CITY - Issue 60 - (Page 86)

CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION His photography has transitioned throughout the years, and now long time CITY contributing photographer Martyn Thompson prepares for his first solo New York show about self-awareness By Helen Pipins T wenty years in any business is something to applaud — everything is so t ansient and even mo e, so ﬁckle these days. The fact that Ma tyn Thompson has been in the photog aphy business fo this long, and continues to keep it all so f esh and eve yone so inte ested in what he does whilst constantly e-inventing the method in which he wo ks, is quite an achievement. He says he loves doing it all, the comme cial wo k, the magazines; and now he is about to add anothe st ing to his bow with his ﬁ st solo a t show. Bo n in London and aised in ust alia, he studied Lite atu e at Sydney Unive sity, then came to New o k to ﬁ nd himself — and to meet Debbie Ha y. Successful with the fo me but not the latte , he etu ned to Sydney and sta ted designing and p inting fab ics and making clothes which he sold in a shop he opened with a g oup of f iends. It wasn’t until he sta ted photog aphing his designs that the penny ﬁ nally d opped fo him. Photog aphy was it. He loved eve ything about it including all the technical aspects, hell, especially the technical aspects. Ma tyn Thompson’s life was about to take a new di ection. He hopped on a plane to Pa is whe e he sta ted wo king as a fashion photog aphe fo the likes of Vogue Homme Inte national and P intemps depa tment sto e. F om the e he went to London, and began to inco po ate elements of lifestyle, inte io s, food, and t avel into the mix, collabo ating on books with Ilse C awfo d and The Rive Café. His wo ks we e exhibited — and so fa , successful. But he was still estless and wanted anothe shot at the Big pple. He loved New o k. He also loved the fact that campaigns the e had big budgets so he could ﬁnally hi e c eatives to wo k with him, so he wouldn’t have to do it all himself. Suddenly he could aﬀo d cabinetmake s and p op stylists, and eve yone f om Ralph Lau en to Banana Republic was knocking at his doo . In 200 howeve , the bu ning desi e to expe iment with photog aphy even fu the was about to take oﬀ when a f iend asked him to put togethe a se ies of 20 images fo a cha ity exhibit, in suppo t of the Dalai Lama. Pe haps not so coincidently, it was also the yea he did ﬁ nally meet Debbie Ha y, be it ﬂeetingly a e a conce t. s he says it, “I sta ted looking th ough my a chives of photos and found that although I had been wo king fo nea ly 20 yea s and had taken many thousands of photog aphs, nea ly all of them had been a speciﬁc commission of some kind. I sta ted thinking about what I would want to put up on a wall that would ep esent me, and my thoughts, and my feelings”. It was also a ound this time that he sta ted shooting conceptual sto ies fo CIT . Eight to 12-page sp eads based a ound a wo d such as ‘shelte ’ fo the shelte issue, and ‘stitch’ fo the fashion issue. The e was no p oduct involved; he used b oken dolls, lamps and a t f om his own collection, and a g oup of p op stylists to c eate anything he needed in o de to make each sp ead a complete sto y based a ound the pa ticula wo d. “I began spending mo e time wo king on p ojects that attempted to answe some pe sonal questions; and in doing so I sta ted to explo e my fea s and anxieties, my sexuality, my timidity, my desi e fo attention”. Poppycock is one of these p ojects. It o iginated a e Thompson found some old magazine po n, which he th ew in a bucket of dye and allowed it to become aged and dete io ated. He was th illed with how amazing they looked and used them as a sta ting point. “ e c ushing, bleaching, dying, painting, e-bleaching, e-painting, ec ushing and e-dying these pages, I photog aphed them and made a se ies of c-type p ints with my p inte Ma cy Robinson f om Box. The new images have taken on textu al laye s suggestive of ock fo mations and cave paintings in some instances, and a Pompeian f ieze o old maste s in othe s”. These pictu es a e now going on show at Cool G ay Seven Fine t galle y f om Nov. 6 to Dec. . Cu ato nd ew Egan says, “I have followed the development of Ma tyn’s wo k ove many yea s and ﬁ nd his latest se ies pa ticula ly inspi ed. It is intimate and exp essive. I admi e how he deals with pe sonal t uths and diﬃcult subjects, t ansfo ming them th ough a p ocess of deconst uction and e-const uction to a ive at a deeply laye ed classical image y of g eat beauty and stillness.” I began spending more time working on projects that attempted to answer some personal questions; and in doing so I started to explore my fears and anxieties, my sexuality, my timidity, my desire for attention.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY - Issue 60

CITY - Issue 60 Contents Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment In Rogue Luscious Life Temporary Contemporary Fast Food Diary Leona Naess Matthew Stone Henrik V Ibskov Massimiliano Nogioni Young Bloods Keys to the Ferarri Fine Craftsmanship The New Frontier Conscious Evolution New World Order Spiral Casual Fridays Where to Buy It Cityscape

CITY - Issue 60

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