Szilveszter Makó’s Surreal Images Reconstruct the Boundaries of Portraiture — Colossal

Szilveszter Makó’s enigmatic pictures carry layers of thriller and introspection. Standing inside curious block-like backdrops and lain in opposition to two-dimensional fields of colour and texture, his topics seamlessly meld into tales wherein each element carries intention.

Taking inspiration from artwork historical past, the Milan-based artist references Surrealism and grotesque artwork by his use of chiaroscuro results through mild exploration and contrasting earth tones. Similar to Twentieth-century Surrealist work, Makó’s photographs delve into uncanny realms and evoke a dreamlike sense of unfettered creativeness. It’s no shock that the photographer was as soon as a painter and has urged that these impulses could also be a unconscious homage to his earlier chapters.

Mystery presents itself in Makó’s photographs by tactility that’s tough to pinpoint. Subtle however moody components—reminiscent of grain and halation surrounding moments of brightness—level to the potential for filmic qualities achieved by chemical response, reasonably than digital manipulation. While the photographer doesn’t reveal his particular post-production strategies, he explains, “I would not call it a secret but more of an unorthodox process… those who understand the history of analog photography could probably recognize what I am doing.”

Makó’s sturdy sense of fashion could be attributed to his distinct mise en scène, consisting of handmade props made with recycled supplies, rigorously constructed theatrical environments, and daring but typically sculptural clothes that add visible curiosity by elongated traces and exaggerated silhouettes. Often highlighting designer items by Schapiarelli, Maison Margiela, Prada, Bottega, and extra, the artist has additionally teamed up with extra industrial names, reminiscent of Zara, and most lately, Adidas.

“When we come into the studio, everything that my team and I have prepared, like the props, the costumes, and the designs, pile up in one room,” Makó shares in a dialog with Artribune. “I like to see it all collide. As what we imagine beforehand does not always want to come together in the way we planned.”

One of probably the most distinguishable motifs throughout the artist’s photographs is a field. This cubic ingredient seems in lots of kinds—a confined house that fashions discover themselves in, the repeating shapes that make up checkered flooring, house-inspired headpieces, or, extra lately, its evolution right into a two-dimensional compositional ingredient in playful flat-lay pictures. “For me, the box is both a restriction and a liberation,” Makó notes. “It centralizes the host whilst simultaneously amplifying it, preventing energy from scattering across the frame.”

While the field’s formally geometric traits lend itself to an evolution of order, construction, and steering, the photographer additionally enthusiastically welcomes spontaneous moments, explaining that “control makes images cold and calculated, leaving much without meaning. A shoot should breathe, it should evolve, it should shock even those who are making it.”

Although Makó repeatedly works with a slew of well-known celebrities—reminiscent of Elle Fanning, Bad Bunny, Michelle Yeoh, Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, and extra—he possesses a novel skill to transcend the veil of fame, artfully translating even probably the most recognizable faces into one thing totally of his personal. He shares, “I do not treat celebrities differently from anyone else. We enter the room as equals. The set is not a hierarchy, it is a space where we work together.”

See extra from the photographer on Instagram, and discover his photographs printed in editions of Vogue, The Cut, Acne Paper, Vanity Fair, GQ, and extra.