PERPETUAL EDGE PORTRAITS: INEZ & VINOODH
INEZ & VINOODH
We love artists who turn portraits on their heads. While they began and mainly remained documentaries of human identity, then became idealized monuments to personas, edge-pushing artists and photographers create portraits as platforms for conceptual art and design.
Inez & Vinoodh have been producing a never-ending stream of groundbreaking portrait works since 1986. The Dutch photographer duo, whose full names are Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, is known for pioneering portrait concepts, styles, techniques, and technologies. They explore the boundaries of both art and fashion.
Their portrait imagery is both beautiful and bizarre, serious and camp. Their style is glamorous, slick, erotic, playful, and hyperreal. Their poses can range from classic to extreme gesture.
Highly sought after as fashion, celebrity, and society photographers, Inez and Vinoodh have created iconic portraits for important key figures of our time.
Inez & Vindoodh’s portraits commissioned by The New York Times Magazine for their renowned “Great Performers In Film!” portfolios, included riveting images of Clint Eastwood, Mickey Rourke, Bill Murray, Daniel Day-Lewis, Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Shirley MacLaine, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Mila Kunis, Michael Douglas, Tom Cruise, Javier Bardem, Viggo Mortensen and Julianne Moore.
Inez & Vinoodh were guest photographers of the legendary Pirelli Calendar. Their black and white close-ups of Sofia Loren, Penélope Cruz, Naomi Watts, Hilary Swank, and Lou Doillon, shot in a private bedroom setting, were both powerful and intimate.
Inez & Vinoodh portraits are particularly known for their hyper-sharp eccentric style. As very early adopters of digital photography, their early use of photo-editing techniques set them apart. They began using Paintbox software to smooth out and remove the nipples and orifices of nudes. They continue to innovate.
Drawn to personalities that are also on the forefront of culture, Inez & Vinoodh have been among the first to feature their subjects from new perspectives, including early questioning of social and gender norms.
The artists first met at Akademie Vogue, in their hometown, Amsterdam, where they each studied fashion design. Inez also holds master's degree in photography from Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Vinoodh also founded Lawina, a now defunct fashion line. They soon became creative, business, and life partners.
They began with editorial assignments for the Dutch style magazine BLVD and British style magazine The Face. Early collaborations with Belgian designer Véronique Leroy, developed a edgy glossy style which was largely responsible for pushing out the then predominant grunge aesthetic.
Their team of progressive collaborators include stylists, art directors, hair and make-up artists, lighting specialists, and models who have been loyal to them over the years. They’ve done many collaborations with the choreographer Stephen Galloway.
Fashion was their first creative love. The duo developed an impressive range of clientele, shooting advertising images for Yves Saint Laurent, Balmain, Nina Ricci, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Isabel Marant, Giuseppe Zanotti, Lanvin Homme, Miu Miu, Christian Dior Joaillerie, Gucci, Chloé, Hervé Léger, Vivienne Westwood, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Balenciaga, Yohji Yamamoto, Chanel, Roberto Cavalli, Donna Karan, DKNY, Stella McCartney, Brioni, Moschino, Loewe, Mulberry, Emanuel Ungaro, Louis Vuitton, Helmut Lang, Chloé Fragrance, Thierry Mugler Fragrance, Viktor & Rolf Parfum, Chanel Makeup, Lancôme, Narciso Rodriguez, Shiseido, Juicy Couture Fragrance, Gucci Sport Fragrance, and Estée Lauder.
Expanding into the worlds of music and motion image, Inez & Vinoodh developed music videos and CD covers for Björk ("Hidden Place", created with art directors M/M (Paris)); Lady Gaga ( "Applause" "ARTPOP" and "artRAVE;" a collaboration between Kanye West and Paul McCartney ("Only One" and "FourFiveSeconds", a song by Rihanna)
Inez & Vinoodh’s editorial commissions include projects for elite fashion & style magazines such as Vogue, Paris Vogue, Vogue Italia, W, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Hommes International, Vogue Nippon, Vogue China, Purple Fashion, Interview, V, i-D, Fantastic Man, The Gentlewoman and Visionaire.
Art Capsul’s "Contemporary Magic: A Tarot Deck Art Project" featured Inez & Vinoodh, included in a group of 78 iconic artists, curated by Stacy Engman. It recently celebrated its Fifth Anniversary with this Limited Edition Release, recently on exhibition at the Plaza Hotel. The limited edition collection is available as a boxed portfolio of prints here.
Inez & Vinoodh are represented by Gagosian Gallery in New York. Their work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, the Hayward Gallery, London, the Deichtorhallen, Hamburg and the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. They produce solo shows every two or three years.
Inez and Vinoodh live in New York with their son, Charles Star Matadin.
Read more about Powerful Portraits all this week on BeautifulNow, And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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