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Spraygraphic Interview with Photographer Ivo Mayr
By Spraygraphic | February 27, 2010
Spraygraphic Interview with Photographer Ivo Mayr
Spraygraphic Interview with Photographer Ivo Mayr
SG: Please tell us about yourself. Where do you currently live and work?
IM: I was born in Southern Bavaria and grew up in a small village at the edge of the alps called Pfronten (near Newswanstein). After living in Cologne for a while, I studied photography at the university for applied sciences in Dortmund. Currently I live in Aachen, a city close to Cologne.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
IM: Basically everything attached to photography, from analog to digital.
SG: What kind of equipment do you use?
IM: For my artistic work I prefer using one of my analog medium format cameras (a Hasselblad, chinese seagull and a Holga for snapshots). For photo jobs I normally use a digital canon or the hasselblad with additional face one back sensor.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
IM: The development of ideas is a continuous process, you could call it a „proof-of-concept-approach“. When I have a certain idea for a picture or a new series, I’d normally try it out with a pretty basic setup. Then I reconfigure this first sketch to get a better feeling for the possibilities. As soon as I’m sure, that the concept is coherent, I start to stage it. Very important for this process is the feedback I get at different stages, so I always try to involve different people to get different opinions.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
IM: I think the best way to find new inspirations is by trying to get a different view of the things. This means not just to go out to see something new, but also includes changing my usual environment or even my habits. By doing this I often find links to some of my older, maybe unfinished works.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
IM: Since I have a Holga (a really very, very basic medium format camera, which is kind of unpredictable), I get a lot of new perspectives on some of my earlier, unfinished works. The Holga produces a pretty special look, almost like a pinhole camera. These pictures kind of remind me of pictures from the early days of photography.
SG: Can you tell us a little about your photos where your models are on walls like spiderman.
IM: The basic idea is, that the character or mood of a city depends as much on the geographical setting and its architecture, as it depends on the people who live there. By showing people hanging on walls like artwork, I tried to combine both the individuality of the people and the characteristics of the city.
SG: What do you look for when you are picking models/subjects to work with? Is it a physical feature? Personality? Photogenic? etc…
IM: Normally I do not work with models in that sense, for in most of my work I try to focus on this certain irritation that comes with the contrast of highly artificial setups and everyday surroundings, which includes everyday people (you could meet them anywhere). Most important for me is personality, in the sense of having something unique – but since many of my pictures are meant to be portraits, they certainly should also be photogenic.
SG: Do you bring your camera with you everywhere with you or do you leave it home when you go out on the town?
IM: Sometimes I do, but I don’t think you always need a camera to take pictures. Most of the time I look at things with the eyes of a photographer anyway: So whenever I see interesting situations or places, I’d rather take notes or keep it in mind until I come back with my equipment.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
IM: It was shown in Magazines and Newspapers in Germany, Poland and Russia. Besides group exhibitions around Germany (Köln, Dortmund, Darmstadt, Koblenz) and Europe (Helsinki/Finland, Szecin and Lodcz/Poland), I had solo exhibitions in St. Petersburg/Russia and Karlsruhe/Germany.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
IM: At the moment I consider some interesting options and working on new projects. End of january 2010 some of my works were seen in Cologne at the “Passagen.”
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
IM: Hard to say – is there a photography section at the MOMA?
SG: What is your favorite color?
IM: Turquoise.
SG: Who is your favorite photographer? And Why?
IM: Currently it’s Juergen Teller and David La Chapelle. Teller, because he achieves to put a lot of information in every picture with seemingly little effort. Simply by his elaborate use of a strong flashlight he brings certain elements into focus, which gives his pictures them a very narrative structure. David La Chapelle is kind of the complete opposite with his elaborate productions with their extreme colours. His artistic work is very unique in that his pictures are pretty much „over the top“ and very ironic, but obviously also work for advertisement.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
IM: At the moment I read „Annie Leibowitz at work“, which is not so much a theoretic work about photography, but a very descriptive and personal book about her life.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
IM: I love being in the mountains. Not just because I grew up there, but also because it is the perfect antipole of city life – and in this the perfect surrounding to recollect and filter my ideas.
SG: Any final words of advice?
IM: Always trust your ideas, even when you don’t know how to realize them straight away.
Additional Links:
http://cameraobscura.busdraghi.net/2010/ivo-mayr-anti-gravity/
http://cameraobscura.busdraghi.net/2010/ivo-mayr/
Topics: Artist Interviews, International-Art, Photography |
March 16th, 2010 at 8:16 am
All pics are very funny
thanks for sharing here