Flavie Audi - Supernova

She is a French - Lebanese, London based artist who focuses on capturing light and sensuality in a static object. This is an artist profile of one of the most interesting and promising artist today.

What is the key moment you got into glass?

During my last year at the architectural association I was making models in glass and developed my thesis on structural glass. Working by hand freed me from rational, linguistic and digital expressions. I was not only fascinated by the sculptural potential of glass but also by its power to create delicacy, subtlety and mystery, through the fluctuation of light. Since that moment I wanted to find out more about glass. 

"Glass helps me to define an aesthetic of buoyancy, transparency, invisibility, ambiguity and sensuality.

Can you describe the process you go through to create work?

 It starts with a strong intuition about an idea. I try to find my own language in a combination of different disciplines. I work with various makers and craftsmen to execute and materialize my ideas. I embrace simplicity and directness as a positive practice. Reduction and Distillation down to the essentials are fundamental in order to reconstruct, challenge and rebelliously twist conventional rules. By employing a more intimate relationship with the materials, an expression of sensuality and life can emerge. I look for hidden potentials, accidents and discoveries in materials to reveal aesthetic and technical qualities. I spend a lot of time experimenting with materials. Once I find a moment of beauty that intrigues me I investigate deeper, finding ways to celebrate it. My interests lie in creating experiences of mystery with spatial and visual encounters that invite contemplation and meditation. A kind of seeing; a  release. I always think of the spatial dimension and impact of the work in space. 

 Where do you find your inspiration?

It is very different for each project. An idea can be very sudden, appearing from an unconscious link in the mind, or it can happen very slowly and gradually. It is about listening attentively to my intuition, and hearing when ideas arrive. Sometimes I find inspiration in kinetic properties, particularly fluidity and energy. On other occasions inspiration comes from a sense of comfort, excitement or interest that I feel during an encounter or while drawing. The acts of drawing and making are my main inspirational refuge. I find my creative energy in a constant ebb and flow, between designing and making. Most of the times it comes from a feeling of nothingness and clarity.

 

We know you describe your artwork as sensual, would you describe your architectural designs the same way?

There is no disconnection between my architectural, design and art thinking. This desire for sensuality came from a frustration towards minimal, dry, sterile architectural and design environment nowadays. I am irritated by the abuse of the generic minimal Zen aesthetic. I don’t feel that buildings are revealing life and humanity. I think that it would be interesting to combine a sense of simplicity, and more precisely clarity, together with life and sensuality. I try to reach sensuality with color and shapes that are formless and in constant state of flux suggesting indeterminacy and limitlessness. 

"My main driving force in the process is the search for the sublime."

The art of glass making is very old, how do you think you are bringing it into the modern age? Do you consider yourself to be an old school artist when it comes to the digital age and social media?

Originality occurs when you add and combine different disciplines. I have never considered myself to be an ‘old school’ Artist, as I am not attached to only working with ancestral techniques. At the moment I am using analogue processes, but I always aim to challenge and rebelliously twist the conventions of any process. The aesthetic of my work is not classic in a traditional sense. The shapes, the senses of fleetingness and the colors have a certain similitude to a digital aesthetic. The cosmic visual appearance, the tactility of the work and the serendipitous making processes bring it to the modern age. I don’t approach glassmaking with a specific design to be executed but with technical challenges that break the conventional making process.

Glass blowing would generally be considered a masculine craft, by being one of the few women in the field do you feel you are changing that stereotype?

 I am not a glassblower or a craftsman. I put in place the different stages of evolution, bringing together the craftsmen similar to choreography or orchestration.

http://www.flavieaudi.com

@Kat_in_NYC

Kat Irlin is a Russian born photographer now based in NYC. She gained prominence in the photography world through her popular instagram, which now has over 460,000 followers.

Were you a photographer before instagram?

No.

What were you before?

Before instagram, I graduated school with a degree in finance. Then I did human resources for 10 years. 

What was the big change?

When I joined instagram, I started getting really positive feedback on my work. I have always loved photography but I was never a photographer. I started posting pictures of New York for the most part in the beginning. The feedback had been great and people were saying, ‘oh, you should be doing this full time.’ Kind of thing. So at that point I was over human resources and kind of sitting in one place, and I needed something where I could be running around and getting creative. A year ago, I decided to take the plunge and do photography full time.

"I think the way I see things is kind of interesting because I grew up in St. Petersburg, which is a very beautiful, very European city. As kids we were always in some museum, or watching a play, so I think that made a huge impact on how I see things."

"There are images of New York that sell, the Empire State Building, a skyscraper, a sunset, a vanishing point. These are the images that people are most engaged with and get the most likes."

What’s the major difference for you between shooting with your iphone and a professional camera?

I think it is the thought that you put into it. You can create great images with the iphone. It is more about what you are trying to communicate, or if you are trying to create or portray, or say something with your images. On instagram it is more about posting something pretty, like your coffee. 

So when was the shift moving from iphone to regular cameras?

I think it was more actually learning to use a camera. I had never really used a camera, so I think it was more about learning. Right now I shoot with a Fuji XE1, and it shows because you see all these other guys with huge cameras. I mean I have a Nikon D800, but I mostly shoot with this, so you see guys with all big cameras and me with my little camera like snapping in everybody’s way. So yeah, learning to use the camera, and then when I realized I was going to start treating instagram as my portfolio more, versus just a social media platform. So now, mostly what I post is from the camera.

Do you think the instagram following has changed since you became more professional?

I think my following in general appreciates a good image. For the most part I don’t post like HDR or super colorful, mostly black and white, so I think my following is more artsy. 

You are some what an ambassador to the city?

I mean, yeah I love New York. New York is my favorite city. It is sort of my muse I guess you could say. It is amazing. The energy, the people. The atmosphere is ever changing depending on the season, or the year, or the day. There is no city like it in the world. It continuously inspires me. 

Do you see yourself going towards more dynamic photography or sticking with stills?

Instagram can try and create all these different tools, and videos, but its not going to work on instagram. People do not care about video on instagram. You go through your feed and literally spend a second on each photo. It is much less engagement with video. I think it is always going to be a place for stills. 

"I try not to follow other photographers, so I can always come up with my own ideas and creations. There is a very fine line between plagiarizing and being inspired. I see so many posts inspired by @kat_in_nyc but I mean you are just copying my freaking idea. I guess its not an issue, I should be flattered or whatever."

How do you see fashion and social media coming together?

My job as a ‘journalist’ so to say, is to be able to portray the most interesting way, but still applying my aesthetic. I try to make my imagery different from everybody else’s as possible. I try to capture a different light or a different edit, or angle. So I treat those images as I treat everything else, I try to have sort of my stamp on it. So when someone sees an image they know it is mine. Trying to also portray the mood that was there, or what the designers were going for. 

Do you see yourself doing other things in the creative world?

Everybody has an iphone and is a photographer. I have a friend who has done journalism in war epicenters, but now with all the smart phones there is so much less need for that. I think the content it moving away from being generated by agencies, to being generated by people. It is moving in a different direction that way. I think for myself I would like to get into creative direction. I have a good visual sense, so do a campaign for a brand or something.

Advice for someone else?

Have your own style. Something people can recognize you for.

Credits:

interview by: Karin Bar, photography by: Kat Irlin (taken from instagram @kat_in_nyc)