A Collaboration Between Artist and Model and 4000 miles in between
Posted on April 13 2016
I am always ready to collaborate with somebody. While I feel solo projects allow me to express myself in it’s purest form, collaborations bring something else out in me. You are learning off of each other while teaching each other at the same time. You have to be at 110% because the other person is counting on you to be. You have to trust the people you work with. Trust that they will do their part to create something amazing. There is nothing better than people coming together to create one incredible experience.
In 2014 I met model and artist, Alex Cerr while I was getting ready for a show I produced at Indy Hall with Rachel Ford of MADE Studios called Synesthesia: Music, Fashion and Fine Art. Alex was here from France working with photographer Nathaniel Dodson who photographed the show. While she was here we only met a few times but talked a lot about projects we were working on and future projects we wanted to do. Something I was currently working on was a collaboration with Rachel. We wanted to collaborate on something special for the Synesthesia show. I ended up painting a 54” x 72” canvas which Rachel then used to inspire a gown. She also used elements of the painting for details embellishing the gown. Alex knew this and was extremely interested in what the outcome of this collaboration would be.
Unfortunately Alex had to head back to France before the show happened and before the dress was finished. She was only able to see the finished product from photos from the show. She then hit me up with an idea. Alex said “if you send the dress to me here, I will find a photographer to work with and model it in Paris.” I passed this idea along to Rachel and we basically couldn’t find a reason not to do it. So prepped the dress and shipped it out to Paris, France.
After a grueling experience with shipping it and customs, Alex finally got received the dress, which fit perfectly and immediately started to schedule time with photographer Marc Lamey. With the help of makeup artist Agathe Zuliani and hair stylist Marie Claire Cabrillet, the result was a dark and beautiful journey through Paris, France.
Now I know things are shipped all over the world to be modeled and photographed. But there was something special about this. We just knew we wanted to create something together and there was nothing going to stand in our way. It felt right so we did it.
This was the beginning of collaborating with Alex.
Even though Alex and I were so far away from each other we really love the process of collaborating with each other. We were always thinking the same way and knew exactly what each other wanted. So what else could we do together? With Alex’s suggestion I hit the studio and started to rip, cut, dye and paint shirts.
I sent a whole bunch over just in case a photoshoot opportunity would come up. She sent me the following picture to let me know she had received the tshirts and was getting ready to shoot.
Not soon after I started getting photos coming in. First up was a shoot with Julian Amieva. I received a behind the scenes photo to show that things were happening and then the first professional photoshoot with Alex and these shirts.
For weeks and weeks after that I just kept receiving new pictures of behind the scenes in new locations and then the outcome of the photoshoot.
In Paris with Adrien Servadio and Tibo Alberny.
Two from Tibo Alberny in Paris. The left one is the result from a pinhole camera.
Photographer : Julian Amieva
Photographer Martin Van der Veen.
And then a bunch of badass polaroids from Caillou Michael Varlet.
All of this and Alex and I have only met a few times. One artist, a muse and a bunch of extremely talented photographers. So much in so little time. All driven by constantly wanting to create new things together. It continues with our latest project that highlights some jewelry that I just released. Prophet, a bee charm with the hopes to bring more attention to the crisis around bees and what that is doing to our environment and a ring I designed with Kelsey Stoler called Symmetry. Two identical female figures hugging the owners finger.
Yes. We did start this with just pure passion to create. But the collaboration benefits us all in so many other ways. We have been published in magazines together and have shared these socially many times through our multiple accounts. We also have documentation of our work. We have this moment in time in our creative lives marked. We have imagery that we can use to share our work to the world.
We all also have a beautiful understanding that where ever this is used or shared, that we make sure we give everybody involved proper thanks and credit. We are a team and without one of us involved the magic that was created is lost.
I look forward to continuing my collaborations with Alex Cerr and am honored to be connected to her energy and thank her for introducing me to such talented teams in photography, hair and makeup artists. Follow along to see what else Alex and I come up with together
Photographer : Pierre Dupuy and makeup artist Marianne Salagnat
and once again for a full circle, with the first photographer we worked with together, Marc Lamey:
Connect