Who Is.. Nick Knight

Creativity, in all it’s messy masks, isn’t always something that reveals itself to be conventionally beautiful. It can be dark and dirty, dangerously seductive and at times, hideously painful. However, in all it’s forms, the creativity of famed fashion photographer Nick Knight is somehow consistently exquisite. Esteemed for testing the boundaries of traditional practices and the ideal beauty, he relishes innovation and continues to prevail as one of the industries leading image makers. 

Born Nicholas David Gordon in London in 1958, the young visionary studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design which was where he published his first photography book, Skinheads. Before even completing his studies he was already one of the world’s most sought after photographers. Around this time he was commissioned by I-D magazine’s editor, Terry Jones, to produce 100 portraits for the publications fifth anniversary issue. As a consequence of the partnership came the beginnings of Knight’s future and the opportunity to work with Yohji Yamamoto, the Japanese designer, shooting his 1986 catalogue under the art director Marc Ascoli. The success of this project saw him go on to create 12 successive catalogues for the designer. 

From there Knight found himself the commissioning picture editor for i-D, work that enabled him to sharpen his craft working alongside the great Terry Jones - former art director of British Vogue and co-founder of i-D.

His reputation as an avant-garde figure in the space of progressive image-making has been hard earned and over the past three decades his lengthy career and impressive portfolio has earned him that rightful title. He continues to experiment with the latest technologies and his curiosity in such advances saw him launch his fashion website SHOWstudio.com in 2000, which he says in his own words is there to show ‘the entire creative process from conception to completion.’ His passion for the experiential has stood to him and seeing the future of film as an important medium in the industry he has acted as a leading force in offering a unique way in which we consume fashion, encouraging and nurturing the industry through the transitional age of the digital era. SHOWstudio also aims to work with the worlds most influential and yet to be discovered creative visionaries, from writers and filmmakers to photographers, illustrators and authoritative cultural personalities.  

A true perfectionist, Knight works in the exact same outfit every single time he produces. The jeans he wears are specially commissioned - as when they went out of production he just had to have them. Beyond the beautiful he has some very important themes in his work, one of which is imagined in his collaboration with Lady Gaga for whom he directed the video for her hit single Born This Way. The theme of empowerment and showing unity and community within minority groups is something he comes back to again and again in his work. Some of his most revered creative collaborations have been with leading designers such as Yohji Yamamoto, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen while some of his major commercial clients have included an array of global brands including Audi, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Lauren, Levi Strauss, Mercedes Benz, Royal Opera House, and Swarovski. He is responsible for no less than 36 British Vogue covers and has shot the record covers for greats like David Bowie, Paul Weller, George Michael and Massive Attack. In 2010 he received an OBE in recognition of his contribution to the arts. 

Knight lives in Richmond, London with his wife Charlotte and their three children.

Who Is.. Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramovic, pronounced [marǐːna abrǎːmoʋitɕ], is a Serbian conceptual + performance artist, writer, + art filmmaker known specifically for her avant-garde performance pieces + the use of her own body as both material + subject for her own work. Born November 30, 1946, Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now in Serbia) Abramovic grew up in her homeland, raised by her parents both of whom fought as Partisans in WWII, later going on to be employed by the communist government of Josip Broz Tito. Escaping her unsettling + abusive home life, she decided to attend the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade to study painting. However within a short time she came to understand the importance + relevance of performance art for which her love + passion naturally made it’s way into her creative sphere as her strongest medium of expression + the one that would bring her career to the forefront, making her the worlds most notable + celebrated performance artist of the 21st century. 

In her most prolific work, Abramovic has used her own physical form in dramatic ways to test the sufferance + restrictions of her body + mind. One of her initial performative pieces was Rhythm 0 (1974) in which she stood completely still in a room for 6 hours amid 72 other objects of her choice, ranging from a rose to a loaded gun. As guests entered the room they were encouraged to do whatever they wished toward her with any of the objects. This was the beginning of the controversy that would surround her work for many years to come, not only due to the nature of the piece but also her total nudity during the 6 hours.

Moving to Amsterdam in 1975 she began collaborating with German artist Ulay who, with a similar liking to proactive artist experiences, she created another one of her most talked about pieces. In Imponderabilia (1977), the two artists stood naked in an extremely narrow corridor in a museum, facing each other. In order for visitors of the exhibition to move through the piece to the next room they were forced to slip by the naked bodies of the artist + in doing so chose who to face so intimately. Ulay + Abramovic continued to explore gender identity in their collaborations throughout their years of working together. 

Struggling to make her mark on the industry in any lasting and reputable manner came to a abrupt end, when in 1997, she won the Golden Lion for best artist at the Venice Biennale, an accolade that raised her profile in ways she hadn’t previously imagined. Another moment that caught the attention of world, both inside and out the art world was in bringing The House with the Ocean View (2002) to life. In this piece Abramovic created a gallery installation in which she lived by herself with severe abstention + deprivation, all the while exposed in three transparent cubes mounted to the gallery wall for 12 days straight.

Seeing the honour she deserved, MoMA held a large retrospective of the artists work titled, The Artist is Present, in 2010. As part of the presentation she debuted an eponymous performance piece which was staged in a large room at the infamous museum. The piece consisted solely of the artist + two chairs. Sitting in one, she remained in complete silence every day as visitors to the exhibit were invited to sit with her in the available seat, staying for as long as they wished, staring at her as she did nothing but gaze back. Seeking to call to the surface emotions from deep within that only such a silence + space in a strangers company could evoke, the exhibition proved hugely popular at a human level + there were constant lines formed just to get in. It ran for a solid three months in which she turned up every single day, sitting for the whole 7-hour opening time of the museum. From that came the documentary, The Artist Is Present, which chronicled the preparations for piece along with what followed which was her work suddenly sitting in the spotlight the world over. 

Considering the fact that, as primarily a performance artist, it’s difficult, if not completely impossible, to own or show work that holds any monetary value or life beyond their original stagings, Abramovic can hold pride in a career that has spanned four decades with her work touching the lives + should of varying group of people far + wide. Her pioneering work has ultimately paved the way for artists + appreciators as a way to ask bigger questions - both of themselves + of the external pressures + societal conforms that either restrict or liberalise the mind. Her innate hunger to challenge these restrictions, whether real or perceived, has won her a place as one of the most remarkable, brave + significant artists of our time. 

She currently lives and works in New York.

All images my own, taken at the Marina Abramovic exhibit at the RA, 2023

Who Is.. KAWS

KAWS, the subversive artist considered one of the most relevant artists of his generation has found himself as one of the industries most talked about creators in recent times. Something of a worldwide phenomenon, and a noted disruptor in an industry that typically has rules expected to be obeyed, he stands somewhere between the high-brow world of fine art and the very real temptations of international commerce as he plays to his own directives, sidetracking all the industries traditional hierarchies. His creations are exhibited in museums and galleries from New York to Tokyo and literally everywhere in between. 

Born in Jersey City, NJ as Brian Donnelly in 1974, the distinguished artist spent his teenage years graffiti-bombing trains, buildings, phone booths, advertisements and billboards around his neighbourhood. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration. It was before college though that his career began when he moved to New York City in 1996 and started by changing the images found on bus shelters, phone booths and billboards, tagging them with his signature KAWS. His graffiti tags garnered huge popularity and become progressively desired by the public. After graduating in 1996 he worked for a time at Disney as a freeman animator where he was part of the team that painted backgrounds that contributed to movies such as 101 Dalmations and Daria. 

Taking inspiration from art history and popular culture he has become famous most notably for his larger-than-life sculptures and their amazingly clever placement in a variety of different settings around the world, all of which have come together so successfully with added thanks to the power of social media and the influence of younger generations instrumental mastery of the ‘gram’. Possessing a sophisticated humour along with his incredible ability to deconstruct iconic characters he represents a whole new era in contemporary art and a luxury market that worships the pop in popular. 

His work influences a multitude of industries while he uses a myriad of mediums including painting, printmaking, sculpture, fashion, toy production and merchandise to reach his fixated audiences. Over the past two decades, his paintings and cartoon characters have garnered a cult following, including major collectors and celebrities such as Kayne West and Travis Scott - something the art world can’t ignore despite those at the top of the pecking order’s desperate attempt to dismiss his career as empty and his famed creations illogical. Engaging audiences far beyond the museums and collectors homes though he reaches us via his continuing collaboration with major brands such as Comme des Garcons, Original Fake, Dior, Supreme, A Bathing Ape, Uniqlo, Hennessy, Undercover, Kung Faux, Nike and Vans. In 2018 KAWS pieces generated a total of $33.8 million at auction and the average for each piece doubled from the previous year, proof of his pull when it comes to the devoted nature of those investing in art as a global market. 

Larger than life, in real life he works and lives in Brooklyn, New York where The Brooklyn Museum will open a major retrospective in 2021. His first Middle East museum show, KAWS: He Eats Alone, recently opened at Doha Fire Station (Qatar Museums) and will run until January 2020.