We opened Art Basel meeting one of the most influential fashion photographers of the history, Marco Glaviano for the exhibit of his work named; “Jazz & Models”, a retrospective of his digital pictures from the 70′s trough the 90′s and mixing it with his latest work. The event took place at NEST CASA, one of the most exclusive showplace that features luxury finest furniture from high end European decor, carrying brands as; Givenchy Home Decor, Missoni casa, just to name only a few. Sara Colombo, owner of NEST, attend as well to celebrate Marco’s infallible passion for Jazz & Models. The reception started with a Jazz band playing a delightful indulging music while guests had the chance to meet a greet the incredible Marco Glaviano and ask him everything about the models, the pictures and off course the music. The exhibit displayed 26 images that were the result from Marco’s work during the 1970′s til today’s date; from Cindy Crawford in the Bahamas to the sexiest picture from Paulina Porizkova and her amazing body figure, all captured digitally in the most timeless style from black & white pictures.
Marco’s success includes him as the pioneer of digital photography, not to mention that his work was the first ever digital picture published as the cover of American Vogue in 1982. I had the chance to have an incredible conversation with him, and I got a few details that people may not know about this mastermind, we are happy to share them with you;
Jhon: Hi Marco How are you?
Marco: Good, Thanks for asking, I’m glad you came tonight to see my work.
Jhon: it is my pleasure, please tell us Marco how is it feel to be showing tonight during Art Basel in Miami ?
Marco: Well, it is exciting to see all this people that came to see my work. This pictures are my entire life & work, and I want everyone to see through the pictures my passion for photography and Jazz.
Jhon: Why the name ” Jazz & Models” ?
Marco: The name Jazz and models came from my two passions in life; Jazz and photography, I used to play in a Jazz band and I took pictures of all the most famous friends that are Jazz players and musicians. Trough the years music has been something very important in my life, as it was my artistic photography with top models, all the work that is displayed; is the result from all the years of work till today’s date. Maybe because of the digital photography, you can’t see the difference between the old and the most recent picture, off course what you see here is just a few pieces of my work, there’s more and more, I could never stop talking about each picture.
Jhon: What does fashion means to you?
Marco: I never was a huge fan of fashion, it has been a great part in my life career as photographer, but never intended to be in it; I have to say that I’m very thankful to the world of fashion because it was the industry that pushed my work and showed it to the public. Fashion is to complicated, sometimes they tell Marco style this; and I said, no no no, but when I do something it turns out how they expected and want it, so that’s the most rewarding part of my job.
Jhon: Which was the most memorable moment in the journey of your career?
Marco: There has been infinite moments that were memorable, that I don’t have a favorite, everything that happened in my life & career I consider it memorable, so I dont think there has been only one that I could speak about, there’s so many, maybe that’s one of the reasons of my success, considering every moment important part in my life.
Jhon: I found that you study architecture, and then jump into photography, tell us a reason why there was such a drastic change?
Marco: I wanted to do something different, and when I moved to Rome, I started pursuing my passion for photography, then I realized that what I love the most was the art of photography, but I did evolution and practice architecture in some parts of mi life, I have worked in some projects and I have designed studios like, Pier 59 and Milano digital in Milan.
Jhon: Do you think everything that happened in the journey of your career was coincidence or just part of the artistic direction from yourself within ?
Marco: I definitely think that art its in my DNA, and is the reason of my success, there’s no coincidence, everything that I do leaves an impact on people, and that’s how my work has gone so far, my passion for photography is what keeps making successful my work.
Jhon: Tell us everything about how you became with the idea of designing one of the most iconic studios in the world of fashion, Pier59 ?
Marco: When I moved to New York I started to search for my own place and studio, but I couldn’t find the perfect one; so I said to myself; I should build a studio. That was one of the few times when I put in practice my skills as an architect, and it was one of the huge projects I’ve done. I feel accomplished that Pier59 stills a success in the world of fashion. I also have design other studio as Milano studio digital, that was the most recent one, it was build in 2001.
Jhon: Marco can you tell us which are you next plans in the industry?
Marco: I will continue my exhibits, showing people my art, my passion and my life, off course I will keep doing photography and continue traveling around the world to visit different places and get inspired by them and their people.
Jhon: And last; which is the advice that Marco will give to all the people that share the same passion and dreams?
Marco: Continue working hard for them, never give up, and do everything with passion. One thing can take you to another thing, so it doesn’t matter if there’s things you don’t like, get into them and do them with all your passion, you never know what good thing can come from it. Always look forward to good things, never the bad ones.
ByJhon Jairo Santos
Fashion Director USA
Jsantos@Metrovelvet.com
Photos by Brady Miller
