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April 12, 2013 2,324 notes

The Creators of Chicago: Artist Luke Pelletier
Graphic designer Lucy Hewett was 27 when she quit her job at a marketing agency and taught herself to take photos, experimenting on friends to hone her portraiture skills. Going freelance was a struggle (stylized portraits don’t pay quite like ad campaigns for McDonald’s) but Hewett credits her success, in part, to the support of her local creative network. This would have been the first in a series of ten profiles, but life had other plans. Enjoy this first and last installment anyway, and thanks for reading with us.
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Luke Pelletier
Luke Pelletier describes himself as a “painter, printmaker, musician and skateboarder.” He’s a sophomore at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but spend several minutes on his blog and you can tell he was making art long before he entered school.
Pelletier’s West Coast vernacular and bright, sometimes tropical, imagery might lead you to think he migrated from SoCal to Chicago, but he’s originally from Brevard, N.C., where he grew up skateboarding, playing in punk bands and drawing.
At first, it’s astonishing just how much work he has — and how good it is. “Having a lot of different outlets kind of makes you wicked productive,” he says. Sharing something almost every other day on his Tumblr – songs, sketches, paintings and photos, has become a part of his work flow.
You live in Pilsen, on Chicago’s South Side, which is known for its artistic community. Is that why you chose it?
It’s wicked cheap here. And it has two things I like: not paying much for rent and lots of Mexican food.
What inspires you?
Skateboarding was when thinking creatively came into what I did. When you skate, you can look at a handrail and a switch can go off in your head and its not a handrail anymore, it’s something you can skate. That’s how I learned to think about art – taking something that already exists in the world and then making something new. Also, I got into punk when I was really young. Skateboarding and punk both have very distinct aesthetics and bounce off each other really well.
Has art school been a good thing?
School is weird, but it’s getting better. It’s great in some ways because it forces me to think more conceptually.
Do you worry that when you graduate you’ll have to get a “real” job?
The thing is, I don’t want to make trading cards for rich people. What happens when you sell your art to those dudes, especially the really rich people, is they put it in a closet for like 20 years and then when they’re about to die some gallery curates a room full of their stuff, so they can just show off what they own. At the same time I love making paintings and paintings have a certain amount of time and money put into them. There is a price that you have to charge. I think working on commissions kind of fixes that dilemma for me. I can make a T-shirt for a company and a kid can buy a print of my art for twenty bucks.
What kind of projects are you working on now?
Tumblr is actually how I started connecting with people all over the world. I did a split zine collaboration with Ben Jensen, who lives in Canada. After that I just started curating a bunch of different shows with people I met online.
—Photos and text by Lucy Hewett

The Creators of Chicago: Artist Luke Pelletier

Graphic designer Lucy Hewett was 27 when she quit her job at a marketing agency and taught herself to take photos, experimenting on friends to hone her portraiture skills. Going freelance was a struggle (stylized portraits don’t pay quite like ad campaigns for McDonald’s) but Hewett credits her success, in part, to the support of her local creative network. This would have been the first in a series of ten profiles, but life had other plans. Enjoy this first and last installment anyway, and thanks for reading with us.

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March 26, 2013 2,152 notes

Sevens Clash on Street Life in Jamaica

Last August, photographer Alexander Richter and writer Sean Stewart set out for Kingston, Jamaica, with a singular vision in mind. The duo planned to document the city’s cultural scene for a new online magazine they founded with friend and graphic designer Anthony Harrison. The publication, dubbed Sevens Clash in homage to the reggae song “Two Sevens Clash” by the band Culture, was conceived as a vehicle to tell the lesser-known stories of Kingston from a street-level point of view. To provide readers with unfiltered access to the city’s art, music, sports, and street life, however, the pair would have to do so in a compressed, one-week time frame — the duration of their self-financed trip.

Stewart, who grew up in Jamaica, had arranged for he and Richter to stay at his father’s home in Kingston. And in order to gain access to a number of sources and subjects in a short amount of time, he enlisted the help of an old friend. “My longtime homie James Porteous, aka JP DA Manager, was our fixer,” Stewart says. “He was instrumental in getting shit together.” The resulting reports and photographs offer a colorful and revealing document of day-to-day life in Kingston — from profiles of dancehall artist Tommy Lee and the aptly named Tattoo Phillip (who is, after all, a tattooist), to record shopping at Rockers on “Beat Street” and late-night encounters on Ripon Road, to name only a few.

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March 25, 2013 3,845 notes

I Am Legion: Universe of One
Cheyne Gallarde was born and raised in Hawaii in the 80s, but he claims “my soul feels like it was born in the 50s.” His affection for midcentury Americana is plainly evident in the fashion photography of Gallarde’s studio Firebird Photography. Gallarde’s work combines a love of theater (and the theatrical) with maximalist colors and a kinetic feel. All of these elements came together in his Universe of One project, where Gallarde photographs himself as various characters using all the tools at his command, from makeup and wardrobe to lighting and backdrops. After testing the waters with his Tumblr, Gallarde decided to transform his transformations into a book via Kickstarter, with a modest cash goal that was funded almost immediately. Before that’s even done, he’ll spin it off into a second book, Twinsies, which will get its own Kickstarter very shortly. To demonstrate his skills, Gallarde offered to incarnate our own David Karp, and the man himself graciously accepted. The results and process may be seen above, and our talk with Gallarde appears below.
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When did you get interested in photography?
I’ve always been involved in art — been sketching since I was a child. Photography seemed like a natural progression, which combined my theater experience and graphic design background. I’ve been shooting professionally for five years now.
Who would you describe as your influences as a photographer?
I try not to follow other photographers because I feel that influences my work too much, so I turn towards other types of artists for inspiration. My biggest influence is actually American painter Norman Rockwell. His ability to tell a rich story in a single painting continues to inspire me to be a better storyteller. Photos for me should be self-contained movies.
You also aren’t afraid to get in front of the camera.
Actually, I’m extremely self-conscious. However, there was a turning point in my career where I realized I needed to get over that irrational fear. I believe that in order to be a better director, you need to experience what your subjects experience.
All your photo work is very humanistic — lots of portraits, lots of tableaux involving people as characters.
It definitely stems from my theater experience and love of films. Storytelling has always been one of my strong points, so I feel that by including thematic elements or characters, it conveys the story better. There is almost always a protagonist in my photos.
When and how did the idea for Universe of One come about? You mention Cindy Sherman as an inspiration.
Cindy Sherman’s art was the creative catalyst for Universe of One, but it evolved from there. After reading a magazine interview with her, I became obsessed with her art, and that obsession finally came full circle when I went to view her exhibit at the SFMoMA a couple months ago. I set out to create a self portrait project that continued the spirit of her work. In my opinion, her more powerful images were ones that reminded you of someone you may have met or known personally. I wanted to play with that blurry line that made people question “is this person real or not?”.
Had you ever tried doing something like Universe of One before?
Like most photographers, I’ve definitely shot the occasional self-portrait — but it was never at this grand scale! Luckily I had experience doing wardrobe and styling for Firebird fashion shoots, so the only difference was that I was the subject this time.
Were you always thinking of doing a book?
I started posting the photos to Tumblr, which was like my virtual archive. But the thought of “what next?” started to frustrate me, so it felt like a book was the most natural progression. Taking the leap from screen to printed page is exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.
What have some of the reactions been like to your various characters? Are any more popular than others, particularly?
The reaction has been very mixed. There are people who appreciate it on an artistic level because they’re just aesthetically nice portraits to look at. Then there are people who know what I truly look like and they appreciate it on a deeper level because of the amount of work that went into each portrait. Recently though, some people have been in an uproar over some images they perceived as offensive. But that’s fine with me because I’ve always believed art should provoke … otherwise it’s not worthy of being called art.
Which character was your favorite to create?
Definitely Lindsey, the 80s blonde chick. I actually love being the female characters. There’s something very relaxing about putting on makeup and transforming. Twirling my hair is also fun!
Other than “acting” as each character, the Universe of One photos also seem like they must require a lot of technical work in costuming, makeup, props, and especially lighting.
Each portrait comes with its own unique set of demands. I never like doing anything too predictable, so even if a portrait is pretty straightforward, I try to think of creative ways to up the anté. For my recent Great Gatsby series, I could have easily bought some vintage flapper dresses, but chose to make them out of newspaper instead. Creative decisions like that help to elevate them beyond ordinary. But I must confess that sometimes when I’m sweating off my makeup wearing a fragile outfit that’s tearing at the seams and setting up my hot lights that I regret making those decisions! But in the end, it’s all good as long as it looks good!
Were you surprised at how quickly the book’s Kickstarter was funded?
Indeed! My network of friends definitely came through with their support, which I am so grateful for. It also surprised me when complete strangers backed my Kickstarter, which was awesome!
Any plans to tour with the book or any other special promotion?
Currently, I have a photo exhibit scheduled at Honolulu’s Loading Zone gallery in April, where some of the props and costumes will be on display. After that, I have a few clever ideas for book promotion involving some recognizable celebrities.
Do you think you’ll still continue to make and shoot characters like those in Universe of One?
Definitely! The project was designed as an ever-expanding catalog, and there’s an endless amount of inspiration in the world. The world is full of lovely faces. Lately, I’ve been signing off my emails with “I look forward to being YOU soon.”
— Chris Mohney

I Am Legion: Universe of One

Cheyne Gallarde was born and raised in Hawaii in the 80s, but he claims “my soul feels like it was born in the 50s.” His affection for midcentury Americana is plainly evident in the fashion photography of Gallarde’s studio Firebird Photography. Gallarde’s work combines a love of theater (and the theatrical) with maximalist colors and a kinetic feel. All of these elements came together in his Universe of One project, where Gallarde photographs himself as various characters using all the tools at his command, from makeup and wardrobe to lighting and backdrops. After testing the waters with his Tumblr, Gallarde decided to transform his transformations into a book via Kickstarter, with a modest cash goal that was funded almost immediately. Before that’s even done, he’ll spin it off into a second book, Twinsies, which will get its own Kickstarter very shortly. To demonstrate his skills, Gallarde offered to incarnate our own David Karp, and the man himself graciously accepted. The results and process may be seen above, and our talk with Gallarde appears below.

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March 21, 2013 1,097 notes

Frank Ocean Goes Polaroid for Band of Outsiders

This story was published in partnership with The Daily Beast.

Frank Ocean has officially gone high fashion. He’s the face of Band of Outsiders’s Spring/ Summer 2013 campaign, which was released in a series of Polaroids on Wednesday. In the photographs, which were shot by the brand’s designer, Scott Sternberg, Ocean wears several looks from the collection.

In one picture, Ocean reclines in a tuxedo on a park bench in Downtown Los Angeles; in another he lies listlessly on a grass lawn — in a third, he sits in a poncho on a cement stoop. And Ocean looks good in the clothes: afterall, he wore a yellow Band of Outsiders suit onstage during his performance at the Grammys last month.

Ocean joins a long line of stars that have appeared in campaigns for the brand. The painter Ed Ruscha rode a motorcycle in a campaign last year – and Michelle Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Andrew Garfield and Amy Adams have all made cameos in Sternberg’s now-famous Polaroid campaigns in the past.

The Fall 2012 campaign featured Josh Brolin as a modern cowboy. At the time, Sternberg told us that there would only be two more Polaroid campaigns, and that afterwards he would publish a book of them. “It’s time to close the chapter on the Polaroids,” he told us. “It’s time to evolve.”

— Isabel Wilkinson

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March 7, 2013 2,250 notes

In El Salvador, Gang Truce Can’t Stop the Violence
This story was produced in partnership with Mother Jones.
It began with a trip back home, to a small town in the country’s western valley, to visit his dying grandmother. More than a decade after El Salvador’s bloody civil war had ended, Juan Carlos, a 38-year-old photojournalist, wanted to see how life had changed. Was his country, one of the most violent in the Western Hemisphere, better off after 12 years of war? Sure, there were shiny new roads and malls, but was the country any safer?
Juan Carlos began by documenting infrastructure and families; education and health systems, traveling for long stretches between El Salvador, where he was born, and San Francisco, where he now lives. But it didn’t take long for a new focus to emerge: the gang culture, and accompanying terror, that had seeped into the fabric of everyday Salvadoran life. With an estimated 64,000 identified gang members, El Salvador’s street gangs — or maras, as they’re known to locals — operate like armies. They control traffic stops and neighborhoods. They hold press conferences. They are incestuously intertwined with the police. In other words, they call the shots — as well as fire them. In its peak, in 2009, the gangs were responsible for a homicide rate that reached 14 deaths per day.
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Last March, however, the country’s two most violent gangs — Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 — suddenly declared a truce. In exchange for better prison conditions — and the transfer of gang leaders to a less-restrictive facility — the two armies agreed to halt the violence (for now). Since then, El Salvador’s official homicide rate has plummeted by more than 60 percent; in April, the country of six million saw its first day without a single murder in years. “This is an opening,” a former gang member said at the time, “part of a peace process that we have been pushing for years.”
And yet, one year into the truce, the reality of life in El Salvador isn’t quite so simple. Sure, the killings have abated, but extortion, theft, and drugs are rampant. Reports of missing persons have skyrocketed since the truce began, and mass graves have cropped up all over the countryside. On Tuesday, a prominent social worker, a former gang member who had helped broker the truce, was shot point blank in front of the social service center where he worked. For locals for whom gang warfare has become a routine part of daily life, the reality is clear. “We leave our home and don’t know if we are going to come back,” as one put it.
In partnership with Mother Jones, Tumblr commissioned a series of portraits from Juan Carlos to show what life is like on the ground in his home country. From inside overcrowded prisons to the plight of residents tortured daily by the disappeared, the images are perhaps the most comprehensive view of El Salvador’s gang truce to date. We spoke with the photographer about the project — called Truce In and Out — as well his newly launched blog and website.
You’ve documented the war in Iraq, the earthquake in Haiti, and New Orleans post-Katrina. Why go back to your home?
In my opinion, photography is a responsibility. There are so many stories here that aren’t told by mainstream media: gangs, violence, an area contaminated by lead by a factory that manufactured car batteries. I wanted to document my country and see what the postwar El Salvador was about. Were we better off? What did the war accomplish? Did we become a better country?
I take it the gangs were impossible to ignore in that equation.
It got to a point where it was just everywhere, all around you, so I decided to take a deeper step into documenting the violence. I’m from a small town in the western part of El Salvador, and in 2008, there were about eight killings in a single day — just in that town. In other places, when photographers document crime, they go on patrols with ambulances or police. But I would just walk down the street. I walked into a crime scene where a kid had just been shot in the head, right outside a bakery where I was buying bread. Another time, a cousin told me, “Hey, a guy just got shot in the park.” I went, and there was a bench full of blood. This kind of thing was happening all the time. I would be walking down the street and just boom. So it was all around me.
You were a child during the first years of El Salvador’s civil war. Is the experience of gang life similar?
You know, I was a small child during the war, but you’d wake up to the sound of gunshots. And the bodies. You’d wake up and there would be bodies on the road or the street — somebody killed the night before. It’s the same thing here: you still find bodies on the side of the road, mass graves and disappeared. History is repeating itself — but for very different reasons.
What’s it like being around all that death?
It’s troubling, because you are always in that mode that something could happen to you. And sadly enough, that’s how Salvadorans would wake up, thinking “I could die today,” just like saying, “I’ve got to brush my teeth.” Psychologically, it’s stressful. Because normal things like taking a walk in a park become difficult. The violence is all around you. Salvadorans will tell you, that’s always in their mind. They never know what’s going to happen. That’s the thing — this isn’t just physical violence, this is psychological violence. It’s this feeling that something is going to happen to you, or that you can’t defend yourself, because you’re going to end up dead.
What about the police?
It became popular — gang members even write it on the wall — the saying: “See, Hear, Shut Up.” The culture has become that people don’t speak up, because they feel there’s no protection. You can’t even call the police, because there are informants in the police department. So there’s no trust. There’s nobody to turn to.
But has the truce helped?
The numbers have dropped. But in my opinion, a society that still has five or six murders per day is not a healthy society. Now you find more bodies on the side of the road in plastic bags; you find people just disappeared, or in mass graves. So what’s happening — or, at least, what many people believe is happening — is that the government is manipulating the numbers. They just found two girls who’d been missing since October chopped into pieces. Yeah, we have fewer murders. But you still have extortion, and gang leaders — every time they have a press conference — can’t give a straight answer about when they’re going to stop. The crime may be down, but the fear is still there.
It’s crazy to hear you say that gangs hold press conferences. How much power do gangs have?
They have more power than the authorities. If you want to have a business, you pay them. They infiltrate the police: gang members become policemen, and policemen become gang members. They have the power to stop people from doing the simplest things — like going to work — to make demands on the government. Pretty much they’re in charge.
What do you think it would take solve the problem?
People say, you know, just burn down the prisons — because that’s where all the gang leaders are housed. But that is not the answer. It’s more complicated. We’ve got to educate both sides. We’ve got to focus on prevention. The problem will never just go away. It’s like saying, “Let’s get rid of gangs in LA.” We’re not going to do that. But we can bring the numbers down. We can focus on prevention, and outreach to the new generations. Because all these young generations are growing up with all this violence, and what’s going to happen? Boom, they’re going to fall into that. That happens in any place where this is a problem, and it’s no different here.
— Photos by Juan Carlos; text by Jessica Bennett

In El Salvador, Gang Truce Can’t Stop the Violence

This story was produced in partnership with Mother Jones.

It began with a trip back home, to a small town in the country’s western valley, to visit his dying grandmother. More than a decade after El Salvador’s bloody civil war had ended, Juan Carlos, a 38-year-old photojournalist, wanted to see how life had changed. Was his country, one of the most violent in the Western Hemisphere, better off after 12 years of war? Sure, there were shiny new roads and malls, but was the country any safer?

Juan Carlos began by documenting infrastructure and families; education and health systems, traveling for long stretches between El Salvador, where he was born, and San Francisco, where he now lives. But it didn’t take long for a new focus to emerge: the gang culture, and accompanying terror, that had seeped into the fabric of everyday Salvadoran life. With an estimated 64,000 identified gang members, El Salvador’s street gangs — or maras, as they’re known to locals — operate like armies. They control traffic stops and neighborhoods. They hold press conferences. They are incestuously intertwined with the police. In other words, they call the shots — as well as fire them. In its peak, in 2009, the gangs were responsible for a homicide rate that reached 14 deaths per day.

View post 2,250 notes

January 11, 2013 2,820 notes

The Creators of NYC: CollegeHumor’s Vincent Peone
Josh Wool spent a decade as an executive chef, opening restaurants across the south. But all that changed in 2010, when the carpal tunnel in his hands meant he could no longer work. To keep from going stir crazy, he picked up a camera and found his next calling. Two years, thousands of portraits, and a move to New York later, Wool is documenting the people who inspire him on a daily basis. Welcome to Creators of NYC.
Vincent Peone
For the last seven years, director and cinematographer Vincent Peone has been making comedy shorts and feature films. He also works for CollegeHumor. I met with Vincent in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to talk about his work and experiences.
How’d you get involved with the CollegeHumor crew?
I was a student at the School of Visual Arts studying cinematography when my old sketch group, DutchWest, got recognized by CollegeHumor. We had been producing these shorts (some not so short) and putting them up on our website before YouTube became a thing. CollegeHumor was making the jump from strictly aggregated content to original content. They first hired Sam Reich to head up the department, and soon after, myself and my cohort, Josh Ruben, to shoot/direct the originals. Those roles have evolved slightly, but the biggest change has been that we have all developed a good amount of smile wrinkles.

What does a typical day for for you entail?
When it isn’t shooting, it’s editing a project, or planning a new one — storyboarding, pre-production, casting, color-correction, writing (when there’s time). It’s all part of the everyday. This is the kind of field you have no choice but to devote your life to. That’s not to say you can’t find time to enjoy yourself, but I think a big piece of being a filmmaker is that you’re resigned to the idea that it’s filmmaking you enjoy most.
How has living in New York affected your work?
New York, like anywhere, is what you make of it. For some, it’s just a cold place with a lot of bad attitudes. Historically it represents a shore for the weary in search of a place to practice beliefs freely, so its got that cultural hub aspect to it. Ostensibly I think I’ve stayed in New York because it keeps me closer to Europe. Nothing clears my head like a trip to a cold, foreign city. Cue Midnight In Paris soundtrack.
Do you think social media hurts or helps the film industry?
While aspects of my work trace back to the birth of cinema, my role specifically didn’t really exist until about 10 years ago. The idea of creating a viral spectacle that can reach millions of people in every corner of the planet is totally unique to this century. People are carving out new and exciting ways to get their stories told. Because of the way the internet works, the cream rises to the top, essentially putting the power of choice directly into the hands of users. You’d be crazy if you thought Hollywood wasn’t taking note.
Do you like cinematography or directing more?
I find directing to be the most satisfying way to feel like you’ve left your impression on a piece. You form an intimate relationship with a script, your cast, and crew that is unmatched by any other role on a set. As far as shooting is concerned, I find myself wanting to shoot something when a director comes at me with great enthusiasm. It becomes contagious. Or if I feel like I can learn something from the experience. It’s important never to get caught up in thinking there is nowhere to grow.
— Photos and text by Josh Wool

The Creators of NYC: CollegeHumor’s Vincent Peone

Josh Wool spent a decade as an executive chef, opening restaurants across the south. But all that changed in 2010, when the carpal tunnel in his hands meant he could no longer work. To keep from going stir crazy, he picked up a camera and found his next calling. Two years, thousands of portraits, and a move to New York later, Wool is documenting the people who inspire him on a daily basis. Welcome to Creators of NYC.

Vincent Peone

For the last seven years, director and cinematographer Vincent Peone has been making comedy shorts and feature films. He also works for CollegeHumor. I met with Vincent in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to talk about his work and experiences.

How’d you get involved with the CollegeHumor crew?

I was a student at the School of Visual Arts studying cinematography when my old sketch group, DutchWest, got recognized by CollegeHumor. We had been producing these shorts (some not so short) and putting them up on our website before YouTube became a thing. CollegeHumor was making the jump from strictly aggregated content to original content. They first hired Sam Reich to head up the department, and soon after, myself and my cohort, Josh Ruben, to shoot/direct the originals. Those roles have evolved slightly, but the biggest change has been that we have all developed a good amount of smile wrinkles.

View post 2,820 notes

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Posts tagged with portrait

The Creators of Chicago: Artist Luke Pelletier

Sevens Clash on Street Life in Jamaica

I Am Legion: Universe of One

Frank Ocean Goes Polaroid for Band of Outsiders

In El Salvador, Gang Truce Can’t Stop the Violence

The Creators of NYC: CollegeHumor’s Vincent Peone

Vincent Peone

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