Face to face with the artist Idan Wizen

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, the photographer of the project Who’s That Nude In The Living Room ? it’s a project that I founded in 2009 which now includes more than 2,200 photographs of 2200 different people.

This project has been declined in different collections through time. Changing graphic universes, a semantics which is added, but who will keep the same ideological basis which is based on three things the place of prudishness in society. Being able to show that a naked body isn’t necessarily pornographic, it’s not erotic and at the same time, to fight against the demonization of the body. The ideologies that make it absolutely necessary to hide it, it’s the idea of showing that bodies can be different and beautiful than beauty standards of advertising, and fashion.

And then, it’s a reflection on the attraction of a human about whom we know nothing that we have taken out of any socio-cultural context. And who is just there to talk to us, to make us dream. For each person who comes to pose, we will keep one and only one photograph. This photo, we will choose it together and it will exist in four prints each in a unique format. A small size that measures 20×30 cm to the largest, which is 80×120 cm.

 

Why collect artworks of the project Who’s That Nude In The Living Room ?

I believe in buying a photo and collecting photographs of the project, it is above all talk about these beings about whom we know nothing, it is looking at them when they have been taken out of any sociocultural context. We don’t have their name, we don’t have their age, we don’t have their profession, we don’t have their clothes either and clothing positions us socially and are never neutral. So it’s watching, this person almost his essence. Beyond everything, saying that we like it, who speaks to us, who makes us smile, who makes us dream, that will motivate us. It’s the purpose of art, watch a work that will tell us a story who will make us travel.

 

It’s hard to hang on a nude photograph at home, What do you think ?

Indeed, in addition to this image that makes us dream, which makes us travel, it is also using art as a means of transmitting our vision of things, our vision of the world and here more precisely, his vision of the body. Hang a Nude In The Living Room, it’s say, I think that the bodies are beautiful, even if they are different from stereotypes, standards, advertising, fashion. This means that nudity is not necessarily dirty. It is humanity as it is in its simplest device. It is to show that the human is totally diverse between each human, at the same time, with a certain distance we are all the same.

 

How to choose a photograph?

It is true that there are more than 2300 photographs on the site, it’s not always easy and obvious from all watch and choose. My first advice for sorting out would be to choose by format since we have unique pieces. There are quite a few formats that are no longer available and therefore already, it will limit a little, mainly if you want small formats who leave very quickly, generally. My second advice would be to choose by collection. We are going to have very clear, very drawn graphic universes, like Purity, things a little darker more worked like Pandemonium, or very pop and colorful things like Artificial Nature. It’s a question of taste, we want to see where we’re going to put them. It can help sort and easily reduce on a photograph depending on the collections you like.

 

Why an artwork more than another?

Once you have optionally chosen size and collection but not necessarily, I think you have to listen his heart, his gaze. What I find great is that since I did this, for over twelve years now, that I spend time with people to choose photograph, there are not two who will have the same crushes and i want to say, trust you, look at the photographs you like a look, a smile, an attitude, that’s a whole. And I believe that’s what’s important, it is you who will hang it and see it everydays.

 

Another selection advice ?

First of all, my advice would be to choose according to your emotions, your own gaze. But if you have a particular desire on the theme of humor, if you want photographs of an elderly person or people who assume their body, on will try on the site, to have presets. It’s just our tastes, and that’s obviously very subjective. But it already allows to have a first selection and you can create a collection on a thematic more than a graphic collection.

 

By purchasing an artwork of the project,can we say that is a financial investment ?

A financial investment, I cannot promise you. All the prints we make are made of museum quality, it is prints which are signed, which are numbered, therefore it is an artwork in the technical sense of the term. Regarding the overall interest that there may be and resale, yes, maybe, but that will rather be my reputation, my image which will give a rating over time and according to people who want to get them back. The more you will support the project, the more it will work.

 

One last tip?

Of course, I’ll even have three. The first is take a walk on the site, take time to look at the photographs and then you can put them aside. You have a feature to add them to favorites, to then on your account, watch his favorites, sort them, organize them as you wish.

My second tip it would be thinking of collections and compositions, whether on the same graphic collection or on several collections. The photos also speak more when there are several and that they respond to each other.

And then, my last advice is, do not hesitate to come and see me or in any case, make a collector appointment I make them either in video call or studio appointment. The idea is, whatever your budget, whatever size you want to do as composition, we will watch and work together. I will make you some simulations proposals. It’s generally a pleasant moment to spend, so do not hesitate.

 

 

 

 

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, a fine art photographer in Paris. I founded the project Who’s That Nude In The Living Room? in 2009 and since then I have taken more than 2200 pictures of 2200 different people. I was asked to choose my favorite photos, I let you find out the rest!

 

What are your three funniest pictures?

 

H0227 – L’illuminé (Lost Room), 2013

F0272 – La Jack in the box (White Light District), 2014

HB1790 (Liberty), 2019

 

The most touching?

 

H0158 – Le sprinteur (Névrose), 2012

F024 (Genèse), 2009 

F0557 – The waver (Backstage), 2015

 

The weirdest?

 

HB2073 (Sanitized), 2021

H0121 – L’alternatif (Obstination), 2012

F0259 – La princesse (White Light District), 2014

 

The most elegant?

 

F0421 – Harmonia (Pandemonium), 2014

HB2004 (Sanitized), 2021

H0390 – The fop (Backstage), 2015

 

Most melancholic?

 

F0480 – The antidepressant (Backstage), 2015

HB1939 (Sanitized), 2020

HB1736 (Liberty), 2019

 

Most inspiring?

 

H0396 – Le Farmer (Backstage), 2015

HB1830 (Sanitized), 2020

H0188 – Le terrifiant (Névrose), 2012

 

The most graphic?

 

H036 (Genèse), 2009 

HB1564 (Purity), 2018

F0340 – Amentem (Pandemonium), 2014

 

The craziest?

 

H0314 – Pirata (Pandemonium), 2014

H0449 – Teays Valley (Artificial Nature), 2016

F0720 – Beverly Hills (Artificial Nature), 2016

 

Top 3 favorite photos that are not from the UANDLS project?

 

American Condoms, 2010

Let’s backbite together (Hinders), 2020

The drowning of consumption, shoes sauce (Hinders), 2020

 

The 3 photos you would have liked to do?

 

Lil Kim, David LaChapelle, 1999

Spencer Tunick, 2007, Amsterdam

La liberté dévoilée, Gérard Rancinan, 2008

 

 

 

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, visual artist. You may know me for my work Who’s That Nude In The Living Room?, a project about the body. Today I’d like to tell you about my other art projects and photographs.

 

Virtual Street Art

Virtual Street Art is a particular project that regroups photographs from the Purity collection of the project Who’s That Nude In The Living Room?. With photographs and shots of urban architecture I create compositions in order to mix the two. I integrate the black and white photos of Purity on large walls as if they were made in street art. The whole idea is to rethink the place of nudity in the public sphere. Can it be visible to everyone? Is it disturbing? Is it shocking? This is the basis of Virtual Street Art.

 

Do you think this project could be realized in real life one day?

I would love to. I would love to see my photographs reworked as street art on large walls. Unfortunately, given the evolution of our society, where we are headed, I don’t think so. I think there is more and more prudishness, puritanism. And besides, it’s a rather hypocritical prudishness. I would love to, but I don’t believe it. At least not in the short term, in my opinion. Afterwards, if someone offers it to me – with pleasure. 

 

The World We Left Them

Another collection I made is called The World We Left Them. These are portraits of children, mostly done in very large format, as you can see behind me. The print behind me is 1m20 x 1m20. The whole idea in this work is a reflection on next generations, on future generations and the world we will leave them.  They represent for me the children to be born, the children to come who will question us on what we did, on our collective responsibilities, as well on the environmental, social level, on the whole of aspects in our society where, sometimes, we will manage things in a very concrete way for the present moment, without necessarily thinking of the future and the generations to come.

 

How important are the titles? Are they an integral part of the series?

Yes, for each picture of The World We Left Them the titles are really important, they are really part of the work. They are very strong titles, very engaged, a little bit like reproaches that these future generations could make us. Don’t let me starve : it’s a real reflection on overpopulation, on food management, on food waste. It’s this child who, in thirty, forty, fifty or a hundred years, I don’t know, will complain about us, as if we could have this intergenerational dialogue.  The titles are really important and fundamental in this collection. For me they cannot be differentiated from the work, they are as much a part of the picture itself. 

 

Is the goal to change things?

To change things, I don’t know. I would like to, but I think that things are not changed simply, easily, just by decree. What I am trying to do is to propose an awareness, a reflection, an intellectualization of the problem in order to start to have a way of thinking, of reforms, of measures, of concrete things to do, to make progress. The themes addressed are very broad and range from the societal and economic to the ecological level. I certainly don’t have the miracle solution by snapping my fingers. Often, when we think we have a miracle solution, in fact, it is very harmful on other levels. Indeed, I would like to make things change, but I also know that it is complex, it is necessary to go with moderation, reflection, and then with time, without precipice either, to push to the reflection, to the awareness in any case.

 

Do you consider yourself as a committed artist?

A committed artist, I don’t really know. I’m not sure what that means to me. The artist is there above all to express ideas, a vision of things which is his own, a different vision. I am not sure that one can have contemporary art without commitment, without taking a position, even if it is a position that can be very consensual. The answer is yes and no. In any case, I believe that it is necessary not to be extremist in taking a position, it is really necessary to look at the two sides of a coin and to always have relatively measured proposals, by taking conscience of many things, of all the factors that that implies. So, yes and no.

 

Into The Box

The Into The Box is a collection that was made during the second French confinement. Getting used to lockdowns, that’s why we had to keep busy. We couldn’t exhibit, we couldn’t receive models in the studio, so we wanted to make this collection. It is a collection that, of course, speaks of the suffocation that we can suffer within the lockdown, as well as at work, but also in everyday life, while not being able to go out to dinner. I believe that all the French and most of the people in the world have experienced this situation which was unprecedented and very complex. 

It’s not your habit, but you appear in the picture?

Yes, indeed, you certainly recognized me, the man who appears in the photos of Into The Box is me. In general, it’s true that I’m more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, but here I wanted to appear for two reasons. First, very concretely and pragmatically, it was very complicated to receive people because of the lockdown and so I felt like doing it. The second thing why I didn’t mind appearing in these photos was because the lockdown, the suffocation due to all this, I experienced it like anyone else. So I felt able to represent the feelings, the expressions, the emotions that I wanted to convey through this collection.

 

Who are the 3 other models present in the pictures?

The three beautiful girls who appear with me in the photos, they are in fact my collaborators. They are not models at all, they are the three people who help me to work in the studio, as well on the communication, as on the logistics. And to avoid bringing in models, as we were in a period of lockdown, the four of us were working in the studio and they, like me, had felt this feeling of oppression by the lockdown, this feeling of suffocation. The four of us had fun becoming the models for the duration of the collection. I am delighted with the result and I thank them for their participation in this beautiful project.

 

Is there a double reading?

Yes, indeed, speaking of this box, it is clearly a metaphor for lockdown, but not only. The lockdown has deprived us of a lot of freedom for sanitary reasons, but even if it can be extended it remains temporary. These are decisions that go beyond decisions, social reflections. I thought it was symbolically important to talk about this boxing up of people. We are going to characterize them more and more. We will say that such and such a person must do this, must do that. We look at people much more for what they are, rather than what they do. It’s a bit of a reproach to today’s society, which wants to fight for more social justice, but at the same time will really compartmentalize personalities into pre-established patterns of thought. It also symbolizes all that this collection. This will that we have to break walls, to go out of the box, not to let ourselves be suffocated, and to show that each individual is a complex person, with his history, his past, his future, his aspirations, his fears. And that we are far from just labeling him as a woman or a man, that he will be ratialised or not. I think we always have something much more complex and it’s a shame to generally limit people and put them in boxes.

 

Where to find these pictures?

What I would advise you to do first of all is to go and see them in an exhibition. You can go to my website to see the list of upcoming exhibitions, both in France and around the world. And if there are any near you, don’t hesitate. I think seeing them for real is really different. And if you can’t wait for the next show, you can always see them on our website, and then eventually in your living room, by ordering them directly on the online store. 

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, artist-photographer, based in Paris. I work in France, but also internationally, in the United States and in Asia.  

 

Do you consider yourself an artist or a photographer? 

I would say both. Photography is the medium I use on a daily basis. I don’t paint, I don’t draw very much, usually, it’s just to prepare for the photographs I’m going to make. I’m starting to do sculpture, but what made me known and what allows me to work on a daily basis is the camera, it’s photography, it’s the management of the light behind it. 

Artist, it is the finality of my photographic works. One can do photography to say many things: reportage, marriage photography, advertising photography. There are many purposes when one makes a photograph, and it is up to the author to decide the reason and the context. 

In my case, I photograph above all to create strong images, which are to be exhibited in galleries, in collectors’ homes, which are intended to be printed in large formats, but above all to provoke a particular and unique emotion in the viewer. 

So, from that point of view, I am an artist. 

 

What do you think of contemporary art? 

That’s a rather vague question because contemporary art is broad. We often hear people say that they love or hate contemporary art with very clear-cut positions. I think that in contemporary art there is a little bit of everything. There are exceptional things in front of which I love to marvel and which I will look at with passion, with envy, with emotions. There are extremely strong things. And then, as in any sector, there are things that are inevitably not so good. Sometimes, we will push the principle of the conceptual a little too hard, removing the aestheticism, saying that the form is not essential, but that the substance is. Sometimes, the background can also be light, so there’s not much left. 

It’s like everything. Like in the cinema, where there are very good things, and things that I will find less good. Also in music. I think that contemporary art is very wide and that you have to see and choose what you like and what you don’t like. 

 

What are your sources of inspiration?

There is one person that I feel obliged to mention every time, because he is the one who gave me the idea to do art, to do photography. It is David La Chapelle. His strong, colorful, powerful images, full of meaning, hidden meaning too. I have always been in awe of him, and he is one of my main references. 

But to quote a Frenchman as well, I really like the work of Gérard Rancinan, whom I have been following for years, and whom I find magnificent. 

Other great names, like Jill Greenberg or Sacha Goldberger, I like very much, and they are people who inspire me. 

 

So, in contemporary art you prefer fine art photographers? 

No, not necessarily. It’s true that I tend to quote photographers because I follow them more. But there are obviously artists that I like a lot. Banksy, for example. I don’t agree with all his positions, but I find them very strong and relevant. 

I really like the Japanese influence like Murakami or Kusama. And then someone who is between photography and installation is Spencer Tunick, where I’ve always admired his work. 

 

What is art for you? 

Art for me is something that is hard to define. There are many who have tried before me. What is important to understand is that often when we say “art”, in the head of people it will be associated with quality. For me art is a state of what it is, it is a work of art, good, bad, whatever. One should not confuse “work of art” and “masterpiece”.  That’s what many will do. 

I think that a work of art is above all something that emanates from the author, there is really a will to propose a different, alternative, his own vision of things, and to share them with his public. 

 

Is photography art? 

Yes, of course. Photography is art. I like to think that the medium doesn’t really define art. It is above all a form of expression, regardless of the medium, it could be painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video. Today, we can see art in many different forms, but photography is not necessarily art. I’m going to be a little bit direct. When you take a picture with your phone and it’s just to send to your friend to make a souvenir, it’s not art. It can be a photo, you are the author, but it is not art. To become one, there must be a real will to create a piece of art. 

 

What is quality art according to you? 

For me, the art that I appreciate is the art that brings together two aspects. First of all, an idea, a background that should be strong, that should propose a different point of view, a social reflection, on the human, psychological level, regardless of the theme, but in any case a real reflection.

The second point is to have an aesthetic that is surprising, attractive to the eye, that accompanies the reflection proposed by the work. It is when we combine these two elements that we have a work of quality. 

I would like to say, to make a comparison with a novel: it is essential that the plot, the story of the novel be interesting, and then it is better if it is well written, if the sentences are well structured. We enter the story more easily, we want to know the end of the story. If it’s poorly written, we usually stop at the beginning. 

 

What does it take to be a good artist? 

It depends on which way you look at it. First of all, a good agent, a good gallery! 

I think, a lot of work, a lot of self-denial. I think that today it is very difficult to break through, we have the impression that we are in an extremely connected world, where you can show your work to everyone extremely easily. But in the hubbub of the information that we will have, we drown in it, and it is much more difficult to show what we do. 

The main quality to be a good artist is a lot of work, a lot of abnegation, a lot of questioning and keep trying, keep working and keep doing! 

 

Is there a recipe for success? 

Of course, you send me an email and I will send it back to you!

No, I don’t think there is a recipe. There are destinies of life, a little luck, a chance of things, there is much work. There are many things, but I think that we haven’t even defined what “success” is. It’s a very broad question. 

I believe that an artist, above all, must continue to enjoy creating, and that is the most important thing. 

 

 

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, artist-photographer, based in Paris. I do photography that is intended to be printed in small or very large format on prints that are exhibited in galleries, as well as in private homes, in France and around the world. 

What is a photographic print? 

A photographic print is a process of putting on paper a photograph that was taken either with a silver negative, as in the past, or today from a digital file. 

What makes a print a work of art? 

In order for a print to become an artwork, there are a lot of things to take into consideration. The first thing that is important to understand is that “artwork” does not mean “masterpiece”. Often we confuse it. An “artwork” qualifies an object, like a car that has four wheels, that has an engine and that moves. There are very beautiful cars, and there are cars that are not so good for many reasons. It is a little the same thing for an artwork, a work of art qualifies the emanation of the will of an author, artist-author who wanted to make a piece of art. And so it was his primary desire, then it could be successful or not, and it could end up in a garage sale where nobody buys it, as well as in a museum in front of millions of spectators per year who marvel at it. 

The other point that is important to keep in mind is that it must come from an author for a photograph to become a work of art. We are all authors of a photograph, from the moment you take a photograph with your phone, you are technically the author, yet you are not an artist. From the moment you wish, you want this photograph to become a work of art, you are the artist. Once again, it’s the same, I take my example of a car: it has four wheels, it runs, it’s a car. It’s the same, it doesn’t mean that you’re a good artist, at least not in the eyes of everybody. 

The last point for a print to become a work of art is that it has to be made by an artist, under his control, signed and numbered. 

Under his control, it means that the print must be realized if it is by a professional laboratory or by the artist himself, but that he verifies it, that he validates it. This validation is verified by the application of his signature. 

The second point is rarity. The maximum numbering, the laws vary according to the different countries, but in France, one is limited to 30 (thirty) copies of all formats, for a photographic print. 

The print must be signed by the artist, numbered, a maximum of thirty samples, all formats combined. 

What is important to understand is that when an artwork exists in more than thirty different copies, it is no longer a work of art in the first sense of the term, in the fiscal sense, in the sense of value on the art market. It can be a very beautiful photograph, printed on a very good quality paper, but if it exists in fifty, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand copies, you have a poster. Very beautiful, but it is still a poster. And it’s not the same thing as a work of art with a limited number.

The numbering, what does it mean?

The numbering for art photography is the total number of prints that could potentially exist. It was said that the law imposed a maximum of thirty. Each artist has to decide how many he will make within this limit. For me, I will often make four or eight, on some collections, I will only make three prints for an artwork.

When you have a numbering, you often have two numbers that are marked: 1/8, 2/8, 3/8, for example. The first number indicates the number of the print: this is the third one I make. The second indicates the total number that there will be at most all formats combined. That is, we can decide to make four small formats, three large formats and one very large, there will be eight in all, and each print will be numbered. 

Why are we going to do this? It’s not a technical limitation. Often it’s to create an extra rarity. We will make a limited number of works. This does not mean that they are all necessarily existing, because in general, often for photographic works, we will make them on demand. This allows us to create a rarity that will enhance the value of the print and each piece. 

Your photographs are often marked as unique to the format. What does this mean? 

Unique in format is to go even further than the numbering. That is to say, I commit myself to say that each work will be made, realized, printed in a single copy in a given size. For example, I will make four copies, one small, one medium, one large, one very large, there will be only four and one each time, in each size. This creates an even greater rarity and you have at home a piece that, closer to a painting, is, if not unique, almost unique. In any case, when you buy a unique photograph in its format, you are sure to be the only one in the world to have this photograph, in this size. 

Signature, where to find it? Digital or handwritten signature? 

First of all, the digital signature is worthless. It could have been integrated on the file before it was printed, it has no value. The signature must be handwritten, after the printing. It proves that the artist has checked it, verified it, that the work suits him and that he will put his signature to certify that. 

Then, it can be found on the front or the back of a print. For my part, I prefer to put it at the front, generally at the bottom right of the work for three reasons. The first is to recall the world of painting, where many artists signed their paintings at the bottom right, and I think that the photograph should be placed at the same level as the painting, and therefore be signed in front.   

The other thing is to make sure that the signature does not disappear depending on the finish of the frame. If the print is to be laminated and if you have signed on the back of the print, with the lamination it disappears and it’s complicated to restore it. 

The last point that I find important is to be able to distinguish that it is an original work, and of the support that the collector brought to the creation and support to the photographer. It seems important to me that he can see it permanently and that it can be shown permanently, so I prefer to sign my prints in the lower right corner on the front. 

Any last advice for future purchasers? 

First and foremost, if you can, always buy original work. In the shops you will find a bit of everything and anything, things that they will tell you are original works when they are just high-quality posters. For not necessarily much more expensive, you can get original, signed, numbered prints from young artists. And that’s what I would recommend for several reasons. First of all, you have something that not everybody has, and it’s still more pleasant, I think, when you buy a work of art. The other point is that you are going to help young artists, to continue to create, to develop and thus to support creation and art as a whole. And third point, more long term. When you buy a work of art, if it is signed, if it is numbered, if it is an original piece, I don’t know if you will necessarily make money on it, but maybe, one day, when you want to resell it, it has value. When you buy a poster, it’s going to lose value, it’s never going to be worth more than what you spent. 

 

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, an artist-photographer in Paris. Between 2018 and 2019, I created the Liberty collection, from the project Who’s That Nude In The Living Room?. It is a collection that includes 198 photographs, and like all the photographs of the project, the people who came to pose on this collection were not cast, were not chosen. They are everyday people, who were taken as they are, without retouching, with their bodies as they are in their natural state. 

 

Why put naked people in the middle of purple flowers? 

Above all on the Liberty collection, what I wanted to talk about is a theme that is very dear to me in all my artistic works, it is individual freedom. This freedom in general, where we will constrain ourselves, towards the look of the others, towards the social pressure. 

For this collection, we were strongly inspired by the English fabric “Liberty”, which gave us the idea of the title. But it is also to work on these purple flowers, which represent, according to me, a nature altered by humans, nature which is always in perpetual transformation, in evolution. The whole idea of this contrast between man in his natural state and this transformed, disguised nature, is to show that we could evolve, that humanity could evolve at the same time as nature. 

 

This flowery decor, especially in pink, is often associated with the feminine? What did you mean by having men pose? 

I don’t totally agree. I don’t think pink is necessarily associated with the feminine. The pink and purplish tones of Liberty for me are above all synonymous with serenity, appeasement, tranquility, not necessarily femininity. 

In my opinion, the fact of posing in the middle of these flowers for a man does not question his virility, does not question anything. These are above all tones that I like, that I appreciate, that I find beautiful on men as well as on women. 

 

Was it intended to create a contrast between the decor and the traditional image of masculinity? 

No, I don’t think so. When I think about a collection for the project Who’s That Nude In The Living Room?, I don’t think in terms of men and women. I think primarily in terms of the human being, regardless of gender. What matters to me is that the photo speaks of the feelings, the sensations, the feelings that we have as human beings, no matter if we are a man or a woman. I created this collection to suit everyone, men as well as women. 

Besides, the titles of the photographs all begin with HB and then a number. The number is simply the order in which the person came to pose, and HB means “human being“. Just that.

 

It’s a universe opposite to Purity? Isn’t it complicated for an artist to have such different styles? 

It’s true that we ask the artist to have the same style, immediately recognizable throughout his career. I find that extremely reductive and a shame. Often it is above all for commercial reasons. If we are able to recognize the artist directly, it is easier for the customers, for the press, for the buyers and it is very selling. 

For my part, I try to make sure that my approach remains constant on my vision of things. On the other hand, graphically I want to evolve, to do different things, to follow my desires, my passion, my inspiration of the moment and I don’t want to constrain myself to do only color or black and white photography, or very pure things or very busy things. I want to remain very free in this.  

 

How did you manage to make this decor full of flowers? By retouching? 

Oh no, it’s not retouching! There is no retouching on the photos. The flowers were really there. They are fabric flowers. We had more than 20 m² of fabric flowers in the studio. And thus the models lay down or were upright directly on it. 

For the small anecdote, the flowers are in fabric, but they are maintained between them by small plastic stems, which are not extremely pleasant, not necessarily comfortable. If on the pictures, people look calm, relaxed, in general, it hurt their feet, or elsewhere when they were on it. But that’s the magic of photography. 

 

Can you tell us about your favorite pictures? 

I don’t have a favorite photo, I love them all. After that, I can tell you about a few that have a particular resonance for me. I believe that what counts above all is the resonance in the eye of the viewer. Even if it can speak to what I want to say, remember to go and look at it yourself.

 

A photo I want to talk about is HB1746. It is for me a photo that represents the oxymoron of emotions. We see him serene, free. He has totally forgotten that I am there, taking his picture. He is almost in a position opposite to what his size and his massive body make us think. He is the opposite of the diktats of fashion, he is the opposite of many things, and yet he is there, happy to be there. His happiness makes the picture shine. It is a photo that I like very much, that I find very strong and that does not leave indifferent. 

 

I could also tell you about HB1669, which is right behind me. It is a photo that I like very much because it speaks to me of this inner strength that we all have deep inside us, that we can go and get from a serenity. When I see him, I see someone who has fought almost all his life, and who has finally found his balance. He is still a bit precarious, full of introspection, but he has a balance. 

Introspection is something fundamental in my opinion. It is what allows us to evolve, to become better beings, to progress in life. This photo, when I look at it in the morning, it pushes me to have a reflection on myself and to improve myself as a person. 

 

A photo that evokes many things to me is the photograph HB1778. For me it is the paroxysm of freedom in this photograph. It defies everything, all constraints, all conditioning. It even defies the laws of gravity. We see her escaping from the decor. She is totally free, she has freed herself from everything that could hold her back in her past, in her education. She moves forward to become a free, better, fulfilled person. It is a photo that touches me a lot, and that does not leave me indifferent. 

 

Liberty is a collection with very present colors and a setting very loaded. Did it please the different clients? 

Liberty is a collection that pleases, but I think that when I make a photographic series, I don’t ask myself if it will please, if it will go with the color of the sofa or the interior of the people. I don’t think like that. And I think that when you buy art, that’s not what you ask yourself. We don’t buy decorations, for that there are very big brands that work very well and that make unbeatable prices. 

When we buy art, we buy it above all for its emotions, for what we feel, for the ideas it represents. You buy it for all that, beyond knowing if the colors will go well together. And I believe that a good work of art, well-framed, well laid out, goes anywhere, no matter the colors, the size or the formats etc. I think we should go beyond that and not confuse the purchase of art and decoration. 

 

 

 

Hello, I’m Idan Wizen, an artist-photographer in Paris. I founded the project Who’s That Nude In The Living Room? in 2009 and since then I have photographed more than 2000 people in the simplest of clothes. Generally, these people had never posed nude or never posed for a photo at all. 

 

Why pose nude? 

For several reasons, they are very specific to each one, according to their desires, but I believe that there are two principal reasons which appear. The first one is to overcome our modesty, our complexes, to dare to show our body. And then to learn to look at ourselves differently, to learn to love ourselves, to learn to see that we can be beautiful and to learn to accept ourselves. 

 

How does the session proceed? 

When people arrive in my studio, I don’t know them at all. In general, I have no information about them. The first step, before starting to photograph or asking them to undress, is to talk. Talk about their expectations, talk about their fears, what they like, what they don’t like. It’s a moment that is magical, almost intimate, often more intimate than the photoshoot itself when they are naked. 

This dialogue allows us to create a bond of trust, to get to know each other a little better, to understand their expectations and to take photos that will meet them.

 

How do you make them feel comfortable? 

I think that very, very quickly, after a few moments, we forget the fact of being naked. During the photo session, I will guide them from A to Z, I will tell them to turn their head to the left, to the right, to put a hand here or there, quickly we find ourselves with positions and exercises that are quite physical, that are not necessarily natural, despite what the images will give the impression of. The nudity passes completely in the background and it is something that we forget very quickly. 

 

Do you adapt yourself according to the person in front of you to make the best picture? 

To make a photo, it’s really a work for two, of complicity, of look according to the expectations, and then morphologically according to the person. As much as the positions, the postures, what goes well to one, does not necessarily go well to the other, therefore we will adapt according to each one’s appearance. And then, even according to the personality of each one, I try to describe the people as they are in real life, not to make them play a role, and thus I try to find positions, postures which speak about them. 

I think that no two photoshoots are alike in terms of attitudes, postures, and all that. And that’s why I love doing what I do. 

 

How do the models feel after the session? 

It’s always difficult to speak for them, but what I have as feedback is above all a feeling of pride. Pride in having succeeded in doing it, pride in having relaxed. There is inevitably a bit of stress before and after you are free. 

And then there is a surprise. They are often surprised to find themselves beautiful, beautiful in another way than what they could think before, so to find themselves beautiful differently. That’s what sums up their feeling: it’s pride, a feeling of accomplishment and freedom, and then a surprise, a pleasant surprise at the end of the session.

 

What would you advise people who don’t dare to come? 

To come anyway! They don’t have much to lose! At worst, they will say that they were not comfortable, and they will not like their picture. I don’t really believe that, and that’s my experience. 

The hardest part is usually signing up and telling yourself you’re going to do it. But I think it’s like in life when you tell a child to try things out. I think it’s the same for adults. You have to test, you can’t be afraid of anything and you have to dare and venture. And then, as you do it, you realize that it’s much easier than you think. A lot of people are terrified when they arrive, and when they leave they tell me, “but it was nothing”. And that’s it. 

So, go ahead, dare, take the plunge and sign up to come and pose for the project, but also with many photographers, who are out there and doing great work. Don’t hesitate to do it!

 

 

 

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, an artist-photographer in Paris. I have been working for more than 10 years now on the place of aesthetics and mainly of the human body in society and in its different forms. 

 

How have the canons of beauty evolved through the centuries?

The criteria of aestheticism and the way we look at the body have evolved over time along with humanity. If we focus on the female body, the first information we have on the prehistoric ideal of beauty is mainly a reference to fertility. An opulent breast, a belly, round hips. These are all the traces that remain to us where we can find these criteria. 

If I pass very quickly through the centuries and if I arrive at the Florentine Renaissance, we can have a criterion that seems ridiculous to us today – the fronts had to be extremely large. For this reason, the women of the time would shave and pluck the top of the forehead and the beginning of the hair to have the impression of having an extremely large forehead.

A few decades later we will find Rubens and extremely round women, full-bodied with very milky skins which will mainly change compared to our criteria today. 

Today we can see that even in a few decades we have deeply evolved. If we look at the beauty canons in the 70s, we see that women were extremely thin, without forms, almost “boyish”. 

In the 80s and 90s, we find women who are much fuller in the chest mainly. 

And then until the 2000s, when we see the whole body that is enormously rounded like, for example, Kim Kardashian today.

 

What about the criteria of beauty today? 

In our current society, I think that we have less of a single criterion as we could have in the past decades or centuries. We have a society that allows several forms of criteria, even if they are all quite strict, they are all within the frames, but we accept several frames in our society. Perhaps thanks to the multiplication of alternative modes of communication, which are no longer only big media, like TV or newspapers, as we had in the 20th century. What is important to understand is that we were in a time when there was only one mode, which was defined by a class, and everybody followed more or less, but it was really the dominant mode, and it is what remains to us. 

Today, in our society we can see that we have several fashions according to our socio-cultural origins, according to our social class, and we will have a little bit the same thing in the criteria of aestheticism on the beautiful. 

 

Sociologically, why do we need a reference? 

I believe that we need reference, criteria of aestheticism for two reasons: the first it is what is going to allow us to have our own taste. It is very difficult to know what is beautiful, when we have never seen something. When you have never seen a rose, it is very difficult to know if this flower is beautiful or not compared to the other flowers, and even between the different roses. 

It is a bit like what happens with the human eye, we will adapt and therefore we will have the tastes of others that will allow us to create references, and to be able to position ourselves in relation to that. This is the first point. 

The second point, much more marketing, is that it is important to have references and models of beauty, which allow us to communicate on it, which allow us to sell, to show, to make us dream, to idealize. 

That’s why even if the criteria evolve, we always remain with an ideal of beauty that lasts in time. 

 

Do you find everybody beautiful? 

As a human being, as a person, no, I can’t find everyone beautiful. On the other hand, as an artist, yes, I like to believe it, I like to believe that everyone can be beautiful, because he has something to evoke, to show, to transmit. And if not everyone can be beautiful in the eyes of everyone, I think that everyone can be beautiful in the eyes of some people who will find him or her beautiful. 

That’s the idea of the project, it’s not to say that “all the bodies are beautiful, and I love all the pictures”, but “I like some people”, who are not in the criteria, ideals of our society, of our time, but who can please otherwise, differently to someone by a smile, by a look, by an attitude, by an expression, by a curve, by its flaws, because the flaws are also part of the beautiful. 

 

Does finding a body beautiful systematically imply a sexual attraction? 

No, I like to think not and fortunately. I think that we can find a body beautiful for its aestheticism, for its forms, without necessarily being sexually attracted by it. For my part, I can marvel at a landscape, nature, a flower, a plant, an animal. I think we can also marvel at a body without necessarily wanting to reproduce with it. 

 

Everybody can come and pose for you. Do you think you can make everyone beautiful? 

Yes, I am persuaded of it, at least, I like to think so. Indeed, I could not make people beautiful without retouching, without artifice, and to make them look like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, if I do not make a casting before. That’s for sure, but that’s not the goal. The goal is for them to be beautiful in their own way, with their own qualities, their own flaws, their own imperfections, their own charms. 

If I wouldn’t make sure that everyone would please everyone, I am convinced that each person who comes to pose here, can please someone who will see this photo, who will be under the charm of a look, a smile, a curve, a shape, an imperfection, because imperfections mark us and affect us. 

So yes, I think that everyone can be beautiful, but not necessarily according to the ideals of beauty of our current society. 

 

And the people who come to pose, do they find themselves beautiful? 

When we come to do a photo shoot, we will take about 150 photos for each person, and we will keep only one. Indeed, they will not find themselves beautiful in all the photographs, but we will choose them together, we will eliminate, we will sort, we will choose, and we will choose only one on which, generally, they find themselves beautiful. But they will find themselves beautiful for other reasons, which they could have thought of before. Beautiful by an expression, a smile, something they will give off and they will see themselves differently than in a mirror. The mirror is extremely distorting. And that allows me to go beyond photography.

 

Can we learn to find ourselves beautiful? 

Yes, of course. One can learn to find oneself beautiful, as one learns to love oneself. Our own look is extremely distorting, and much more critical, than what we can see in others. On ourselves we are going to be very acerbic, and it is the way with which we will learn to look at ourselves, to evolve, and to make things change. 

Like any other being, we have flaws and qualities. The question is to know what we are worth first, what we will look at first and whether we will be able to get past our imperfections, our flaws. 

This comes with time, with training, with psychological work, but also a lot with photography, which allows you to have a slightly different look, and to see yourself in the eyes of others. To do a little bit of the low-level philosophy, it is to see the glass half full and not half empty.  

 

 

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, an artist-photographer in Paris. I founded the project Who’s that nude in the living room? in 2009, which is an art project that allows everyone to come and pose in the simplest of clothes, regardless of their age, body type, or origin. There is absolutely no casting. From each individual we will keep only one photograph, which will be exhibited in galleries, festivals, and eventually in private homes. 

 

What is the questioning on the level of attraction that you wish to submit to the spectator via your artistic project?

If the idea of taking naked people was important to me, it is not for erotic or sexual reasons. The whole idea of the project was to take individuals out of their socio-cultural context. We don’t have any other information than what we can see on the picture, neither name, nor age, nor profession. Clothes are something that positions us socially, whether we like it or not, we choose our clothes and they will say things about us, about our social status, in any case about the image we want to show. 

By removing them, we leave much more freedom of interpretation to the spectator and it is what brought me in the case of this project.

 

And the models, how do they react when they see the photos after the session?

As for the models, it’s always interesting. Most of the people who come to see me are convinced that they won’t like themselves in pictures. They’ve done some with their family, and they don’t like themselves. They have complexes in general about their bodies. They often come thinking that they will not like the result. 

And when we take the time to look at the photographs, most of the time, they see something else. They manage to stop focusing on these details, on their flaws that make them feel complex, but they see a whole where they will find themselves beautiful, they will look at themselves differently, they will learn to love themselves. I find this very interesting. Often when we look at ourselves in the mirror, the mirror makes us “deformed”. We will concentrate our attention on something we don’t like. When we see ourselves in photography, we take a necessary step back, that of the photographer’s eye. 

 

Why do you think it is important to have artwork at home? And why a print of a naked person that you don’t know? 

I’ve been asked a lot: “Why have a small, large, very large nude of a person you’ve never seen? It’s not a star, it’s not a model, it’s an everyday person.”

I think there are two things: the first is to say that nudity in the context of photography, it’s not there to be sexual arousal, to be erotic. I think that when you look at my photographs, it is not what you see. The goal is to break the socio-cultural context of the person, and to imagine him in a job, in life, a profession, a time that we want and that we wish. 

For me the idea in looking at a photograph is to have an introduction of a novel. The first page. The one that will give us the first frame. And then it’s up to the viewer to imagine, to invent the rest, to let himself go, to dream. And that’s what I find beautiful in art, it’s the way in which each person can feel a work differently, interpret it differently, and go where they want to go.

What I find very strong is that each time you look at it again, you can invent a different story, a different novel, and let yourself wander, travel in your imagination. 

I have a deep conviction that you never get tired of a work of art, you learn to love it more and more with time. The more time you take to look at it, the more you learn to appreciate it. That’s what I find magical about it. 

To come back to the initial question: to have a nude at home of a person we don’t know is to say to ourselves that it could be a person we could meet, who could please us, not necessarily on a sexual level, but on a complement in life that we lack, and it is there that all the imagination comes into play, and it is what I find interesting. 

 

 

 

Hello, I am Idan Wizen, an artist-photographer in Paris. Between 2015 and 2016 I made the Backstage collection, from the project Who’s That Nude In The Living Room?. It’s a collection in black and white, which includes 330 photographs, 330 people, who were not casted, everyday people, like you and me, who came to pose in the simplest of clothes and unwind on this meridian and the checkerboard game that you can discover in this collection. 

 

Why did you choose to pay tribute to this epoch? 

The Backstage collection is mainly inspired by the 50s and 60s. I wanted to pay tribute to this period for several reasons: first of all, it is a time when in the mentalities it was a real liberation. On all aspects: the mentalities, the liberation of the bodies, the sexual liberation, the liberation of mores. I find that after centuries and centuries where one imprisoned the man and the woman in their bodies, where we demonized the body, I found that it was a beautiful tribute to this time, where we were freed. 

And then, it is an atmosphere which always liked me, which always attracted me. I often have the feeling that I was born a few years too late. The 50’s and 60’s, in terms of music and cinema, were, in my opinion, the apogee of 20th-century culture. 

 

What do you think of our decade compared to this one?

The comparison between our current time and the 50s and 60s is not necessarily obvious. But indeed, I am a little afraid that today the freedoms that we obtained in these years, the absence of the judgment, the true individual freedom, we are a little bit going back on it. Under the pretext of not displeasing anyone, of not offending anyone or the communities, we censor a lot. 

Today, we limit ourselves a lot on freedom of expression. I’m not convinced that we shouldn’t talk about subjects anymore, on the contrary, I believe that the good thing is to talk about them, to be able to debate about them, and that’s what allows us to move forward while remaining free. 

 

How did you manage to create these smoke effects? 

These smoke effects were made simply by letting people smoke. Before being booed off very quickly, I precise that only let the smokers smoke, their cigarette was real, and the shot was taken at that moment. Yes, we were smoking in the studio when we did Backstage. It was a different epoch!

 

Why stripes and checks? 

In the Backstage collection, I used two graphic elements: first a black and white checkerboard, which was placed on the floor, and then a meridian with stripes. The first point was to have a game of perspective, a game of contrasts that seemed interesting graphically.

The second point was to evoke a duality: a duality of the world of the time, very binary, very marked. A time when there were far fewer shades of gray than today, when today’s battles are far more complex, certainly less clear-cut than at the time. 

And then, the last point was to evolve the various characters as in a chess game, as on a chessboard where one would move with the wire of the checkerboard. 

 

Which are your favorite photos? 

In the Backstage collection there are many photos that I like. They are photos that have made a big impression on me and that the public has liked a lot too. But I want to talk about three photos in more detail. 

There is of course the photo The Farmer, which we used a lot, put forward on the site. It’s a photo that won the first international prize, so it’s obviously gratifying, it makes me happy. I particularly like it because it shows an elderly person, totally relaxed, having totally forgotten me, having totally forgotten nudity. It’s a total letting go, a letting go, which evokes me this photo and which I particularly like. I think that when I see this photo, it makes me think of what Serge Gainsbourg could be if he were still alive. 

Another photograph that touches me, that I think about, is the photograph The Doll. This young woman, all curvy, but all lovely and harmonious, is the opposite of the stereotypes of the beauty of the time. And yet, with her little headband in her hair, which was there naturally, (it was she who brought it without knowing the theme of the collection), I find her particularly strong. By her look, by her assertiveness, by the strength of her character, she is beautiful, she is resplendent and she can only move the viewer.  

Another photo that, in my opinion, does not leave one indifferent is the photograph The Warrior. It is a very strong photograph, because it symbolizes, in my opinion, the two fights that were mend at that time: the fight of the women and the fight of the black populations mainly in the United States. You can see her fighting and not letting herself be defeated. And then, it’s one of the fights that was victorious for a large part. So I think it was a beautiful tribute and a beautiful symbolism.