sayaka ganz

from the artist, sayaka ganz:

driven by a combination of my passion for fitting odd shapes together & a sympathy toward discarded objects, i create animals from thrift store plastics.

i spent my early childhood in japan but i grew up in several different countries. japanese shinto beliefs are such that all objects & organisms have spirits, & i was taught in kindergarten that objects that are discarded before their time weep at night inside the trash bin. this became a vivid image in my mind. the constant need to adjust to a new environment also gave me a strong desire to fit in & to create harmony around me.

i only select objects that have been used & discarded. my goal is for each object to transcend its origin by being integrated into an animal/organic forms that are alive & in motion. this process of reclamation & regeneration is liberating to me as an artist. 

building these sculptures helps me understand the situations that surround me. it reminds me that even if there is a conflict right now, there is also a solution in which all the pieces can coexist peacefully. though there are wide gaps in some areas & small holes in others, when seen from the distance there is great beauty & harmony in our community. through my sculptures i transmit a message of hope.

.....love this.

black white and red all over

saskia de brauw photographed by daniel jackson & styled by julia von boehm for harper's bazaar u.s., november 2012.

balmain homme - spring/summer 2013 lookbook

janis ancens photographed by karim sadli for balmain homme, spring/summer 2013.

diego uchitel - polaroids

isabella blow

diane von furstenberg

sophia coppola

the back, new york city

model at teatro colon, buenos aires, argentina

iselin steiro, new york city

i had the lovely good fortune to work with diego uchitel when he was just starting out here in los angeles. he was full of joy & completely talented from the beginning.  it's so wonderful to see this collection & the success he has achieved.

uchitel has collected 25 years' worth of polaroids in a new book, diego uchitel: polaroids. "it's just a polaroid, you don't care so much," says the argentine photographer. "you capture a moment and it's more spontaneous, more like a snap." the project, he explains, happened organically. "today, layouts are done on computers. but back then i'd put one polaroid on the wall next to another one. four or five shoots later, they'd start spreading." and so it grew. 

i miss those days!  we would all huddle around the photographer's assistant while he kept the polaroids under his armpit waiting for it to develop. the film never came close to the feeling of those polaroids but gave us a glimpse of what we had to look forward to.  i had at least 4 or 5 cameras - different sizes, a japanese one, a semi-professional one & even a 1970s land camera.  everybody looked good in a polaroid & if you didn't you just scribbled on it quickly with your finger to create your own masterpiece! 

bravo diego. a really beautiful collection.

point of ecstasy

tilda lindstam, ashleigh good & zuzanna krzatala photographed by jeff bark & styled by katie shillingford for dazed & confused, october 2012.