Bella Howard is a breath of fresh air. A confident natural, her upbeat style seeps into her fashion, portrait and lifestyle images. Her clients include: Dazed and Confused, I-D, Nylon, Japanese Vogue Girl Nippon, GQ Nippon, Wonderland, Rollacoster, French Glamour, Jalouse, NY Times Magazine, Spin, Ella USA and Flavor. Her commercial clients include: Jigsaw, Topshop, Whiistles, Albion, Kitsune, Adidas, Swarovski and Mulberry.
Bella may get some of her verve from her mum, who modeled in the 70s and managed bands like Dire Straits before settling down in North Yorkshire. Photography and fashion were early passions for Bella and as a teen, she stocked up on fashion magazines during trips to London. Bella chased her art foundation at Wimbledon with a stint at Speos in Paris, partying through the night as a club DJ.
Bella´s images capture the moment. She embraces colour and makes her subjects pop deliciously, capturing the vibe of musicians with ease. She shot vivid moments with La Roux, Kate Nash, Plasticines, Plan B and Paloma Faith, and her images of fashion designer Gareth Pugh, Mischa Barton and Alice Dellal explode with personality and a point of view. Bella’s exhibition « drive-thru » was shot during a month-long roadtrip across America with friends. It’s reality… amplified.
‘For most of us photography stands for the truth,’ Baldessari has said. ‘But a good artist can make a harder truth by manipulating forms or pushing paint around. It fascinates me how I can manipulate the truth so easily by the way I juxtapose opposites or crop the image or take it out of context. When two forces contend in a photograph, I may favor one side or the other – the rider or the horse, for example, the upright mummy in its coffin or the woman standing in awe next to it. »(in John Baldessari, 1990, Rizzoli, by Coosje van Bruggen).
His oeuvre create a dialogue in which painting and photography are both fully engaged and he is following the his own tradition of ‘fragmenting single motifs or areas of a canvas or picture to defy narrative logic and standard interpretation’ (Rainer Fuchs)
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Une belle constance que vous trouverez chez tous les humains, c’est la fascination pour les écarts de conduite des autres. On peut passer du pathétisme à l’hilarité, selon les situations, mais on ne s’ennuie jamais. Ainsi, Cops me terrorise, America’s Dumbest Criminals est une source de plaisir intarissable; je trouve le travail de photographe comme Weegee à New York ou Enrique Metinides au Mexique à pleurer de beauté, celui de la rédaction du défunt Allo-Police me manque. Saluons aujourd’hui le travail de ceux qui dédient/ont dédié leur vie à répertorier, documenter et immortaliser les crimes – épais ou tristes – des autres.
Les Belges avaient une très belle émission sur la police communale, intitulée Allo Police. (il y a de l’or à 20 minutes)
Enrique Metinides est un photographe qui a documenté les scènes de crime mexicaines de très belle manière.
Weegee a photographié New York entre 1935 et 1946. Il avait un intérêt particulier pour les ivrognes, les criminels et les victimes.
J’aime particulièrement le tableau sur cette photo prise dans un bar de danseuses.
Finalement, Arnold Odermatt, un policier suisse qui est un des premiers a montrer l’intérêt de documenter les scènes de crime avec des photos. (Remarqué les marques en rouge sur la première photo).
Et y’a même des chercheurs très intéressants qui prennent les tabloïds, et notre intérêt pour le crime (une spécificité québécoise/montréal apparemment), au sérieux. Cyanide & Sin, de Will Straw, est une lecture fascinante.