VOL. II / ISSUE XIX _ 117

Shifting phases.

Artist David Alexander Flinn interviewed by Devin Barrett & photographed in Pennsylvania by Alessio Boni. Fashion editor

Heathermary Jackson.( d a v i d f l i n n , p e n n s y l v a n i a )

JUMPSUIT, Kenzo. Vintage flannel SHIRT, model ’s own.

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JEANS, APC. Denim SHIRT, Wrangler. Vintage leather JACKET,

model ’s own.

FUR COAT, Marc Jacobs. Hawaiian SHIRT, model ’s own.

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SUIT and SHIRT, all by Ermenegildo Zegna Couture.

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H U · b r i g H t y o U n g t H i n g s H U · b r i g H t y o U n g t H i n g s

I understand you have a background in carpentry and specialize in sculpture. How did get started with film? I’ve had a strong interest in directing for a long time, and I’ve directed a couple small projects. For someone who is in front of the camera so often, I’m always trying to un-derstand how it works. I saw my first Dario Argento film when I was six and I changed. That moment on, I was a different human being. Film does a thing for me that not many other things can do. It allows me to incorporate art direction, photography, and sculpture as manifested through moving image. Has your point-of-view as a model changed your approach to film? There are things about [modeling] and having experiences that change you. The first time I shot with Steven Meisel, it shifted. His photos are indistinguishable – it’s a weird chemical in [his subject’s] eye that resonates and that’s Meisel. As a di-rector and photographer, how do I find that moment of engagement and set up the stage for that engagement in my own way? I can’t do it his way, I cant do it how Willy Vanderperre does it. They’re great because they’ve man-aged to figure out ‘this is how I engage, this is how I cre-ate an emotion,’ and they get that through photography, and that’s really fucking cool. How did your relationship with Meisel begin? He booked me for Vogue Italia two years ago, and we talked about feral cats for a while. He has feral cats, and I had sixteen at the time. A relationship started and we’ve been good friends since. What’s it like working with him? It’s humbling. He’s an incredibly sen-sitive human being and that’s why he’s able to get so much emotion out of people. It feels like a collaborative effort. Working with Willy Vanderperre and Olivier Rizzo was a similar experience. They sit you down, talk to you about the project and what the story is. The reason it becomes interesting is because it’s preparation for the character. It gives me a purpose. Depth shows. I’m tired of being part of the Tumblr generation who just skims and uses and

then regurgitates. With this shoot, I approached Ales-sio and Heathermary about art directing. It was a match made in heaven. Alessio’s pictures are so raw because he shoots all film. He has this weird subtle sexuality to his photos, and there’s always a weird kink to [Heathermary’s styling] that develops the whole thing. Can you tell me more about the project for Hercules? When I wasn’t run-ning around on the streets of New York at 7-8-9, I was in the house watching movies, and drawing inspiration from the amazing characters I saw. I compiled six characters that developed inside me: the cowboy, from my behavior to my old drinking habit to my love of horses; the red-neck, which is like my obsession with Americana…well, firearms, fireworks, dirt bikes. Who are the other charac-ters? There’s the animal, which references the nude of the portraits. It’s a representation of nature, the visceral and instinctive. Then the criminal, which is actually in all of them, but references an influential part of my life, which was growing up in NY in the 90’s surrounded by drug dealers. It also had its benefits, as they were friends who looked out for me and helped build my ideas of morality and individuality. Then military. I’m obsessed with mili-taria and firearms. This often gets confused and associated to right wing streams of thought, but it’s a mechanical and emotional thrill seeking pleasure that I enjoy. I am not a hunter. I just love blowing shit up and shooting shit. Then it’s me – the introverted extrovert as a weird con-coction of all of these. Juggling identities to be accepted as a kid while bouncing around two countries left some deep gashes and voids, but it also allowed me to grow into someone [without] an awkward bone in their body. We locked in who these characters were going to be, and how we were going to translate the idea of those characters into pictures. It was a lot of fun. I got to walk around naked with a horse in a field for like an hour – it was the most liberating experience of my life.

Growing up between New York and Italy, artist David Alexander Flinn was exposed to a unique balance of culture, which is exercised through his work as a sculptor and occasional model. The artist sets out to combine his experience in front of the camera with his passion for Italian film. We met at his Brooklyn studio to talk about art directing for Hercules Universal and his endeavor to work the dreamy quality of his sculpture into meaningful images.

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JEANS, APC. Denim SHIRT, Wrangler. Vintage leather JACKET, model ’s own.

JUMPSUIT, Y3 for Adidas. CAP, model’s own.

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JUMPSUIT, Kenzo. Vintage flannel SHIRT, model ’s own.

BOOTS, model ’s own.

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