with the collaboration of (not) common people is the interview with Mateusz Dryja, emerging photographer, Issue #13 collaborator. The questions Carpaccio Magazine asked Mateusz and his replies:

Tips for new photographers- I don’t know… I’m new photographer too. Hmm… don’t stop learning. And don’t be shy to take photos when people are wondering ‘what does he see there?’. And remember that some imperfections in photos are adding them nice touch.

What’s photography for you?- Passion and way to present world better than it is. More colorful, more magical…etc. In general I try to make my photos look “more” then reality. I like when photos looks like pictures from a fairy tail. On the other hand, I don’t like too much of Photoshop. Post processing has to be balanced.

You can read the whole interview at (not) common people website.

Mateusz Dryja website: flickr.com/photos/mateusz_z_krakowa/

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