La Reine du Triangle de Choisy (The Queen of the Triangle of Choisy), 2015
Steben Alexander's La Marchesa Casati series is featured with interview in the July Issue of Art Reveal Magazine. You can purchase/view the magazine on their website www.artreveal.com
Briefly describe the work you do?
I am a visual artist and I work primarily with photography, print medium and video.Currently, my main focus is portraiture and people. I have a fascination for eccentric and unique figures, faces, shapes. My models are staged into scenarios that I construct to narrate stories through figurative photographs; ultimately immortalizing my models as works of art. I'm fascinated by what makes images and things timeless.
My artistic practice shows a reality of enigmatic subjects that bring beauty to the dark and mysterious. Nowadays, in the age of the Internet and search engines ; you can learn about anything you want, whenever you want about anyone or any subject. The information is out there. It's amazing to live in these times! However I find beauty in the unknown. Subjects of obscurity. Artwork with no given meaning .
When, how and why started your art practice?
I come from an artistic upbringing, raised by my mother. She always encouraged us to express ourselves. Both my sisters are illustrators, so they are what I can recall my earliest influences,encouraging my creative side. I started drawing early, learning to express myself with images at a very young age. My love for aesthetics evolved into photography. Then, at the age of 15, I had the opportunity to meet with David Lachapelle's muse Amanda Lepore, which would lead me to working and taking her portrait, as one of my first pieces. We are still close friends today.Amanda's portrait will always resonate the beginning of my career as a photographer.
Professionally, what’s your goal?
Professionally it’s difficult for me to say an exact goal. Creating art has become a necessity for me over time. After a huge project I've completed I usually need to take a lot of downtime and take care of myself, because it takes a lot of energy for me to go through the process. I would like to continue exploring new themes and experimenting with new materials and exhibiting my work.
Do you think of yourself as a conceptual artist?
All my portraits start with an idea that is first sketched, researched and planned. Lighting diagrams are created, the right team is chosen and then the shoot is executed,which then leads to the editing. The model and photograph are seen as the ‘’sketch’’ with lighting,makeup and further modifications to the image which influences the final product. The sketch and original idea goes through many transformations on the way to becoming a final product.
Who or what has a lasting influence on your art practice?
I have always been inspired by personas throughout history that are remembered for their eccentric personalities. Enigmatic subjects inspire me. Many of my model’s are not professional models. Many of which were first acquaintances or that I scouted for a particular idea. That I would dub as my ‘’Muse’’ for various projects.
The most recent example of this is the series I created about La Marchesa Casati who was an Italian patron of the arts and a muse for artists such as Man Ray, Boldini and Cartier amongst others. She lived a very extravagant lifestyle, which ended in quite a tragic way; my pieces narrate her story through photo and film.
What are you working on right now?
I am currently working on a new photography series inspired by 17th century Dutch paintings.Traditionally still life, I will be including models heads on table tops exploring the Memento Mori and Vanitas themes. I am also working on an ongoing series of woven photographs; which focuses on exploring a variety of materials that impact the result of the outcome of the photograph itself, aesthetically speaking, through gels, lighting, colors and by revisiting more traditional photographic methods.
La Sorcière de Capri (The Witch of Capri), 2015