Passion Pit
Everyone here at GCM HQ is bummed about missing Passion Pit play London’s Roundhouse the other night. Oh well. Here are some photos of the gig.
Above: Passion Pit at the Roundhouse (photographs by Aneeka Delphine)
Just in case you’re not familiar with Passion Pit… they’re five guys from Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US (they have some seriously cool names for states over there… Illinois is another personal favourite).
Passion Pit’s first full album was released a couple of months ago, it’s called Manners. If you don’t already have it, go to iTunes and buy it now. That’s an order.
That’s all. Peace out.
Oh, one more thing… here’s a link to their website: Passion Pit. Hit it.
V cool
Above: V Magazine featuring Cameron Diaz
V Magazine has been knocking out some pretty cool covers. And the latest, with Cameron Diaz channelling Madonna circa True Blue, is no exception.
Cameron was photographed in London by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott (they’re big-time fashion photographers). She’s wearing Prada shorts and boots; the bra was fashioned by the stylist and made from gaffer tape!
V Magazine is on newsstands from today, you can’t miss it. More here: V Magazine.
Press Publish
Above: From Michael Bojkowski’s Agoraphobia Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry
A-list graphic designer and blogger Michael Bojkowski has published some books. They’re rather good. So much so, next pay cheque… ker-ching… I’m going to pick myself up one. The photograph above is from his latest offering, Agoraphobia Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry. Here’s what Michael has to say about it…
“It’s a sort of compendium of photographic anomalies culled from a three year period starting 2006 to a month or so ago. It’s separated into sections with titles like I Disappear When I Sleep, History is Bunk and Bad Mojo. It’s all pretty lucid really. Lucid and graphic. Is that an oxymoron?”
Check out all of Michael’s books here: Press Publish. Coolio.
Q&A: Alex & Cocco
We’re all about the Q&A here at Gym Class Magazine. We love ‘em. So much so, when lovely images from photographers Alex & Cocco dropped into our inbox earlier today, we just had to know more. We asked the questions, Cocco gave the answers. Nice one.
Above: From Alex & Cocco’s Taxi series
You’re based in London but are you from here? Who are Alex & Cocco?
Alex is a Londoner originally. We met and started working together in Sydney four years ago. We are known only as ‘Alex & Cocco’ – we are partners both in work and personally so we think it is a good fit.
Photographs from your Taxi series will be featured in the August 2009 edition of Monograph (a subscriber-only supplement to Creative Review magazine). The photographs are lovely. Where and when were they taken? What can you tell us about the project… how did it come about?
These were shot over a few visits to Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The images illustrate our fascination with the energy of urban taxis at night: they glow with a sense of urgency in the business of someone’s journey playing out.
The way the landscape of the city can interact with the reflective surfaces of the taxi is often overlooked; these images aim to capture that light play with the energy and bustle of city life and the stillness of the individual within it.
They were shot hand held on medium format from some precarious locations such as on highways and at lane intersections. As with all our personal projects they are presented as shot. We see the process as cathartic rather than a critical one, and this dedication to ‘in-camera’ purity establishes a predominant focal point for our personal practice.
Your personal photographs are presented as shot. That is, without any correction or editing in, say, Photoshop. Why is this so important to you?
Most of our personal work is shot on medium format transparency film and scanned in by us in house. It’s just lovely to see originals matching the prints so beautifully giving us a real thrill.
We really love the craft and are very proud of this aspect of our personal work. We were early movers to high end digital capture for our advertising briefs and post production is of course a regular part of the workflow. Perhaps it’s a back flip reaction to our commercial work.
You’re working on an on-going personal project called Particle Parkour. What’s your motivation for the project, where were the photographs taken and how difficult were they to achieve? Are they also presented as shot?
We are very proud of these, an ongoing series shot in abandoned warehouses and deserted car parks. We worked with some great athletes in Paris, Sydney, London and New York. The series is Alex’s idea, pushing the visual energy of Parkour not only in their motion of their bodies but with light play on particles exploding within the scene – creating it all in camera.
Our urban environments are about far more than bricks and concrete. Architecture comes alive when used as an urban playground, offering a never-ending set of challenging surfaces and spaces to those willing to explore them. Our Urban portfolio focuses on the movement and spectacle of free running and Parkour, the peculiar beauty of graffiti and the colour of street art.
Above: From Alex & Cocco’s Particle Parkour project
Who/what are your creative inspirations?
We look at everything new out there in the art scene – not to be affected, but to interpret what’s going on out there. But we are a little tired of the HYPER-ART scene that seems to be overwhelming a meaningful art market and audiences alike.
Alex has been a practicing artist for over 23 years; he is completely dedicated to the photographic medium. Just the slightest whiff of a collaboration on some mad creative project gets him totally involved and putting all his energy into it. We are totally led by concept ideas that spring to mind, and just drive us crazy until we just HAVE to shoot it.
It is a very cathartic process for us. Once the seed is set we just place all our energy into making it happen.
You’ve held exhibitions in New York. Are there plans for an exhibition here in London, or indeed elsewhere? What’s next for Alex & Cocco?
Yes we have exhibited everywhere over the last ten years, and we are very much looking to exhibit in London very soon. We are actively looking for spaces as we speak, hoping to mix hung large format prints and video projections perhaps as a one night guerilla event again pushing this cathartic act to fully close a project to enable us to move on to the next.
If any of your readers can help out here we would be really glad to hear from them.
All images:
Copyright © 2009
Alex & Cocco – PHOTOGRAPHERS LONDON
distilennui.com
Creative Review
GCM #03 is featured on the Creative Review website. Nice one.
Stop by and leave a comment… let Creative Review know what you think of Gym Class Magazine and the latest cover drawn by guest art director John Paul Thurlow.
Why not leave a comment here too? We’d love to hear from you.
Have a great weekend.
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