MONOBLOG: 2012

Thursday, 20 December 2012

WINTER EDITION BEGINS HERE - !

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas..?
CLICK HERE to view the Winter 2012 Special

- or continue scrolling down to see the regular edition...

PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF MONOBLOG

SCROLL DOWN to see OCTOBER'S HALLOWEEN EDITION, and then CLICK on 'OLDER POSTS' to go further back >>

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

...It's been a while. Thanks for all the kind comments about the Summer Edition.

Apart from a few snaps from my own archives, there hasn't been much photography featured in MONOBLOG, until now. I usually keep an open mind about an issue's contents, and don't nail down a lineup until the last minute, but I've found the blog has an uncanny knack of compiling itself, and the contributors you see here presented themselves within days of each other, as if I'm merely a conduit of some unseen hand. Spooky.

Here in the UK, the clocks have changed and now the nights are longer, so before we head into the depths of winter, please enjoy this 'Halloween' edition of MONOBLOG.

- Alexi K, October, 2012

Alien Masks, copyright Chris Hollier, 2012

CHRIS HOLLIER - TRANSYLVANIA

This is a preview of sorts, as there will be more of Chris's work in December's MONOBLOG ABSTRACT SPECIAL ( to be published just before Christmas ). However, we couldn't resist using these spooky pictures for the Halloween edition. Chris is a highly in-demand television lighting cameraman, and as such, his assignments take him all over the world. England played Romania recently, in the build-up to the next World Cup, and during down-time Chris took these pictures on his iPhone while exploring the local neighbourhood. Yes, this scene - reminiscent of an FW Murnau silent movie - really is Transylvania..!

Chris Hollier's Website

FEDERICO BEBBER - SMOKE & MIRRORS

MONOBLOG: Federico, your work reminds me of a mixture of the Swiss surrealist HR Giger, the American author HP Lovecraft, and the photographer JK Potter. Are any of them influences?

I'm in love with Giger, he's one of my all time favourites. And I'm inspired by everything that others call 'b-movies', especially ones from the Italian horror director, Lucio Fulci.

What equipment do you use to get these amazing effects?

There's no special trick, any good digital SLR - yes guys, the power is in your soul, not in your tools - and photo manipulation software such as Photoshop can do the job.

What project are you working on at the moment?

I'm working on new things, bigger images, and more attention to detail than ever, as well as animated images.

I'm also trying to organize some kind of event mixing art and music, hopefully I'll find enough people supporting this. Stay tuned!

All photos, copyright Federico Bebber, 2012

http://www.eiko.biz

http://www.behance.net/bebber

Click on 'Older Posts' for a sneak preview of the Christmas 2012 Edition, and to see previous MONOBLOGS >>

MIXALIS KALAITZAKIS - 'XRISTINA & NATALIA'

Greek photographer Mixalis Kalaitzakis' dramatic shots are from an art performance / demonstration by expressionist artist and fellow Greek, Xristina Foitou. The event took place during the XV Biennale de la Mediterranée in Thessaloniki, Greece, in October & November 2011.

Xristina's technique is to transcribe the movement of her model, Natalia, while she is in motion, rather than from a still pose over several hours. The moving body also leaves traces on the paper, which the artist incorporates into the finished piece.

Mixalis' photographs not only capture the unique intimacy between the artist and model, they collapse the distance between the viewer and the 'performers'. The result is that the wild, ritualistic nature of the scene resembles that of an exorcism, an analogy that is perhaps highly appropriate for the creation of art.

MONOBLOG is proud to present Mixalis' series Xristina & Natalia for this edition.

All photos, copyright Mixalis Kalaitzakis, 2011

Mixalis 'Michael' Kalaitzakis was born in Chania, Crete. He studied physics at the University of Crete ( Heraklion ), and has completed postgraduate studies ( in Adult Education at the Open University ) on “photography in education”. He has taught at the University of Crete's Photography Group ( in Heraklion ), and since 2005, teaches voluntarily in Fotoskiasi, the University's group based in Chania. From 2010 he has been organizing workshops on the techniques, aesthetics and history of photography, and his articles have been featured in the Chaniotika Nea newspaper's Diadromes supplement.

Mixalis has participated in 26 group and 4 solo exhibitions, and has been published in the Greek press ( magazines ‘Photographer’, ‘Photonet’, ‘Stigmes’, etc. ).

His work is also in private collections.

http://mixaliskalaitzakis.com/

Fotoskiasi Group

SUMMER 2012 EDITION

Thursday, 5 July 2012

EMILA SIRAKOVA - FEMALE PRIMITIVE

Above and Below: Nell'ombra mia dormiva il tempo, 2011, 120 x 80cm, pastel on oiled paper.

Below: Noli me tangere, 2011, 120x80cm, pastel on layers of oiled paper.

Below: Tree Performance, at Muzeo della Scienza e della Tecnica Leonardo DaVinci.

In Emila’s words:

The artist searches the body, the ego projected, the vision of being and feeling, through drawings, paintings, and performance. It is a body yearning to free itself through difficult and twisting poses. Moments where we curl up and think, and regret, and learn to forget or dream. These are the moments where we lose the contact with the flesh and we become spirit: Layers of feelings, stains and indefinite colours or non-colours.

The artist uses several layers in among paper and drawings. As in a stream of consciousness or memory, impressions are sometimes both blurred and clear simultaneously.

The past, as an ideal place - a neverland - which holds fragments of materiality, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes whispered, always telling stories about dreaming and living bodies:

Feminine figures that project the unconscious, female primitive instinct of the artist herself.