Andrea Giacobbe

Recently I've been looking at the work of Italian photographer and film maker Andrea Giacobbe.

Residing in Los Angeles Giacobbe is known predominantly for his portrait and editorial work, as well as art installations and his work in film and video.

The main thing that strikes me about his work is his strong use of surreal imagery to make a social comment, an area that has begun to interest me a great deal recently.

In the images below, taken from an editorial piece for Dazed and Confused in 2000, Giacobbe uses a highly stylised concept to ask questions based on reality. 

The "God" figure has a plastic almost autonomous face, juxtaposed against the face of "Humanity" a tempestuous looking young girl with demonic horns. These images are shot in a very contemporary  style , I  particularly enjoy how he has the name tags in the style given out at a seminar.

This image, to me, is of God contemplating the start of of his "greatest" creation. Again the use of the ape costume mask is a deft touch adding a surreal yet satirical twist on the image.

Chess. The tactical struggle between god and humanity. Really love the use of the monkeys looking on as an audience in the television. Also having the young girl smoking a cigar is a very satirical touch, as obviously she shouldn't be doing this, and perhaps Giacobbe is using this to question mans own responsibility.

This Final image shows god and humanity on a long empty road, the look on the girls face perhaps comments that she's not entirely pleased with this situation?

Overall this is a style of work I would like to investigate further, whether it be in the same style or a different one I haven't quite decided as of yet and will need further research.