Pirelli c’est les pneus mais pas que… Depuis 1964 la filiale britannique du groupe éponyme publie annuellement un calendrier qui « initialement » était destiné aux clients importants du groupe et aux célébrités. Souvent surnommé « Le Cal », il a toujours eu un tirage limité de quelques milliers d’exemplaires, participant très largement au mythe. De simple cadeau publicitaire, il est devenu au fil des années un objet culte, au travers duquel bon nombre de photographes de mode, D.A et mannequins célèbres ont alliés avec bon goût : mode, beauté et sexualité « suggérée ». Il est aujourd’hui l’un des calendriers les plus prestigieux du monde.

Après Lagerfeld, Steve McCurry et bien d’autres, le choix s’est porté pour cette 51ème édition sur le photographe américain Steven Meisel. Derrière l’objectif les plus grands tops du moment avec l’ange brésilien Adriana Lima, la pulpeuse Candice Huffine (première mannequin grande taille à poser pour le calendrier), Cameron Russel, la first face Joan Small ou encore la gracieuse Isabeli Fontana.

Photo : David Hilton (à ne pas confondre avec David Hamilton)

Voir mes précédents billets : 14/05/2013 et 06/02/2013

Pour y accéder (après avoir noté les différentes dates) voir l'historique en cliquant sur le lien suivant : http://jourstranquilles.canalblog.com/archives/index.html

Un créatif qui prend des clichés de mode, quand le fashion prend un rail par Felix Larher

Salutation jeunes âmes affamé de connaissance et de beauté. Tu démarres cette semaine comme beaucoup avec un sentiment de routine en espérant découvrir quelque chose de nouveau,  comme une nouvelle rencontre, une nouvelle expression culte de la téléréalité à la bisous de moi ou un nouveau type de projectile à balancer sur ton voisin.

Ce sentiment de découverte te turlupine et comme chaque jour ta soif de beauté ne fait que grandir. Heureusement pour toi, il y a une nouvelle vague de beauté qui déferle et aujourd’hui la vague s’appelle Felix Larher.

J’ai dit Felix Larher pas Felix le chat, le lolcat nous on en fait pas. Donc Felix Larher est un artiste de la photographie. Et au vu des clichés de ce phénomène, il est clairement venu d’une autre planète. Un esprit créatif dans le corps d’un photographe, 2 goûtes de LSD, un coup de shaker et voilà vous obtenez des prises de vues complètements décalées. Ce photographe né en France vivant à Londres, est à la base un  photographe de mode, est apparue partout, de Vogue à GQ. Autant dire que ce génie de l’objectif est très connu, et c’est un euphémisme. Cette photographie de mode, qu’il nous offre est incroyable, audacieux, lumineux, ludique, bref des pures tranches cinématographiques de joie. Et de la joie il fait plus que de la représenter, car il la contraste avec de la folie. La folie au niveau de l’environnement, de la mise en scène ou encore des accessoires. Non seulement aptes à la prise d’images qui apparaissent vraiment, Larher est également animateur et peintre. Peintre oui mais plus précisément dans l’illustration, comme quoi notre Felix a plus d’un tour dans son sac.

Felix Larher est le photographe publicitaire par excellence, celui de la jeunesse, de la couleur, du pétillant avec des expositions et vidéos à foison.

When Helmut Newton established his foundation in the fall of 2003, he donated several hundred original photographs as a permanent loan which have been preserved by the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. For its tenth anniversary, the Helmut Newton Foundation is now premiering around 200 of these photographs, under the title “Permanent Loan Selection.”

These prints, mainly never before shown in Berlin, will be presented in separate rooms according to the three main genres of his work: portraits, nudes, and fashion. These include numerous portraits of well-known personalities, such as Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso, Karl Lagerfeld, and David Bowie. The fashion photographs, shot like the others in black and white as well as color, were mostly editorial assignments for renowned magazines that were commissioned primarily in the 1970s and 1980s. Newton’s life-sized Big Nudes were taken in 1980 in Paris; five of them have adorned the walls of the museum lobby since the Foundation first opened. The current exhibition also presents other life-sized nudes.

Finally, in June’s Room, visitors can experience a selection of enlarged contact sheets featuring various constellations of figures, offering a unique view into Newton’s work process.

Helmut Newton, David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini, Los Angeles, 1983 © Helmut Newton Estate

Helmut Newton, US Vogue, Monaco, 1996 © Helmut Newton Estate

HELMUT NEWTON FOUNDATION
Museum of Photography
Jebensstrasse 2 / 10623 Berlin
www.helmut-newton.com

OPENING HOURS
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Thursday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

ENTRANCE FEE
10 € / 5 € concessions

Voir mes précédents billets sur Steven Meisel : 18/11/2014, 07/08/2014, 06/08/2014, 02/07/2013, 28/05/2013, 25/11/2012, 03/11/2012, 17/06/2012, 04/06/2011, 04/02/2011, 05/11/2010, 11/08/2010.

Pour y accéder (après avoir noté les différentes dates) voir l'historique en cliquant sur le lien suivant : http://jourstranquilles.canalblog.com/archives/index.html

Kostis Fokas

https://www.facebook.com/kostisfokasphoto

Photographer Kostis Fokas is certainly not shy. Casting his gaze over the bodies of naked men, woman, pubic hair, genitals, breasts – you name it – for the past two years, all in the name of his latest series I’m Not Malfunctioning, You Are. Here, the images should be sexual, yet, are anything but. The difference lies in Fokas’ fascination to challenge the naked body’s limits as opposed to exploring its physical and carnal connection with sex – utilising the body as a vehicle to express the metaphorical undressing and vulnerability that we allow ourselves in front of others.

To him, the body as a “shell”; a vessel that harbours the pain and thought process of everyday life. “To be stripped of clothing is to surrender a part of yourself. This thought haunted me,” the photographer explains. Juxtaposing exposed flesh against found – completely out-of-place – props; model tigers edging against nipples, ready to attack; glittery tinselled-hair masks rendering identities obscure, Fokas provides “a landscape where the bizarre meets the ordinary – a testimony of human sculpture.” Ahead of the launch of his first solo exhibition this Friday in the UK, I’m Not Malfunctioning, You Are, in collaboration with The Queer Archive at London’s Dalston Superstore, we catch up with the photographer.

Your images are pretty confronting to say the least – what is it that inspires you?

Kostis Fokas: I started exploring Tumblr and found myself intrigued by the amount of creative work and the significant value that can potentially be unlocked. After hovering over numerous works and projects, a series of images unfolded in my imagination, marking the birth of the project.

Even though I would not say that there is any particular artistic style that inspired me, my work definitely involves a truckload of references – Dada and pop culture among them. But at some point, my project was almost like a game; the more I was sinking into this vast world of online images and artworks, the more I was getting triggered to move on with my own project. It was a journey without a destination.

    “The images are not meant to be sexual, at least this was not my intention. They’re not meant to be erotic photographs either. On the contrary, the naked bodies serve as a metaphor for how we feel when we get undressed, the uncomfortable feeling of exposing ourselves to others” – Kostis Fokas

They’re obviously quite provocative but they’re not "sexy" – is this deliberate?

Kostis Fokas: The images are not meant to be sexual, at least this was not my intention. They’re not meant to be erotic photographs either. On the contrary, the naked bodies serve as a metaphor for how we feel when we get undressed, the uncomfortable feeling of exposing ourselves to others. Revealing our inhibitions and feelings that were well kept within us.

You’ve previously mentioned an interest in pushing the body – why do you feel it’s important to explore these capabilities?

Kostis Fokas: The content and thematic focus of the project explores our generation’s feelings driven by an uncertain future, the constant worry and anxiety over everyday things, the contemporary lifestyle. We feel uncomfortable in our own skin. We feel exposed. The human body then functions as a metaphor; an accumulation of a lifetime’s experiences and feelings and thoughts and agonies. A shell under which all of these pressures that distort the way we think and live are locked up. It’s almost as if you let the body explore itself, speak for itself on what it’s carrying in it.

What do the props bring to your images?

Kostis Fokas: Props are an important element in my work, they are symbolic and metaphorical. A mask that is used to hide a face is as important as the face that is hiding behind it.

Lastly, how did the collaboration come about with the The Queer Archive?

Kostis Fokas: I am honored to have been approached by The Queer Archive team for this collaboration. Both the organisers and the exhibiting space are addressed to the audience that I am referring to through my work, and particularly through this specific project. I think that this audience could be easily identified in an I Am Not Malfunctioning, You Are environment, and I hope that the exhibition stirs up their interest and provokes conversation.

I Am Not Malfunctioning, You Are is presented by The Queer Archive and will run at The Dalston Superstore in London from 15 November, 2014 – 8 February, 2015.