DesignCatwalk loves… Mr Toledano

Randomly browsing google images, I found what’s my fave photographer, from today on.
It’s the first time a photo brings me to tears.

Phillip Toledano was born in London to a French Moroccan mother, and an American father. “He believes that photographs should be like unfinished sentences. There should always be space for questions.”

Phillip’s work is socio-political, and varies in medium, from photography, to installation.

His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times magazine, The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, Wallpaper, The London Times, The Independent Magazine, Le Monde, and Interview magazine, amongst others.

The photo series on his web portfolio are simply stunning, and reveal more than a great techinque: behind each work stands a brilliant idea, a deep feeling, an uncommon sensitivity.

The “Gamers” series is an experiment on how photography can portray not only faces, but also human feelings and reactions: Philip gave his models a videogame to play with and caught immediate and spontaneous reactions.

“Bankrupt” show abandoned offices after the world economical crisis, and what people left behind, in an attempt of “economic archeology”.

“The United States of Entertainment” pictures a portrait of America through the patrioctic, exagerate and sometimes nonsense amusements of the country, with a subtle sensation of violence in the background.

“Days with my father” literally caught my heart. Philip documented the phisical and mental decline of his 98 year old father in a non-sad way, through photographs full of affection: each portrait communicates something, a state of mind, a sensation, a deep knowledge and love for a person with all his frailties and strenghts.

“A new kind of beauty” hypotize that the excessive use of plastic surgery could create a new model of beauty, and pictures a series of models caught as classic icons with no sex and no age.

Also his fashion shoots are amazing! All based on original concepts, like the ones with normal people in a museum looking at mega shoots of models on the white walls, or the series with colthings worn by balloons.

Enjoy an interview in Philip’s studio:

I wish all photography was like this: art made immediate and communicative through real feelings that can reach anyone.

Ariko

<< Previous post - Next post >>