With images that scream to be labeled 'intense' and 'honest,' Lionel Deluy has carved his professional identity by crafting searing portraits of many of the world's most famous faces. In what can only be deemed the best compliment for any photographer, many of Deluy's works have become the subject's definitive look.
With a particular fondness for capturing the essence of edge, Deluy's studies of Angelina Jolie, Ryan Gosling, Gary Oldman, Martin Sheen and Dita Von Teese (to name just a handful) have managed to power their way through a publicity-heavy landscape to provide memorable aspects of true artists.
While commercial and fashion-forward brands (Thom Browne, Dita, Reebok, American Apparel, Goorin Bros, Creative Recreation) have tapped Deluy, time and again, for his eye in transforming mere labels into 3-dimensional lifestyles, the world's best magazines (French Photo, GQ, Vogue, Elle) have also relied on the French-born/LA-based photographer to deliver a visceral impact to their audiences.
Ubiquitous in their scope from advertising to fine art exhibition, Deluy's images are now an indelible component of the human experiment.
— Elliot Kotek
FRANCE
He was thirteen when he got a Fujika 35mm. Sixteen years passed before he admitted it was the only thing he wanted to do. Paris in between, and every job that paid the rent. Then Daylight Studio, assisting Mario Testino, Javier Valhonrat and Jean-Baptiste Mondino.
MEXICO CITY
Two years in Mexico City. He learned Spanish and shot the Spanish editions of Harper's Bazaar, Elle and Vogue. Then one night that was not his to choose. He was in Los Angeles within the month.
LOS ANGELES
Flaunt opened the door. Among them Angelina Jolie, Gary Oldman, Marilyn Manson, Dita Von Teese, Ice Cube, will.i.am. In Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, GQ Japan, The Source and VIBE, among others. Some of them became friends. He still works between Los Angeles and New York.
Deluy photographs in the space between the public image and the person beneath it. What survives the shutter is not a performance, it is a fact.
THE WORK
Commissioned work alongside the portraits.
Campaigns include Häagen-Dazs, Reebok, Sephora, Kangol, Rampage, PF Flyers, Thom Browne and Dita Eyewear.
Album covers include Nas, Outkast, Fiona Apple, Wiz Khalifa, Lupe Fiasco, Pitbull and Paulina Rubio.
Television: MTV and VH1.
A year of shooting with Kat Von D became High Voltage Tattoo, published by Collins Design with a foreword by Nikki Sixx.
More than two hundred sitters. You will know some of the faces. All of them are part of how that decade is remembered.
THE PRINT ITSELF
The magazines moved on. The negatives did not. What remains is the print itself: an object made once, signed, numbered, and never made again.