VS. MAGAZINE Cover featuring Elizabeth Olsen

Art Direction: HUNTER & GATTI

Photo: HUNTER & GATTI

Talent: ELIZABETH OLSEN

VS Magazine with Lizzy Olsen / DREAMS issue - No place to hide

MARIE CLAIRE Cover + Editorial featuring Helena Christiansen

Art Direction: HUNTER & GATTI

Photo: HUNTER & GATTI

Talent: HELENA CHRISTIANSEN

Danish supermodel Helena Christensen turns the heat all the way up for the February 2015 cover shoot from Marie Claire. The dark-haired stunner looks red-hot in a feature which highlights all scarlet-hued fashions.

GQ UK Featuring Jamie Dornan

Art Direction: HUNTER & GATTI

Photo: HUNTER & GATTI

Talent: JAMIE DORNAN

Stylist: JO LEVIN

"I Will Make You a Star" art series VIP Preview hosted by Toni Garrn at SLS South Beach

Friday, December 5th night marked the much awaited presentation of HUNTER & GATTI’s latest series of art works, titled “I WILL MAKE YOU A STAR”, at the SLS South Beach Hotel, coinciding with MIAMI ART WEEK 2014.

The private preview party was hosted by Hunter& Gatti’s muse, supermodel TONI GARRN, who charmed the crowd with her elegant and charismatic beauty. Followed by a light fare reception by renowned Master Sushi Chef Katsuya Uechi, head of SLS Katsuya restaurant, offering guests the chance to experience his unique take on classic Japanese cuisine. 

 Attendants had the chance to admire a selection of Hunter & Gatti’s overpainted celebrity portraits, featuring, apart from

host Toni Garrn, the most distinctive members of today’s art, film and fashion scene, including PHARRELL WILLIAMS, DIANE KRUGER, BRUNO MARS, ANJA RUBIK, ELIZABETH OLSEN, JAMIE DORNAN, KARMEN PEDARU, LEWIS HAMILTON AND CAROLYN MURPHY among others… 

During the star-studded evening, collectors, gallerists and artists from all over the world had the opportunity to meet in person Cristian Hunter & Martin Gatti and chat about the inspirations behind the intricate works, demonstrating the art world’s interest in the new ̈Fashion Art ̈ niche segment created by Hunter & Gatti. 

¨I Will Make You a Star¨ Art Series

“I will make you a star” is the latest series of works by Hunter & Gatti that reflects their desire to bring together photography and painting in one format. The artistic duo was inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s neo-expressionist paintings, and more particularly by a specific incident in his career: the moment that art dealer Rene Ricard spotted Basquiat’s work at a party and promised him that he would make him a star. When Basquiat’s work started to become famous, the art world was living a very special moment. New York’s art scene was overflowing with charismatic people and having a strong public persona was a major influence in the way one’s work was being perceived. Despite the fact that Basquiat’s art was undoubtedly unique, his image, his aesthetic and his personality contributed the most to his success. Hunter & Gatti wanted to pay tribute to Basquiat’s legacy by merging the celebrity portraits they had made in the past for fashion editorials and campaigns, featuring the most iconoclastic members of today’s fashion scene, with Basquiat’s paintings that transcend the limits of the art world and form part of our collective unconsciousness – just like the famous faces of their photos. Their idea was to create a series of original hybrids that explore the limits of popular culture, reflecting, at the same time, fashion’s on-going interest in the art world.

Fashion has always been flirting with art, a trend that has grown considerably over the last years and continues to increase at a fast pace. Nowadays all fashion magazines have their annual art issue and their proper stands at the greatest art events all over the world. On the other hand, fashion designers collaborate on a regular basis with artists, creating exclusive collections that reflect the vision of both the artist and the designer. Inspired by the power traditionally attributed to image, Hunter & Gatti wanted their works to perpetuate the wildfire velocity of fashion and the fast cycle of trends that continuously change from season to season, consuming voraciously any of the images they had created. As a response to that, the photographers started to paint over their photos, artistically adopting Basquiat’s primitive style, in order to give them a new-born identity, a new origin, and make them unique.

Hunter & Gatti were fascinated by the idea of using something as strong and successful as Basquiat’s iconography to "turn their own images into stars".  Their Basquiat-inspired painting interventions take their photographic works out of the fashion context, where perfection reigns, and places them to the art field, the street and its graffiti (another nod to Basquit), and the art frenzy of the modern metropolis of the world. Out of the destruction of perfection, a new world arises, defying the commercial character of the fashion industry. After all, we shouldn’t forget that some critics had originally looked down on Basquiat’s works for being a mere product of consumerism, same as it happens nowadays with the genre of fashion photography.

Hunter & Gatti wanted to make their particular comment on this situation and explore the blurred lines between fashion and art, using two “formulas of success”: the glossy images of models and actors that have acquired celebrity status and the highly-valued paintings of a renowned artist that has become the symbol of a whole era. We may unconsciously recognize the identity of the celebrities that are hidden behind the layers of painting, but at the same time we are left perplexed by the new faces that have emerged –and it’s this very contradiction that makes Hunter & Gatti’s artworks unique.

Hunter & Gatti "I Will Make You A Star" Exhibition

“I Will Make You a Star” is the latest series of works by the artistic duo Hunter & Gatti and will be presented at the SLS South Beach Hotel, FL, coinciding with Art Basel Miami 2014. The exhibition consists of their Basquiat-inspired, over painted celebrity portraits featuring celebrities such as Pharrell Williams, Diane Kruger, Bruno Mars and Elisabeth Olsen and many more. The inaugural event will be hosted by super model Toni Garrn whose painting will also be displayed in the exhibition.

The exhibition reflects the desire of the artistic duo into bringing together photography and painting in one format while paying tribute to their main inspiration, the artist Basquiat, merging the celebrity portraits done in the past for fashion editorials and campaigns with his art. Their idea was to create a series of original hybrids that explore the limits of popular culture, reflecting, at the same time, fashion’s on-going interest in the art world. For that, the photographers started to paint over their photos, artistically adopting Basquiat’s primitive style, in order to give them a new-born identity, a new origin, and make them unique.

Hunter & Gatti wanted their works to perpetuate the wildfire velocity of fashion and the fast cycle of trends that continuously change from season to season, consuming voraciously any of the images they had created.

The whole concepts relys on the ideo of taking their photographic works out of the fashion context and place them into the artistic fields and therefore explore the blurred lines in between fashion and art.

H&G Paintings Series Nº4

Acrylic over photography in canvas. 126 X 174 cm. Vogue with Naty Chabanenko

In order to reflect the medusa and underwater themes of the original editorial, Hunter and Gatti used painting to create a series of three pictures in which Naty Chabanenko is transformed into the mythological creature of medusa.

The original esthetic of the editorial shifts into a darker and more dramatic form giving the piece a whole different interpretation and dimension.

Read more on:
http://hunterandgatti.com/paintings/series-no4/

See shooting on:
http://hunterandgatti.com/photography/vogue-spain-zoom-with-naty-chabanenko/

H&G Paintings Series Nº5

Wax, polymer varnish, acrylic & fire over inkjet print. 19 x 13 inches.

For the Series Nº5 of paintings, Hunter and Gatti has descontextualized the original photo taken from a recent photo shoot at the iconic residence of James Goldstein. 

By experimenting with different media on 100% cotton rag watercolor paper, blending digital printing, painting and different wax applications, H&G has explored how to transform the photo into a completely different image.

Following the first volume of the Gods & Goddesses special, this second volume pays tribute to the ancient Greek conception of the Muses, the anthropomorphic goddesses that represented the intensity of the omnipotent divine knowledge and had the power to induce creativity and trigger the imagination of the artist, the writer or the scientist.

Read more on: 

http://hunterandgatti.com/paintings/series-no5/