Today’s Artists

since in the recent months i become more and more passionate about flower photography, i’ve tried to have a look around the real artists and see their view on the topic. that’s how i found the work of Karl Blossfeldt. as in my previous post, i will give you a few intros in the work of an artist who is not necessarly “today’s” artist, but who, in my opinion, brings a very interesting modern approach in the art of flower photography.

Influenced by the 19th century German tradition of natural philosophy, Karl Blossfeldt believed that “the plant must be valued as a totally artistic and architectural structure.” Combining training as a craftsman with an academic art education, Blossfeldt made thousands of enlargements of details of plant forms in an attempt to reveal the fundamental structures of the natural world and their relation to artistic form. Over a period of 30 years, he photographed leaves, seed pods, stems, and other plant parts, frontally or from above, against neutral white or grey backgrounds in weak daylight, much as though he were photographing architectural details. His black-and-white, sharp-focus descriptions appear semi-abstract to the viewer unfamiliar with his subjects, despite his avowed intentions. Blossfeldt’s book of 96 enlargements of plant forms, Urformen der Kunst (Archetypes of Art [1928]), became a landmark of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), as did his Wundergarten der Natur (Magic Garden of Nature [19321).

(from masters of photography)

more information and more works of Karl Blossfeldt you can find at Masters of Photography and on the Karl Blossfeldt Archive.

Etay Waisman, Taeggi Andrea, Timothee Campanella, Joao Hasselberg (Inner Energy)

A new post from “Today’s Artist” series. This time, “Inner Energy”, the winners of the 3rd place in the Bucharest Jazz Competition 2007. More about the band at their site www.innerenergymusic.com. And now the interview :).

Today’s Artists: First of all I would like to congratulate you onwinning the 3rd place in the Bucharest Jazz Competition 2007. There were more than 30 bands from all over the world, so I think it is a pretty important achievement. How was the competition for you as an experience, with pluses and minuses?

Andrea Taeggi: Well, this was my first competition ever, so I have to say that it was really exciting… Besides, it was the first time that I had been in Bucharest in my life. Honestly, if you had asked me some months ago if we have had any chances even to be admitted to this competition, I would answer: no way! I’m far from being pessimistic, but it seemed to be unreal to be chosen among jazz bands from all over the world! Therefore, winning the 3rd place in the first competition of my life really means something and – like every first experience – I’ll never forget it.

Today’s Artists: Perhaps many people, including me, were expecting you to win the first prize despite the fact that “Dan Cohen Trio” had a very good performance in the competition. Would you come back for the first prize next year?

Andrea Taeggi: First of all thanks for your support and for trusting Inner Energy. I think that it’s always a very difficult task if you are a member of a jury and you have to make a choice, as most of the bands played really good and had something interesting, noticeable. In my opinion, taking part into a competition means mainly meeting new people, new cultures and new kind of players; of course you are doing your best and playing 100% becuase you have the ambition or the desire to succeed. Nevertheless, music is not sports and – as far as I’m concerned – my deepest satisfaction was that I knew that we played with creativity, strength and intensity, as many people told us, too. The feedbacks which come from the audience or from other musicians (or from your band itself) are the most relevant to me, even if I still keep my clear impression about how we played. I don’t want to be banal, but what I bring home is the emotions on stage; certainly, to win a prize is wonderful but my motivation to improve as a musician comes from the good vibes (or sometimes even bad…) you shared on the stage with your band and through the audience which is responding on you. I don’t know yet whether we’ll subscribe again for the Bucharest Jazz Completion 2008 or not; what I can say is that we really had great times there, meeting new people, playing on different stages and walking for the first times in our lives in Bucharest. It was awesome!!

Today’s Artists: And now I would like to find more about yourselves and about “Inner Energy”. I was reviewing yesterday your biographies from www.innerenergymusic.com and you all started to play at early ages, perhaps except João who started a little later at the age of fifteen. My question is why jazz and not something else, what brought you to jazz?

Andrea Taeggi: I’ve often wondered why I eventually ended up playing jazz. In my case the story is rather complicated, since I have experienced different genders and my musical roots are really far from jazz…when I was 15 I was into punk music and also listened to bands like Pearl Jam, Alice in chains, Nirvana, Rancid, Faith no more and many others. Then, one year later I bought a synthesizer and started to play with an heavy metal band, influenced by keyboardists such as Kevin Moore and Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) and by other progressive-metal bands. In the same period I was studying in the music school of Bergamo (my hometown in Italy) which was directed by a jazz pianist and where the best jazz players of Bergamo and Milan were teaching. I think that finding out who you really are and what your business will be in your life is also a matter of possibilities and coincidences: in my case I had the chance to listen to jazz musicians everyday, teaching or performing in the school. I had no idea that jazz would be my future, but being exposed to something, subtly changed me, that’s how I can explain why I eventually chose jazz music. Furthermore, I’m sure that the influence of my father (who had a classical-piano education and used to play blues) is also important, as I listened to him playing for my whole childhood. I think that the reason why one becomes a certain person is always a combination of the familiar environment you grew up in, your specify attitudes as an unique human being and all the experiences that you have had. Nowadays I’m sure that music will be my future (and is my present); I really had to choose it with strength, because two years ago I was pretty sure that I would be a psychologist, as I studied this subject at the University and got the first-level degree…Well, as I have already said, the story of how I ended up being a jazz musician is not straight at all…

João Hasselberg: Well. actually besides I started playing electric bass at 15 and acustic at 20, I started my musical education since I was born. My parents allways listen to nice brazilian music (ivan lins, caetano veloso, joão gilberto, milton nascimento, hermeto bascoal, baden powell, jobim, chico buarque, touquinho, vinicios de moraes) and of course the beatles, genesis, ennio morricone, Miles, Coltrane, Shorter, Parker and Mingus. Jazz was just a matter of taste and opportunity…it is some kind of freeway to our inner beeing, and that really atracts me. Till now everything runs like a snow ball: bigger and faster every second.

Etay Waisman: I found my way to jazz through my father who was allways a big fan of this music. I come from a musical family (my mom and dad are piano teachers) so musical education was a thing that me and my brothers allways had. Since i was a small child i was listening to jazz because my father was playing records of john coltrane , chick corea, miles davis, herbie hancock in the house, so i just kind of grew up with this music. At that time my big brother was playing the sax also (which later on influenced my desition of playing the saxophone)… so eventually it just came natuarly to me to play jazz.

Timothee Campanella: Even if I started to play at an early age, I discovered Jazz when I was around 14 years old. First I didn’t listen to it so much, it just came to me cause of my drums teacher, with who I was studying a lot of different styles including swing. And then I started to play in little combo’s in school and in a big band, the JMSU big band with players coming from some of the universities around Nice (France). But at that time I didn’t really dig it, I was a lot more into funk and fusion stuff, and then gradually I liked it more and more, finding out that jazz eventually was the basis of the things I was listening to. Then I started to take jazz drums lessons, and from that time, I don’t know why but I really loved it, and I was listening as much as I could to the jazz records.

Today’s Artists: A classic question now, what artists influenced you the most in your work related to jazz or music in general? This questions is about each of you and not necessarily about “Inner Energy” as a band.

Andrea Taeggi: Well, as I always say, one of the main reasons why I started making music was because I got into the music of Keith Jarrett; I think that behind every musicians’ commitment there’s an immense passion and a continuous search/need for emotions. If you’re sincere, the only reason to make music deals with the joy of expressing yourself, not with making big money or becoming a star: if one can understand this – even in an early age – he can consider himself as a privileged. Nowadays, to be a jazz musician is one of those extremely rare jobs where – still – you can truly relate to your colleagues (even if you don’t know their names because you’ve just met them…), to the audience and to yourself. Coming back to the question, I’d say that lots of artists influence me daily so I think it’s pointless to draw a list of names right now…I’m also lucky to have a teacher in Amsterdam whose music I adore; it’s really important for me to have some kind of guidelines, point of reference, above all when you’re always exposed to new fascinating music (as in the Conservatory happens) and you could lose easily which is your point in making music and which musical direction should be followed or not. To sum up, I think that your Idols + the musicians you regularly (or not) play with + (sometimes) teachers can be good influences in your process of growth.

João Hasselberg: I think my MAIN influences are Satie, Beatles, Coltrane, John Patitucci, keith Jarret, Ornette Colman, Cold play and Radio Head. All of them have something specific to teach me, and something that I really Try to develop in my playing and Listening. Satie for the inventiveness, Beatles for their sens of humor within music, John Coltrane for his control while playing (and even more), John Patitucci for his lyricism, Keith Jarret for his honesty while playing, Ornette Colman for his Creativeness, courage, and freedom, Coldplay for their simplyness/efectiveness, Radio Head for their ability to compose Universaly achieved music.

Etay Waisman: well , influence is a thing that changes on a daily basis but i can say that my heroes are the great classic jazz musicians including Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and the great late Bob Berg and the list goes on and on…

Timothee Campanella: What influenced me first was I think, not jazz but rock music, so my mother would put some Genesis records and I would play along it when I was like 4 years old, so I guess it’s my first influence and then all the music my parents would play at home: gospel, rhythm ’n ’blues, pop, funk. Then later, I would be really influenced by fusion drummers like Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl, Dennis Chambers, Steve Gadd. Later I would listen also to American gospel drummers, mostly Chris Dave (who’s playing also with Meshell N’dgeocello) and drummers like David Garibaldi by the music of Tower Of Power and Jeff Porcaro by the music of Toto…And then when I really started listening to jazz, I was influenced by the music of Chick Corea, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, etc …and more directly by their drummers, the first would be Tony Williams, and after Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Andre Ceccarelli, Bill Stewart, and lately Ari Hoenig.

Today’s Artists: As far as I know, “Inner Energy” is a new project for you. Tell me more about it, who had the idea, what is the motivation behind it and why “Inner Energy”?

Andrea Taeggi: Exactly, Inner Energy is a relatively new project, born in November 2006, a couple of months after we met in the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. From the beginning of the academic year I spent a lot of time hanging out with Timothee (drummer) and we noticed that we shared lot of similar views, passions and interests, both musically either personally. This affinity gave us the will to start dreaming about a band made of musicians in the school that the both of us liked. So we contacted Joao (double bass) and Etay (saxophone) right afterwards, and they agreed…what I learnt is that music cannot be an individualistic realm, even if it’s plenty of big stars and narcissistic personalities; what I mean is that only sharing projects with someone you count on gives you the motivation to continue. To me, it was really cool to meet these simple and nice guys, serious musicians and reliable persons to work with. About the name of the band…well…even if at the moment I don’t like it so much (it sounds too new age…) I still agree with the original meaning of those words, i.e. some kind of power, or call it soul, that comes from the deepest part of you. The message behind the name is trying to play onto the audience, as if they were strings that can make resonance, transferring to them our most sincere and intense part of us. In other words, creating a silent communication medium which is about real-time emotions.

Today’s Artists: I know that now you all are studying at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, but you all come from different countries. How is this influencing your music, coming from different cultural backgrounds and how this reflects on “Inner Energy”?

Andrea Taeggi: I think it is not a coincidence if people gather; I mean that for some invisible reasons you can relate to some people with pleasure and spontaneity and not to some others . That’s why I think that in a way the four of us chose each others. It’s a matter of skin-sensitivity (I don’t know if you can say it in English…), chemical affinity, call it whatever… All of us come from warm countries, with sea sides and Mediterranean landscapes; I think that music is influenced by the place you were born in…for example we give lot of importance to melodic aspects and making our instruments sing, unlike other countries where others parameters are more important, so that could be a common point in our music. Besides, the four of us have lots of recordings at home in common and similar musical backgrounds, that of course make it easier when you have to start to play together.

João Hasselberg: Its quite interesting to see how diferent the jazz you listen is, from country to country. In Portugal I listen more to “the new main stream” oriented type of jazz. Probably influenced by the Spanish Label Fresh Sound. More Like “American” oriented jazz than “European ECM”. (I really don’t want to Split Jazz in two terms and continents!!) and this scenario changes while you move to Italy or France. With this I meant that, even inside jazz, if you move to one country to another, all the panorama of listening will change…some kind of fashion phenomena. Brazilian music is also (because of obvious language purposes, but not only) avery strong influence on my music background. I think Inner Energy can work like a puzzle. If every one of us can give the best, or the most suitable characteristics of our diferent cultures, it will work as a perfect and freshly new music…I hope!

Etay Waisman: At first you can notice it on the compesitions , i mean the way that we write, our music is changing all the time we dont have a certain style of playing because each one of us hears the music diffrently which to my opinion is a blessing because it keeps the music fresh, we are all diffrent players but we are trying to glow our self together in order to make it sound like one band… the music is risky and chalenging but that the essence of “Inner Energy”…

Timothee Campanella: First, when I started this group I didn’t think about it, and after a while I noticed some differences for example in the sound and the ‘’taste’’ of the compositions brought by Andrea and Etay, and also in our approach of the music outside the stage, and I found out that in each countries, you have amazing things and musicians to listen to and if I would stay in my country maybe I would never hear that stuff. So eventually what it’s interesting is that we are of course influenced by the American jazz scene but also by the scene of our country and this, according to my opinion, can make a band sound really rich and original.

Today’s Artists: What will be your future plans?

Andrea Taeggi: I don’t even know what I will do next month…I can only say that I still want to enjoy playing with those guys as far as we’ll live in the same country..then only time will tell…

Today’s Artists: Any final words for us?

Thanks for your surprising enthusiasm and congratulations for the wonderful and refined new website. I hope we’ll keep in touch in the next future.

I am back with a new post from the “Today’s Artists” series. My choice this time: Jean-Sébastien Monzani a Swiss/French nationality artist, born on Apr 9th 1975.

“Jean-Sébastien Monzani is a self-taught photographer. He started to learn photography in 2000 while doing his PhD in Computer Graphics (EPFL, Lausanne) and quickly focused on portraits. His images are often constructed as photo-series - something between fashion photography and movie storyboards. Since 2002, all of his works are digital photos. He enjoys keeping his photo sessions as simple and friendly as possible and focuses on adjusting the colors and mood in the digital darkroom. Conveying an atmosphere is one of the most important factors in his work.” (from here)

Next, Mr. Monzani kindly accepted to answer me a few questions about him and his work:

Inspiration plays a key part in every artist’s work, what inspires you to create the most?

I’m mainly inspired by movies, paintings, and other photographers. Some books can also inspire me, I’m thinking for instance of Haruki Murakami’s novels.

Does your technical background (I know about your work in designing models to control virtual autonomous humans) relates in any way with your artistic work?

Not really. I have two separated works: I’m both teaching Computer Science in the University and working as a freelance graphic designer. My PhD in Computer Graphics rooted in my interest in art and graphics in general but it was more part of the lab’s research than my own personal interests.

I know you are also writing and performing plays on the theatre stage, please tell me a few words about theatre as a different way of expression than photography.

Theatre is about emotions, and pretending you’re someone else. What I like when watching a play is both emotions and the way theatre and its conventions can be used to create visual elements that have no equivalents elsewhere. It’s not about building a visual universe and a story like in movies, but more using different ways of expressions.

If you would have to chose two of your photos, one to which you care the most and one which best represents you as an artist, which photos would you chose?

That’s a tough question This spontaneous photo is one of my favorites:

Atlantyopia, on the other hand, shows how I like to manipulate my photos to create a mood and storyline, and how much I care about colors and composition:

Please tell me two name of artists that influenced you the most in your work over the years.

I love the enigmatic work of Gregory Crewdson and I would really like to have such a lot of equipment as he does.
I really enjoy some paintings of Edward Hopper, they have a nice tension, dramatic sense and wonderful colors.

What will be your future plans?

I am going to stop teaching at the university and hope to work fulltime as a freelance graphic designer.

Any final words for us?

Thank you for your time, I hope that you will enjoy visiting my gallery: pictures speak for themselves

Thank you too Mr. Monzani for this interview!

Indeed, pictures speak for themselves, so visit these two sites with very beautiful photos and illustrations by Jean-Sébastien Monzani: http://www.jsmonzani.com/ and http://www.simplemoment.com/.

iata ca la insistentele publicului am ajuns “special guest star” apreciez aceasta ocazie si sper sa gasiti interesant ce va propun.

azi m-am oprit asupra lui Hokusai, poate cel mai cunoscut artist japonez. desi a trait in secolele 18-19, eu il consider “today’s artist” pentru perspectiva moderna din lucrarile sale, el fiind unul dintre cei mai importanti reprezentati ai stilului Ukiyo-e (”pictures of the floating world”), care contine o serie foarte frumoasa de picturi erotice, reprezentand viata curtezanelor si a gheiselor. de altfel, el a fost o puternica influenta pentru pictorii impresionisti. de asemenea, el este autorul celebrei serii “36 de perspective asupra muntelui Fuji”. dintre cele 36, cea mai cunoscuta este “marele val de la Kanagawa”, pe care l-am si ales pentru postul de azi:

cateva link-uri interesante ar fi prezentarea lui andreas, mica colectie a lui Jim Breen, colectia celor “36 de perspective asupra muntelui Fuji” si o biografie de pe wikipedia.

Incepand de astazi o sa am o noua rubrica pe blog “Today’s Artists” :D. Nu stiu cat timp o sa am ca sa devina si o rubrica constanta, dar o sa incerc. Momentan scopul rubricii nu este acela al unei prezentari enciclopedice, ci doar al starnirii interesului sau cel putin a curiozitatii asupra respectivului artist. In acest scop nu o sa prezint per post decat o lucrare sau doua a caror alegere este strict subiectiva si cateva linkuri pe care le consider utile.

Daca cineva doreste, eu o sa astept cu interes orice initiativa de a contribui la aceasta rubrica :).

Pentru azi a fost o decizie dificila, mai ales ca e primul post din aceasta serie, dar m-am oprit pana la urma la Rafał Olbiński.

Nu sunt neaparat cele mai semificative lucrari ale lui Olbinski, dar sunt dintre cele care m-au determinat sa il aleg pentru postul de azi. Si linkurile despre care vorbeam mai sus: o scurta biografie si doua galerii interesante de imagini aici si aici.