DarkMarkArt NFT Photographer Interview

Natalee

3 years ago

Can you tell us about your background and what lead you down the path to becoming an artist and ultimately experimenting with NFTs?

I studied painting, art history and photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. I spent almost 12 years working in fashion photography, after my art studies, my photographic career grew very fast.

I was involved in an apparently very fascinating and stimulating world. From that moment it has been a continuous growth, I have been able to travel, I have lived and worked in Milan, Paris and NY. I was very enthusiastic.

My artistic approach to photography initially helped me, but I was often forced to create images for a purely commercial purpose.

This is fashion photography. Taking photos to sell a product and over the years creativity is increasingly put aside, little quality and a lot of quantity.

This deviated from my photographic approach, from my point of view and I began to lose motivation and interest.

The world of fashion is incredible, it makes you dream, but it is also made of lightness, superficiality, parties, relationships. promiscuity, and all that comes with it. A world that can lead you to lose yourself.

And that’s what happened to me.

Nft gave me a new light, the community, accepted me with open arms, and the idea that my creativity can be recognized and appreciated for what it is, for my point of view and what I want to communicate, is wonderful, incredible. Here I want to show my self, my uncompromising emotions.

When did you mint your first NFT? What platform did you choose and why?

I posted my first work on foundation in September, I chose foundation because it seemed to me the most accessible of the non-free platforms like Opensea.

I easily fulfilled an invitation and made my first drop. I remember it was a photo of Graund zero posted on 11 September, 10 years of commemoration..

Can you tell us one thing you cannot live without? (and why)

apparently I cannot live without so many things, even if in recent years I have learned to relieve myself of the thousand addictions I had.

but one thing about the others is food, I love to cook and eat, and as a cook I manage very well, almost professionally, Traveling I always had a curiosity to try, taste and experiment with new tastes, cuisines and cultures and where they do not arrive words food plays a fundamental role, of family sharing. Where words do not reach, it is possible to communicate with food

Who is your favorite artist(s) (Non NFT)? What about their style resonates with you?

there are many artists who have inspired and moved me. I studied art history in a very old Italian classical school in Milan, many artists pass through my mind at this time.

I think of moments related to photography, my last 15 years, certainly from Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, to Steven Klein, Juergen Teller.

I have built my style over time, over the years spent shooting, absorbing and experimenting.

Who is your favourite NFT artist? What makes this artist unique?

there are various NFT artists here that I adore, and respect.

Xcopy for its unique style and rock bastard, digital raw. it affects me how it affects many people in the nft world

Guido DiSalle is a Legend, for his photos, really recognizable, and the strength of him in being able to establish himself in a new environment.

What made you pursue NFT art?

six months ago I was experiencing a moment of change, my work my profession as a fashion photographer somehow tired me, it took me in the wrong direction for myself, I had lost concentration, passion. I was looking for a change, I wanted to go back to being an artist, to get passionate about photography.

an acquaintance made me part of the nft world, and its potential.

I took courage and threw myself into it without knowing anything, and now I’m learning about this incredible world that presents you with possibilities that were almost impossible before.

What is the one piece of NFT art you wish you had purchased but missed out on? I am now understanding wht I would like to have, what I should have bought.

I’m still at the beginning in a sense. I have not had the opportunity to invest some sums of money. I am waiting to understand and invest and to start collecting artists that I like regardless of the market.

for now I am a new born collector.

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go? Why this location?

II have been lucky, I have traveled a lot, for my work, for pleasure, for attitude, from America in the North, to Mexico, Japan, China Europe, I miss the sound America Argentina, and I am intrigued by the countries of the extreme north , where everything changes.

Africa and India are my next destinations, but I’m never ready to go there, there is a side that attracts me and one that scares me.

there are areas in India, intense, you have to be mentally ready.

What are your other passions besides art? Why?

other passions, they have always been music, I played drums for years, then the piano, the guitar, the sax, I played, sang in a band in Italy that had a small moment of splendor, I love excesses, which often they led me astray.

Now I love to cook, I’ve always loved it but right now I’m very focused on this

Do you make other forms of art?

in addition to playing cooking, I have always taken photos, before I painted on negatives and printed them, obtaining very particular effects.

now I tend to burn my photos, when I don’t like them, working with fire levels and ashes to take them to another dimension

How did you come up with your specific style?

I have always been attracted to black and white when I started shooting on film and it gave me a feeling of mystery, a vision of reality different from what we see in color.

in black and white everything becomes more mysterious, it’s like capturing moments on the border between light and dark. where anything can happen. I am kidnapped. Over time I have learned to understand what I am happy with and what I am not, I have found my light, my world in which to transport my subjects, from models to actors and singers to ordinary people. I take whoever I shoot into my private world, capturing passing moments that become visible through my eyes.

In my work I mainly shoot models, women and men, beautiful people. However, this is not enough for me, I don’t mind taking a beautiful woman and showing only the more superficial side, the aesthetic beauty., Which everyone can see and immortalize with a camera.

My research is always linked to stealing an inner beauty, which can be cheerful, angry and sad, made up of shades, of my light, and of the dark, given by the attitude, by the look, by the light in the eyes, by the details.

I often like to work naturally, other times I like to build an idea of a woman of power, of transgression of sensuality and non-sexuality. I don’t like seeing photos of women who are obviously in sexy attitudes, which are trivial to me.

I love portraits, I like to approach the subject in a disruptive way.

I’m intrigued by imperfections.

I also want to show more hidden, more intimate sides, made up of addiction, excesses, transgression, unique moments that each of us in our intimacy may have experienced. There are also moments of anguish.

I want to bring fire as an element of rebirth, of change, so I started burning some of my shots.

How has your style evolved over the years?

it has developed, working on it, experimenting. the work of fashion photographer has often led me out of the way, because it is easy for work to ask you to take pictures even if different from your style, and often your point of view ends up getting lost.

What is coming in the near future?

I hope a lot of news, I have been in the NFT world for 6 months now I feel a little more confident, but I still have a lot to learn and to give.

I would like to be recognized as an absolute NFT artist, this is my goal now. I continue to work to improve myself and give my best.

I just created my discord, I will have the opportunity to grow a community, show my works, share opinions with other artists and collectors.

I have a drop in Makersplace in the next days on the 29th and KNow Origin and other projects are coming.

If you could collaborate with one artist who would it be?

I would love to realize a collaboration with A.L.Crego. Love him and is art

What was your greatest failure and what did you learn from that?

Some time ago I got lost, in relationships, in excesses, in work and I was no longer happy, I no longer knew who I was.

I found myself transported to earth by the stars, on my knees.

I left Italy to seek radical change because I was destroying myself.

I have learned to be friends with my fears.