“Re-Framed” di Marc Hom: la bellezza dell’inaspettato nell’arte di guardare
Written by Monica Camozzi
The debate between being and appearing, between subjective and objective reality has created the philosophical scaffolding of humanity. As if dualism were the only way out of the absence of real explanations about life and those who live it. Yet, looking at some of Marc Hom’s images, one is led to think that it is the eye of the beholder – conditioning a hundred, a thousand, a million other eyes – that configures reality. This was also established by a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, which found that the bright colours of flowers – and perhaps even fruit – have been selected by pollinators over the centuries.
And in Hom’s iconographic ‘pollination’, the latest work, Re-Framed, takes on a revolutionary scope.
Images expanded over three metres and more, installed on semi-mobile supports, perceptive in the wind, in the midst of nature. A malleable scenario, like life, where photography loses its museum-like staticity and becomes a metaphor for existence.
A metaverse created with photography.
As he would say, ‘the beauty of the unexpected’.
Marc, to make a funny pun, what awaits us with Re-Framed?
That one day Quantin Tarantino looks at Anne Hathaway and after a few moments the situation can change. If I had to define Re-Framed I would say that it is a new beginning, a new way of looking at things.
How did the idea of this great little perceptual revolution come about?
I was walking through the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, a wonderful place that has existed since the mid-1800s, I had been invited to exhibit and I wondered, wandering around the rooms, how I could challenge myself. I had always proposed hanging pictures. Then I suddenly thought of the immense garden outside,
I imagined what the image would look like,
I don’t know, of Louise Bourgeois expanded into a three-metre frame out there in the middle of nature.
Is that the source of what we see in your wonderful book?
Yes, I developed 68 pictures drawing on works from the 1990s to the current day. In the museum it is amazing because you have 37 frames in normal size, then you go through the two doors to the garden, arrive in the large park and you find 14 huge frames, double-sided (with a picture on each side), each weighing 350 kilos. And they move with the wind, following the weather, thanks to a small gear inside, creating a silent communication between the people in the picture.
Do you plan to put it out into the world?
Yes, I am already planning to start with a Danish museum and then, from 2025, we can go anywhere.
Your home country, right? Can you tell us how you flew from Copenhagen to New York all those years ago?
My mother was an actress, my father a director, they ran the first Art Cinema in Copenhagen in 1978, a very nice place. The passion for photography came from my father, he passed on to me the desire to capture images as a film photographer does.
Therefore, I attended the Danish Art Academy and then flew to NY.
I was 21 years old. I was looking for my way in the world of photography.
What was your first big job?
Elena Chernyshova invited me to Vienna for a book about the ballet company, I spent six months with them. It was a great success, it did not only involve portraying the dancers, it was a story that also involved the members of the Vienna Philharmonic Opera.
You have shot major fashion campaigns: Gucci, Patek Philippe, Boss, how did you get into fashion?
I started working at the new Harper’s Bazaar in 1992. It was an experience I carried on for many years. Likewise, it was exciting to work alongside Mario Testino and his brother Giovanni, co-founders of Art Partner (one of the world’s recognised agencies for creative talent in luxury, fashion and beauty, ed). In 2009, I started to focus less on fashion and more on portraits.
Fashion is an expressive tool, but everything in the end centres around the person you portray.
Right, people. You photograph big stars, world celebrities. Speaking of being and appearing, are people always as they appear?
People often surprise you, you think they are a certain way and you discover different things. Everyone has their own view of the other, you should never listen to external judgements until you have your own perception. Respect wins, always. And trust.
Does everything always go smoothly? How did you picture it?
In the creative process the element of surprise looms up, it doesn’t always go smoothly. The rule that always applies to me is to be in the middle, not to step on each other. Some are more ‘difficult’ than others, they have an attitude, but there is a reason why they are there. And you have to be happy with that, in common respect.
Someone you absolutely wanted to photograph?
Miley Cyrus. I called her and invited her, she responded enthusiastically and said she was very happy about it and came with her team.
Among names such as Aretha Franklin, Christopher Walken, Cher, Amy Winehouse, Faye Dunaway, we also find Matteo Renzi…
Yes, I had gone to see him one Sunday, I was photographing for Vanity Fair and he was late. He arrived after half an hour in a great mood because his football team had won and we talked about that. Even there, you can’t control the mood of people when they arrive on set, you have to manage it, be flexible.
How will you select the places where you will present Re.Framed?
I am working on it together with Noona Smith Petersen (international pr whose CV includes names such as Armani, Valentino, Calvin Klein, Danish father and Italian mother, ed) it must be a combination of many things.
