World famous fashion photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh, opens the exhibition “Pretty Much Everything 2015” at Fotografiska in Stockholm today. Tonight visitors might hear the couple Inez & Vindooh telling their own story about their images and their work. The exhibition is. however, open through 27 September.
It’s hard to read an international fashion magazine these days without seeing an image created by the Dutch couple Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. Their work is an exciting blend of art, fashion and advertising. At Fotografiska in Stockolm you may experience some of their iconic portraits, fashion photographs, collages and sculptures.
In more than two decades the couple has challenged and inspired the fashion photography world by their somewhat reckless photographic language. It always seems to be a low-spoken twist in their apparently simple images. Many of their fashion photographs have an ironic sprinkling, an humorous whim or a life-loving expression which differs from traditional posing.
Pop into a magazine store, and you’ll find their photos I fashion bibles like Vogue, V Magazine, W Magazine, Flair, Porter, Bonbon and others, promoting today’s world fashion leaders.
In this summer’s T Magazine, The NY Times Style Magazine, Icelandic artist Bjork takes the cover story on women’s fashion spring 2015 edition, lensed by Inez & Vinoodh.
The photographers work hard on small details and symbols which mirror the models’ personality, like a body form, accessories or a pattern. They unwind the borders between the traditional male and female and focus on the human being, rather than the origin or sex.
The couple has issued a photography book, “Pretty Much Everything”, made a perfume and a jewelry line. The music video they directed for Lady Gaga’s Applause has cumulated almost 211 million plays on You Tube.
Inez and Vindooh has worked with fashion labels like Dior, Calvin Klein, YSL and Louis Vuitton. They have portrayed stars like Bjork, Lady Gaga and Clint Eastwood, all thoroughly idea based on the person’s personality or the label’s style. This often results in something the couple has named Sculptographs, a blend of photography and sculpture in cooperation with Eugene van Lamsweerde.
Inez and Vinoodh live and work in New York. They are represented by Gagosian Gallery, and their exhibition in Stockholm is their first in the Nordic region. Visitors may see more than 100 images, showcasing a universe of images.
Several of their fashion and music videos will also be shown at the exhibition.
Inez and Vinoodh met as students at Art Academy in Amsterdam and their formal cooperation began early in the 1990s. Lamsweerde was at that time inspired by Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, not least because her mom bought home the French Vogue from her workplace in Paris. Vinoodh Matadin was inspored by Ed van der Elsken and Richard Avedon.
The Dutch couple, who also are married, have been darlings of the fashion world for much of their two decades career. Now they are crossing over into a cultural mainstream. Their goal is to become a lifestyle brand.
The exhibition is a cooperation between Inez and Vinoodh, Gagosian Gallery and Fotografiska, Stockholm.
Artist Talk in Stockholm , written by Tor Kjolberg