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: Sandro
Jessica Lange: Icons of Progress
Jody Quon, the renowned photo editor of New York Magazine, was inspired by a series of work I did with John Malkovich a couple of years back. Jody contacted me soon after she saw the Exhibition “Malkovich, homage to the Masters” and asked me to think about a series of important women that have changed the world. I fell in love with idea and was given the opportunity to work with the world-class actress Jessica Lange. I re-created iconic images of Mae West, Simone de Beauvoir, Frieda Kahlo, Gloria Steinman, Georgia O’Keefe, Janis Joplin, Marlene Dietrich, and Diana Vreeland with Jessica impersonating and playing the role of each iconic woman. This work came to me from a personal project I did, again emphasizing the importance of doing personal work. From this project and the Malkovich Homage to the Masters project, I was commissioned by David Lynch and the SQUARESPACE Group to do a film for David Lynch Transcendental meditation foundation. I know personally I continue to get hired Nationally and internationally because of my long history of doing personal projects. I feel Art Directors and Creative Directors are looking for photographers and Directors that have their own ideas, not just people that can execute their ideas. The power of the personal project not only feeds my heart and creative soul, but it continues giving back in terms of commissioned work.
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 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
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
