Melancholy Re-Imagined

Instagram is undoubtably on of my latest fascinations. I find myself researching profiles and scrolling down on countless accounts daily, looking for fresh and interesting pages that might or might not give me some new ideas and presumably some inspiration.

Recently, I bumped into a new account and was captivated by the beautiful simplicity and sense of melancholy conveyed by each photo. The Account Holder is Julie (@joouuuls) / She is a 23 year-old woman, currently doing her MA in Literature in Paris!

Lets talk photography

  

I am still not sure whether it because I find Paris so alluring, or simply because of Julie’s  great eye for photography, but I find every single image that she posts to be very intriguing.

There is some sort of aesthetic satisfaction that I get from her images. Her page consists of mostly landscapes, city images, photos of houses / buildings and occasionally some very simplistic and often comic shots that spice up her account page and give it a little bit of  edge.

Julie has never thought of doing photography professionally, she simply uses her iPhone5 to take pictures, whenever she sees something interesting that grabs her attention – and that is probably why her images look so effortlessly beautiful.

 

I believe that what makes me so ‘obsessed’ -lets say- with her page is the melancholic feel that her photos convey. Even the colourful ones, even the more comic ones. The general sense of each photo – and also of her page as a whole – is somehow melancholic.

Melancholic, but not sad – maybe a bit nostalgic –

She makes me believe in the scary imaginative possibilities of photography

Profoundly beautiful yet mysterious, her pictures are an outburst of creativity & potential. Scrolling down her Instagram, I can’t help myself from letting my imagination free and visualise the most random narratives that help my mind fly free and travel places.

Take a look at her great use of shapes / forms and mostly angles

Self Portraits  – her originality is obvious –

Julie manages to capture the beauty of her city through very simple photographs. I don’t know if its because she finds the perfect angles for the shots or her way of capturing the perfect light, but she makes each picture surprisingly creative. Whether its black or white, dark or light, sunny or cloudy, her images makes you travel places.

Hectic yet serene, hard yet soft, disturbing yet beautiful. I get surrealistic feel from Julie’s images, although it seems like the images are not necessarily consciously created for that purpose.

Although we are talking about photography, there is a clear distance born between her and her objects, a separation from reality that travels you to this parallel dreamy ‘truth’.

Maybe that is the actual point of photography, making something realistic more ‘dreamy’
–  Capturing a perceived separate reality and removing it from its original context to later on contextualising in, on your own personal way  –

Hope you love her profile as much as I do

Joulie LC
@joouuuls
https://www.instagram.com/joouuuls/

Thank you for reading,
x
Elli

Introducing JR

One of the artists that I have been shamelessly following on every social media platform is JR

JR of course is the pseudonym used by the photographer/artist whose identity is still not confirmed. JR describes himself as a photograffeur and states that “the street is the largest art gallery in the world“. The artist is best known for flyposting large black and white images in public locations all around the world, using a similar technique to the appropriation of the build environment by graffiti artists.  His work combines art and action and deals with the concept of freedom, commitment, identity and personal limits. 

I can probably go on and on and on, trying to explain what it is that makes me so interested by JRs work. I like the fact that he exhibits his work on the streets rather than inside a gallery/museum space. In this way, people who are not the typical museum visitors get to experience art by walking down the streets of their neighbourhood. JR successfully manages to make his works a part public locations, therefore, a part of our everyday life.  The photographs he uses manage to convey strong emotions: Happiness, sadness, loneliness, anger, despair, devotion, whatever the emotion is, it comes alive through his works and has a great impact on the viewer – at least it does to me. His photographs speak to me – make me stop and think –

I am truly inspired by his work, and I don’t think that I can make you understand where that comes from. it is probably because I have read way too many articles about him and have followed his artistic career for years. The only thing I can do is show you some of his work, through videos & photographs. I really hope that you take the time to understand his work.

Here is a great Introductory video that illustrates JRs work and vision
“The INSIDE OUT movie focuses on international communities involved in the INSIDE OUT Project: their story, their sorrow, their hope. Searching for what is common in their motivation, the movie will try to come closer to what is universal: human feelings”

The following Video is the teaser of the film “Les Bosquets”, one of  JRs most recent projects

“The film Les Bosquets brings the audience in a place where art and the power of image interweave. Based on the story of Ladj Ly and the performance of the ballet Les Bosquets of New York City Ballet (2014) inspired by the riots in the French suburbs in 2005, JR reveals its experience in the ghetto of Montfermeil where he created his first project, Portrait of a Generation. This film is a continuation of this 10 years project, for which he uses various means of expression and narration : video archives, choreography and testimony. This short film will be presented exclusively in galleries and museum shows”.

This is the trailer for ELLIS, a short film starring Robert De Niro,written by Eric Roth,directed by JR.

“The short narrative film, ELLIS, awakens our collective memory. Leaving their past behind them, immigrants fleeing poverty, discrimination, dictatorship arrived there. Ellis Island was the gateway to the United States for millions of immigrants. Upon arrival, they were processed, approved or denied access. Due to sickness or simply tiredness, many were placed in the hospital. A purgatory of sorts, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, where thousands of men, women and children awaited their fate. ELLIS tells the forgotten story of these immigrants who built America while questioning about those who currently seek the same opportunities and safety in this country and other parts of the world. The short film stars Academy Award Winner Robert De Niro, was written by Academy Award winner Eric Roth and directed by the artist JR whose Unframed art installations in the abandoned Hospital complex serve as the set for this powerful and timely film.”

Here are some photographs that show JRs’ unique style, technique and vision..

JR now owns the biggest art gallery in the world. He shows his work freely, around the streets of the world, managing to attract the attention of people who are not considered to be the typical museum visitors.”JR creates “Pervasive Art” that spreads uninvited on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East, on the broken bridges in Africa or the favelas in Brazil. People who often live with the bare minimum discover something absolutely unnecessary. And they don’t just see it, they make it. Some elderly women become models for a day; kids turn artists for a week. In that Art scene, there is no stage to separate actors from spectators”.

JR does not explain the meaning behind his portraits of people’s different expressions. His aim is for people to interpret his work in the light of their own experiences, leaving an empty space for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter.

Visit his website for more information, videos and upcoming projects: http://www.jr-art.net

I would love to read your comments and thoughts on this post

Thank you for reading,

Elli

Prussian Blue..

A few weeks ago I decided to go around galleries in central London and search for exhibitions that haven’t been advertised as much online. I came across Omer Tiroche Contemporary Art (OTCA) gallery exhibiting works by Thomas Mailaender. Prussian blue, Mailaender’s latest solo exhibition comprises a diverse selection of the artists modern cyanotypes, many of which have not been shown in the past. As a fan of developed photographs, I decided to take a closer look..

Prussian Blue is a collection of amateur photographers which Thomas Mailaender collected and developed into creative and visually interesting art works. The artist begun building up his archive back in 2000, collecting more than eleven thousand images from the internet and numerous markets around Europe. To elevate his findings,  he used cyanotype;  a traditional method where photographs are developed and edited producing a distinctive blue-hue print.

“Mailaender has employed his archive images to create innovative works that not only entertain his audiences with their amusing and candid content but at once highlight the changing parameters of art today”

What I firstly enjoyed about this show, is the play between the amateur and the professional work. Taking a closer look at the images exhibited, they look like they could have been captured by almost everybody, illustrating veryday life moments that we can all identify with. But this fact made you stop and think, why didn’t I take that photo myself? Why didn’t I capture that moment when I havd the chance to? This is the reason I believe makes this images special, the fact that although they represent something that comes from the everyday life, they have been presented in a way that makes us stop and think, consider and reflect on that photograph and suddenly, this fact for me is what transforms an amateur photograph to a work of art

Something that also appealed to me what the way the show was curated. The works were simply placed on the floor of the gallery. The fact that they were effortlessly placed by the galleries walls created a welcoming vibe to the audience and at the same time a connection was created again between the amateur (photographs/curation) and the professional (development/gallery space)  Finally it is worth taking a closer look to the smaller and a little bit more personal works shown in the gallery space. I found it more intriguing to notice the artists technique by looking at these works, maybe because the colors were a little bit more vivid, maybe because you had the chance to take a closer look at them.

   

Leaving the gallery, I was pleased to have come across yet another unexpected exhibition. Walking towards my next art exhibition, I could not stop thinking about the concept of amateaur and professional art. Here is a show that illustrates the perfect marriage between amateur and professional treatment. And although Thomas Mailaender is an already established, professional artist could he have successfully completed his selection of works without the help of amateaur photographers? One could argue that he could have spent time on taking photographs himself, but what is certain is that the show would have not be the same.

Thank you for reading,

Elli

Personal Favorite: Egon Schiele, Exhibition London

I have always been a great fan of non-realistic portraits. I enjoy viewing non-realistic portraits because I personally believe that in that way, the artist lets his creativity shine, and in a way, the painting he creates expresses his thoughts and ideas about the person illustrated. Thus the artist does not depict a person realistically, but he paints his feelings, thoughts and beliefs.

I was very excited when I read that works of Egon Schiele, one of my favorite artists that focused more on portrait paintings, were exhibited in Courtauld Gallery in London. Born in Vienna, Egon Schiele was a leading avant-garde artist in the early 1900s, the years around the First World War. During his short but very productive life, Egon Schiele managed to create a great collection of portraits (including self portraits) that were consider to be provocative, controversial but most importantly, some of the most radical depictions of the human figure in the 20th century.

This is the first time that original works of Egon Schiele were exhibited as a single collection in the United Kingdom and I felt very special to be a part of that. The exhibition was small, and included a small collection of his drawings and watercolour works. I wish I could see some of his oil paintings that illustrate his unique technique and skill, but I was surprised by how much detail he successfully created using humble materials such as pencil, chalk and watercolours.

The exhibition was divided in two small rooms. The first room included his famous self-portraits where the second room was focusing more on his collection of female figures, his ‘nudes’.

What I find extraordinary about Schiele is the way he planned, understood and then created his self-portraits. The artist used a number of different mirrors and techniques in order to observe the increasingly extreme poses he adopted. In a way, todays ‘selfies’ could be considered to be a modernised version of Schiele’s technique of looking at his bod and understanding his own anatomical structure. He was fascinated by the human figure and the different forms he could create with his own body as well as the angles and shapes that his figure could take. He sacrificed anatomical accuracy for the sake of his paintings; he distorted body figures by elongating the back of a figure, cropping the figures legs or arms, making their heads smaller or larger, based on the feeling he wanted to portray. In a way, he would treat the human figure as a blank canvas; he would choose to shape it based on the message he wanted to convey, his ideas and feelings and not on the traditional anatomical structure of the human form.

The second room includes a small collection of his famous nudes. The portraits created are again non-realistic and the figures are distorted in the same way as his self-portraits. . The theme of his paintings though is not the distortion of the human figure, but the female sexuality and how that can be illustrated through a painting. For his portraits, Egon Schiele painted some of his family members; his wife but he also used random women as well as a lot of prostitutes. The images  exhibited were very bold and sexual. In his nude paintings, he draws in detail some of his models private body parts making his works raw, fleshy and unflinching. Some characterise his work as too disturbing and sometimes grotesque. Too erotic, too radical, too offensive, too controversial, but as the artist thought, sex is beautiful and the nude body is poetic.

Walking inside the exhibition space, I could not help but notice the way people moved inside the space, and viewed the art works presented. The nude paintings were the ones that people seemed to enjoy the most, and spent more time in front of. More specifically, people seemed to pay more attention to the most sexual and erotic paintings, the ones that showed the female genitals in detail. I wondered why was that? I tried to monitor their moves and understand them. I saw young girls moving close to the paintings, talking quietly and laughing with each other. I saw older people turning their heads from one side to the other, looking at each other and communicating through their eyes. Were they disturbed by the raw imagery, or were they simply intrigued? I could never know, but what is certain is that the raw nudity and sexuality is something that is always going to be disturbing, controversial and create conversations.
     

I personally was impressed by Schiele’s astonishing technique and use of materials. The artist managed to use humble materials such as pencil, charcoal and watercolours and create such bold lines and figures. His use of colours gives his figures a fuller shape, balances his shading and makes the bodies come alive. I also enjoyed the fact that Schiele has no context in his drawings. He simply places his bodies inside his frame, with no justification for being there. He does not place the figures proportionately inside the frame, in most cases the figures ‘don’t fit’ inside the frame and different body parts (head, legs, arms) seem to be left out of the picture.

Going against the norm, distorting his figures, using grotesque bodies, provocative and sexual imagery are only a few things that Egon Schiele managed to do through his work. This unique way of perceiving and creating art is what draws me to Schiele’s work and what in my opinion makes him one of the most important and unique artists that ever existed.

Here is some information for the Exhibition:
Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House
Strand, London, WC2R 0RN
The exhibition will be available until the 18^th of January, 2015
Daily 10am – 6mp (Last admission 5.30pm)
Tickets from £5 – £8.50 (Free for Friends)
http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/index.shtml

I would love to read your comments below!
Thank you for reading,

Elli

Art Inside an Office

This blog is not only about Museums, Galleries and established artists. It is about the small, artistic things I see in my everyday life. Today, I discovered art, inside my office.

Working at a museum means that I experience art daily. The wonderful architecture of the building, the creative gift shop and the daily information I get for future exhibitions are only a few examples of art I experience. The Cycladic Museum is known for being inventive and unique. It manages to stay interesting by always developing and coming up with new ideas and activities. The latest activity of the Museum was a childrens creative competition. What do you think will happen, if you introduce kids to a museum’s competition? Magic!

The Museum of Cycladic Art is introducing a very unique competition for our young friends between the ages of 6-12. Kids are given a blank paper, with just the outline of a traditional Cycladic Seated figurine and all they have to do is let their imagination free and express themselves using any colors or materials they like.

There are no limits to this project, so kids can make their statue  an old man or a young girl, dress it with different accessories, cover it with a superhero suit and even transform it into a musical instrument or a scary animal. As far as their imagination goes, the sky is the limit and it is not only fun but it is also an artistic experience. Ten kids, with the most interesting works, will join our Kids summer program for free, and the first winner will get the chance to see his/her work featured in our Children’s Program Poster.

   
    

Have a look at the images presented. These are only a few of the wonderful works that our offices have received. We decided to transform our office to a more creative and colorful place by using the childrens drawings. I simply love the way kids have been expressing themselves and letting their creativity show through their unique works. They have incorporated different materials, colors, shapes and patterns. If you look closer, you can identify the inspiration from different artists and artistic genres through the colors, patterns and shapes used to fill the figurine’s shape. Their personality shines through in the way they add their own little details giving their statue unique features such as extra body parts, hairstyles and accessories.

I simply love the creativity of this project and how the children managed to transform our everyday office to a wonderful small gallery. Hope you enjoyed this post

Thank you for reading
Elli

Discovering the Greek Museum of Cycladic art in a 3 minute video

After completing my Universities exams, I returned to Greece to spend my summer vacation and I decided to look for an internship for a couple of months. I felt extremely lucky and excited when I finally  got an internship at my favourite museum in Athens, the Museum of Cycladic Art.

The Museum of Cycladic Art  (MCA) is dedicated to the study and promotion of ancient cultures of the Aegean and Cyprus, with special emphasis on Cycladic Art of the 3rd millennium. Today in the galleries of the Museum, the visitor can approach three major subjects. The permanent collections of  Cycladic Art, Ancient Greek Art and Ancient Cypriot Art.

Besides the permanent collections, the Museums temporary exhibitions constitute one of the most fruitful activities, constantly renewing the museum’s interaction with the public. The numerous archaeological exhibitions are meant to introduce the public to important aspects of ancient Greek art as well as of other Mediterranean cultures, with loans from other Greek and foreign museums. Apart from archaeology, the temporary exhibitions of the museum frequently focus on modern and contemporary art, aiming to introduce the public to important 20th century artists and explore the links between ancient cultures and modern artistic creation.

The following video, is a great opportunity  to become familiar with the beauty of the Museum

Let me know your thoughts and feelings after watching the video and  If you find yourself in Athens, make sure you visit the Museum of Cycladic Art.

Important links for information and news

www.cycladic.gr
https://www.facebook.com/CycladicArtMuseum
http://instagram.com/cycladic_museum#
https://twitter.com/cycladic_museum

Exhibition Suggestions

Hello everyone,

My university’s second term has come to its end, and I will be going back to Greece to spent the easter holidays with my family and friends. The good news is that I will try and keep up with my blog, focusing on the many interesting art events currently happening in Athens. The bad news is that because I don’t know the exact date that I will be coming back to London,  I will probably have to miss some great art exhibitions happening here at the moment. As a result of that, I have selected my top three exhibitions that I really wanted to visit but did not have the chance. I am hoping to be able to visit them when I come back, but in case I don’t, here they are; make sure that you take a look , be inspired and if you decide to visit them, let me know what you thought!

Momentum, at the Barbican Centre (Images courtesy of Barbican Centre)

“Momentum consists of twelve pendulums that activate light and sound as they swing, drawing attention to the Curve’s vast arc, inviting you to journey through the space guided by your heightened senses. Each pendulum has been meticulously designed and built using steel, aluminium, and custom electronics. The sound is individual to each pendulum, prepared and tuned to seamlessly resonate as they move within the Curve”. Momentum creates an unique environment that has its foundations in detailed research, sophisticated computer technology and mechanical expertise. Yet, the effect is to create a space that feels wondrously transformed, one which you are invited to experience and explore.” (information taken from: barbican.org.uk)

Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined at the Royal Academy of Arts

“Some of the most creative architectural minds from around the world have come to the RA, and we’ve set them a challenge: to give you a new perspective on architecture. ‘Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined’ sees our Main Galleries transformed by a series of large scale installations. As you respond to different structures, textures, lighting, scents and colours, we invite you to consider some of the big questions about the nature of architecture. How do spaces make us feel? What does architecture do for our lives?” (royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/4)

Martin Creed ‘Whats the point of it”  Hayward Gallery (Images courtesy of Hayward Gallery)

A survey of Martin Creed’s playful, thought-provoking art.Over the past two and a half decades British artist Martin Creed has pursued an extraordinary path by confounding the traditional categories of art.Winner of the 2001 Turner Prize, Creed is recognised around the world for his minimalistic approach that strips away the unnecessary, but preserves an abundance of wit, humour and surprise.Crossing all artistic media and including music, his art transforms everyday materials and actions into surprising meditations on existence and the invisible structures that shape our lives. This exhibition includes work containing nudity, bodily functions and some adult content and will be the first major survey of Martin Creed’s work, spanning its most minimal moments and extravagant room-sized installations.”
(Information from: southbankcentre.co.uk)

I really hope that this post will motivate you to go and visit these three wonderful exhibitions. If you do, please comment below and tell me what you thought of them, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading,
Elli

Go big or go home

What is it about large art pieces, from  photographic series to installations and digital projections that excites me so much? I recently revisited Saatchi Gallery in order to take a second look at some larger works that are exhibited there. I took a lot of photographs in order to take a closer look from home; View them as individual works and also as interactive ones with people being captured in the photos, moving inside the exhibition spaced thus becoming a part of the artwork.

Chantal Joffee – Untitled (Oil on Gesso on Board)

Chantal Joffe is a contemporary artist, who could be described to have a humorous eye for everyday awkwardness as she brings a combination of truth and honesty to the genre of figurative art. Her small, humorous drawings usually depicting women or girls have a beautiful sense of complexity that intrigues my curiosity to learn more about the artists intentions, the messages of each smaller painting and its role to the series. ‘The direct and liquid painting style that Chantal Joffe uses has the effect of filling her subjects with personality. The images possess an extra alarming humour that is highly enjoyable and strangely provoking‘ (saatchigallery.com)

The reason why I chose to photographed the piece using a panoramic effect is because I wanted to have a individual photo of the series, but at the same time have central focus. In this way, you can view and understand the many smaller paintings as a series, but you can also have a more detailed understanding of what is illustrated in each one of them by looking closer at the centre.

Denis Tarasov – Essence Series with Marianne Vitale – Installation Markers.

The image above represents two different series by two different artists. The photographys on the wall is by Denis Tarasov and the sculptures in the middle of the space are by Marianne Vitale. 

Denis Tarasovs ‘Essence’ showcases the strange phenomenon of modern cultures, one that celebrates material wealth in the face of death. In one of his interviews, he explained that the gravestones he includes in his photographs are not unique occurrences, but they exist in a number of large cities across Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries usually concentrated in one area within a cemetery. The artist focuses on the fact that even though all the gravestones are made in the same way and style, they are still different from each other and that is what made him find them all unique and visually interesting. ‘Each has some peculiarity, some distinguishing feature, something that is for me a kind of punctum‘ – Quote by Denis Tarasovs.

Marianne Vitale uses the concept of the process of deterioration and the act of repurposing discarded materials in her work and more specifically in her current sculptures. Made from reclaimed materials, found in old factories and barns, her new series of sculptures ‘Markers’ is composed of weathered wood headstones devoid of inscriptions or epitaphs. The artist uses a number of different techniques when working on her sculptures (burns, bruises, dents, cuts) and  references the passage o time by virtue of the natural decomposition of her materials (artsy.net)

Terasov’s photography and Vitale’s sculptures have very different messages and intentions behind them but when exhibited together in a room, they work as a larger and more complex installation which is the reason why I photographed them together and not as individual works. Since they both share the concept of death, they complement each other perfectly creating a mysterious and in my opinion uncomfortable atmosphere that transforms any exhibition space.

Eddie Martinez – The Feast (Mixed Media on Canvas)

Eddie Martinez is a contemporary artist who’s works are well known for being colourful, bold and humorous. His work is a fun, colourful and crudely-rendered assortment of tablescapes with a number of similar abstract figures. Moreover, ‘is at all times evocative of the still lifes and  the portraits that dot the landscape of art history, executed in a manner not only revelatory of their influence but aesthetically on par with something else entirely’ (quote from huffingtonpost.com)

The scale of his art works has continuously been growing making the artist to comment in humour: ‘Go big or go home‘. I loved how big, colourful and bold his painting was, so I tried to become a part of it by being in the photograph. Instead of simply posing next to the work, I decided to use a panoramic effect, and so  as the camera moved from the right to left, I ran in front of the painting trying to incorporate my movement to the photograph. In that way, I compared my size to the works proportions and included a sense of movement to the still shot.

After looking at these larger pieces in detail, I realised that what in my opinion makes them so exciting is that their large scale gives me the opportunity to view them from different angles and create different narratives. Moreover, I realised that large works and installations intrigue my curiosity and inspire me to experiment with photography; play with angles, lighting, effects (panoramic) and even include people and movement inside the frame, which gives the image different meanings and perspectives. Standing next to large scale works in exhibition spaces made me feel ‘small‘ and was intimidating at first, but after a while it just made me feel inspired.

What do you thing about large art works?

Thanks for reading,
Elli

Win two Wonderful Art-Books

Hello everyone,

I have been thinking of doing a competition for a while now, and since I am now moving out of my house, I have two wonderful books, that I have already read, and I am willing to give them away, in order to show my appreciation for reading and following my blog for these past months.

Joining this competition is very simple, easy and takes only a minute. The only thing you need to do, is provide your email, in the form of a comment, below this post. The competition will be open for only a week, so don’t waste anytime and remember: Apply by 20/03/2014

After the competition closes next week, I will collect all emails provided, randomly select one, and  post the email of the winner on my blog next Friday the 21st of March. To thank you all for following my blog, commenting and motivating me, I am willing to ship worldwide, so even if you are not a UK resident, you have the chance to win these two wonderful books!

Graphic Design, Referenced:
A visual Guide to the Language, Applications and History to Graphic Design.

500 Handmade Books: Volume 2

I encourage you all to take a minute and participate in my competition. I promise that you will not regret it. Both books are very interesting and different and I am sure you will really enjoy them. If you want more information on both books, here are two amazon links, where you can take a sneak peak of their content, view some images and read their description.

• Graphic Design, Referenced: http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-Referenced-Language-Applications/dp/1592537421/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394709507&sr=8-1&keywords=graphic+design+book
• 500 Handmade Books: http://www.amazon.com/500-Handmade-Books-Volume-Series/dp/1454707534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394709767&sr=8-1&keywords=500+Handmade+Books+Volume+2

Thank you for reading,
Elli

First Kiss

Sharing a first kiss with somebody is definitely something personal, probably because it can be very weird, uncomfortable and very awkward. It can be nerve-racking, but it can also be magical.

Los Angeles-based, amateur filmmaker Tatia Pilieva, along with Wren Studio managed to create a three-minute video that successfully captures the most transient of human interactions, the fist kiss. Heart stopping and breathtaking moments are present in this unique and romantic video.

Twenty Strangers, straight, gay, young and old were chosen and paired off,  and with barely any guidance f they were asked to take their time and whenever they were ready simply share a kiss.

The neutral colour of the set, use of black and white  and the beautiful background music makes everyone look equal, and creates a sweet and romantic tone to the video. The artist managed to capture the beauty of strangers sharing a kiss for the first time, and for me, the weird, awkward and uncomfortable feelings experienced are what make this film so unique, true and beautiful.

It kind of makes you think, how do first kisses look like? How do they feel like? Because in ‘real life’, you don’t get the chance to witness fists kisses too often, and you definitely never get to kiss someone for the first time twice.

What did you think about this video? I have heard and read many different opinions, and I would love to know what you thought as well. 

Thank you for reading,
Elli