The Art of the Personal Project: Fernando Decillis

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:   Fernando Decillis

BandoKillers (ongoing project)

“It’s easy to go down rabbit holes on Instagram. I just start looking around and get caught up in a look or an aesthetic or subject. A couple of years ago, I found a hashtag #bandokillers— the images were mostly abandoned buildings, institutions— from all over the world. I have always been a collector of small items and furniture that people discarded. I once made a whole series on strange odds and ends I found at the flea market in Bogotá, Colombia.

After finding the bandokillers hashtag, I started following a few of the people who were going out and shooting in abandoned spaces in Atlanta. There were a couple of guys who were around that were in this world of #bikelife, lowriders, #bandokilles— and this intense, beautiful grit. I reached out and tagged along to car shows and to a couple bandos (abandoned buildings) with them and we just became friends. My #bandokillers project is more about portraits of creative people in these spaces. All of their work has this running theme of making beauty out of the things society discards. And trust me…we discard a lot.

My story is influenced by the subjects of the portraits, and by my friends who gave me a window to this wild world. The work, which I am continually adding to, can be found here: BandoKillers

Instagram accounts/hashtags to follow

@wire_atl

@_sig_

#bandokillers

#bikelife

 

To see more of this project, click here.

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s.  After establishing the art buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty.  Follow her at @SuzanneSease.  Instagram