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Very proud to be part of this new JB Institute project!

The PHOTOBOOK RELEASE will be held at Friends with Books: Art Book Fair Berlin – 12. + 13. December 2015

Here is a little blurb of info about it:

JB. Institute Berlin presents JB. Paper #06: "I HEARD YOU LOOKING"

We asked six artists to contribute their explorations in public spaces — inhabited, shared, hidden, organized or unknown territories. Featuring Jonathan Peters (Berlin), Stromer Kid (Berlin), Benjamin Deberdt (Paris), Jenne Grabowski (Berlin), Christian Nilsen (Berlin) & Jai Tanju (San Jose)

60 pages, 17 x 23 cm, full color Release on Friends With Books – Art Book Fair, 12. + 13. December 2015 at Hamburger Bahnhof- Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin. Opening: Friday 11 Dec, 6pm.

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A quick recap from the Paris Launch for the France Issue of Korean magazine The Quiet Leaf I was lucky to have a little portfolio in… Long story short is I had shot two color films two days before with Leo Valls and Lui Araki, and managed, via Atelier Publimod, to get two great handmade prints done in time for this…

Shot and cut by man of many talents, Olivier “Tavu” Ente.

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The craft…

Just a little reminder that all my photos showing in Sydney this Thursday, for the Deeds Not Words 2 group show, are actual handmade analog prints, done by the great people at Atelier Publimod. I have been trusting them with my developing and printing for about twenty years, I think, and they are just good people doing an amazing work, with love…

If you are in Paris, and need some film photography expertise, this is the place to go, trust me…

Shown here is another great influence of mine, Ari Marcopoulos, shot in 2011, just by Saturdays, the SOHO based surfshop. I was lucky to bump into Ari during the period he was documenting the New York skateboard scene at the end of the 90's, and his constant spark and wit have always been a good quick in the butt for me.

Catching him up flaunting his rare and beloved Ricoh GR 21 was a must!

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She street…

Speaking of the Deeds, Not Words theme and cast, let me share these two frames of Cheryl Dunn, shot, I believe, in 2000, in front of the infamous Lower East Side bar extraordinaire, Max Fish. She was delivering her prints to a group show organized by painter, skater, and common friend, David Aron.

Memories get hazy, sometimes, so I should look for the flyer from that show to narrow it down. I am sure I have it somewhere in a box. Oh, the boxes…

But, getting back to Cheryl, she has always been an inspiration in the way she depicts life as it is, neither looking for the easy on the eye pretty nor the ugly for the sake of shocking. Just the story. At least, this is how I see it.

She recently came out with an audio-visual ode to her fellow street photographers, Everybody Sreet. And you should definitely give it a go.

See you out there, Cheryl. And thanks again.

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Deeds, not words…

It is such a great theme / title for a photographic exhibition, they had to do it twice! Don't miss it, Sydney locals!

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Deeds, Not Words A group photography exhibition about people doing shit, not talking shit. There are two kinds of people in the world, the do'ers and the gonna do'ers.  Benjamin Deberdt, Cheryl Dunn, Nolan Hall, Atiba Jefferson, Jeff Kutter, Thomas Robinson, Chris Shonting, Ed Templeton, Garry Trinh, Clint Woodside and Tobin Yelland.  Opening Thursday, January 29th continues until February 7th.  --- M.M.P.G Level 1, 499 Crown St Surry Hills (above Title Store) Sydney.

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So proud to be included in that crew…

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From Heading South to Far East

So, it seems that the video below was triggered by a postcard I sent to Takahiro Morita, a while ago, featuring this photo…

This one is from a couple years ago, at the end of a great week-end spent in Poitiers, for the Skate This Art group show / art and music event, held by local creative force Jonathan Alix back then… Good times, for sure, and a lot of great people were met, including Margeaux, here, or "Go-Mar" as she would most likely want to be called…

It is quite funny to write about how skateboarders are (while wishing they were) strange characters living an eccentric and free life, to finally meet the epitome of all that, only as a teenage girl that could most likely spit further than you or I. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Here she is, after a week-end of partying like it was 1999 all over again, skating, harvesting flea-markets, scaring the hell out of young children, discussing the fine art of zine making and more, about to start her trek back home. Needless to say the adults amongst us heading another direction were scared shitless for her, until she finally let us know she was home and safe.

Long live the weirdos in skateboarding.

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A message from Takahiro Morita…

Ignited by the card I sent him a while back, made from a photo I shot a couple yeard ago, in Poitiers. One of those fascinating friendships skateboarding can help create and nurture.

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ALL HAIL THE MATTSON 2!

So, if you are still trying to recover from that "U2 incident", when you woke up a recent morning with their newest album forced on your electronic devices, you're in luck: The Mattson 2 just released a new EP!

Here are two pictures snapped on a very special night on Mexican shores, back in 2007, when I got the chance to see and hear them do their thing for the first time… Good times, good times!

So, put your best mod suit on, and go shopping for the best modern jazz music you could ask for, at your local music store (I know, I know), or get it directly from the good people at Um Yeah Arts. And they might not have the same connections as Bono, but "Agar" is available on iTunes, also… Oh, and if you think you're not a "Jazz person", just relax and blast this…

You'll see.

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Craftsmanship

If you are vaguely interested in these two great occupations that are skateboarding and photography, the name Brian Gaberman must be familiar… Well, we just published a little interview with one of the sharpest eye to ever document skateboarding and skateboarders…

You can read it over here.

The portraits illustrating the piece were shot on a cold dark Berlin day, this past Janurary… Once again T-Max 3200 came through, via a fine piece of 90's technology, the Ricoh GR-1.

It was great meeting Brian again, after all those years… And thank him for the inspiration!

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Safari life

The good people at Safari clothing asked me to contribute to their ten year anniversary book, celebrating the Swiss clothing brand started by the Kampfen brothers and friends…

Since I haven't documented much of the Switzerland skateboarding scene, let's say my contribution was quite modest…

Here it is: Luc Kampfen, backside smith, just outside of Lugano…

I was visiting the Warriors, and Luc seems like a honorary member of sorts of the gang. This was a great week-end, and the only time I ever got a ticket for skateboarding. It still hold it dearly, off course.

I most likely could write twenty pages about the night that lead to this… But not now.

Anyway, Safari is a labor of love from skaters, so if you are interested to check out what they do, head over there.

And you can cope the book, here.

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In print

Recently got asked to do a little portfolio and interview feature by Spanish magazine, Lamono… Their theme was "darkness" but I'm not sure how I did not go the other way with my selection, though.

Quite pleased at how it came out, still.

You can check out the magazine over here.

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An American in Paris

I had coffee with the young author, Scott H. Bourne, this morning, which reminded me this portrait I shot of him that got published in French magazine, Sugar, alongside an interview about his first published novel, A Room With No Windows.

If you are interested in checking out this real life inspired story, you will find it here:

http://www.1980editions.com

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Oh, if somehow you had no idea who Mark Gonzales is… Well, now you know!

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A Berlin flashback…

While doing a digital house cleaning of sorts, I found those pics from when I walked in the Berlin chapter of the 15 Years of Gonz exhibition, the day before the opening.

Mark Gonzales newest paintings were lying on the ground, and Joe Brook and my own wall were getting worked on. Mark was signing those amazing prints, also. Couldn't have picked up a better time!

This one is from the opening night, and was shot by Florian Hopfensperger.

I'll say it does put a smile on my face…

That's a pretty ecclectic, yet solid crew to roll with, I'd say: Jim Greco, Skin Phillips, Mark G and Joe Brook!

The 15 Years of Gonz exhibition will be travelling the world over the next months, so check it out if you get the chance.

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Tonight in NYC?

I am very pleased, and honoured (to say the least) to be part of FOLKLORE, a group show curated by Evan Hecox for the Joshua Liner Gallery!

If you can't make it, you can still have a look at a great deal of the amazing pieces that will be on display, here:

http://joshualinergallery.com/artists/folklore/selectedworks/138/all/1/

FOLKLORE will run till August 2nd.

Joshua Liner Gallery 540 West 28th Street New York, NY 10001 Gallery Hours:Monday — Friday11 — 6PM

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Merci, Mark!

Can't wait for this to come to Europe!

http://hvw8.com/news/2013/5/12050/#

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Dyslexia in Los Angles

Last night, the Adidas exhibition about 15 years of Mark Gonzales kickstarted at the HVW8 gallery, and it will be open to the public all this week-end.

It seems like the whole night was a success, and…

Wait!

Ha, you can always count on Mark to make things a bit more interesting than expected!

Might have to change my first name, now…

Anyway, if you are in town, go check it out for yourself, the show has just been extended!

http://hvw8.com/exhibitions/2013/15-years-of-gonz-adidas/