LOS ANGELES, USA // For over two decades, the meticulous and audacious imagery created by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin has challenged and inspired the field of fashion photography. Working together since 1986, the Dutch partnership rose to fame in the early 1990s. Experimenting with the latest digital imaging technologies, their early work captured the imagination of art critics, who were mesmerized by the sophisticated interplay of elegance and horror in their images. As their notoriety burgeoned in the art world, the fashion community became equally captivated by early editorial work for British style magazine The Face, which added high-octane glamour to their dark and unsettling aesthetic. Collaborating with Belgian designer Vèronique Leroy, they formulated a vocabulary of attenuated, predatory figures in hyperreal environments, flying in the face of the prevailing ‘grunge’ movement and signaling the end of that genre of fashion photography. Exerting considerable influence in fashion and in art, Inez and Vinoodh are exceptional in balancing successful careers in both.

The pair met whilst studying at the Art Academy in Amsterdam and following careers in and around fashion, began working formally together as artists in the early 1990s. Their provocative breakthrough 1993 series “Thank You Thighmaster” and “Final Fantasy” challenged preconceptions about the female form through innovative use of computer manipulation, whilst “The Forest” (1995) seamlessly conflated the features of men and women’s bodies to pose questions about gender and beauty. Starting to translate these challenging techniques into fashion imagery in 1994, Inez and Vinoodh attracted enormous attention for their sensational editorial for The Face and they instantly began photographing for the most prestigious and progressive magazines. They are regular contributors to American Vogue, Paris Vogue, Porter Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, W magazine, V magazine among many others and have created iconic advertising campaigns for leading fashion and fragrance brands including: Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Chloë, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Chanel, Calvin Klein and Viktor & Rolf.  Inez and Vinoodh have devised a unique and highly recognizable language of poses that imbues their work with individuality and produces vivacious, playful portraiture. Enjoying working with young and more established models equally, the pair have longstanding, collaborative relationships with the faces of our age, including Lady Gaga, Kate Moss, Shalom Harlow, Christy Turlington, Chloë Sevigny, Stephanie Seymour, Björk and Sophia Loren.

Inez and Vinoodh’s career in art is equally prolific; their work is exhibited internationally and held in public and private collections across the world. Motifs from imagery produced for commercial commissions are often carried through into their artwork and the pair regard this dialogue between commerce and art a central theme of their practice. Their work can have diverse and unexpected outcomes, therefore, such as their ongoing collaboration with van Lamsweerde’s uncle, the esteemed sculptor Eugene van Lamsweerde, or their richly experimental work with the art directors M/M (Paris).  Represented by Gagosian Gallery, Inez and Vinoodh have mounted retrospective exhibitions in Amsterdam, Sao Paulo, and Dallas, with upcoming dates across Europe and Asia. 

In 2001, Inez and Vinoodh, in collaboration once again with M/M Paris, broke into the world of film and video with a revolutionary music video with Björk for her single Hidden Place.  They have gone on to direct major fashion films for Louis Vuitton, Dior, Miu Miu, YSL, Nina Ricci, Vogue Paris (amongst others) and have continued in the music video genre with a spectacular series of 5 videos for Yoü and I, as well as Applause, both by Lady Gaga.  Working with extraordinary filmic talent such as Darius Khondji and Dave Devlin, Inez and Vinoodh are everyday expanding their creative horizons and finding new ways to capture and present their perspective on today’s fantastic realities.