Steven Spann: Victoria in Black
CALEB SCHAFTLEIN,
I am a post consumption artist working in painting, photography, sculpture and fashion design. My photography started as a way to capture my own sculpture and fashion design.
I got started trying to capture a mood, feeling or emotion.
My passion is to inspire, uplift and encourage others through the potential of sustainability. My journey began as a form of self expression but I continue out of a need for sanity and encouragement in a challenged world.
I’m not a traditional photographer in the sense of planning and orchestrating a shoot. I’m a big believer in working from the subconscious. So there is a quote go as far as you can see and from there you will always see further. I rarely have a complete vision that I am trying to materialize. It’s more like I pick up some trash on my studio floor and pin it to the wall and then go to the next piece. As a social practice artist I also draw a lot from the model and the set team. So many times the model will start with a random piece of fabric and we build from that together.
What sets me apart is my wonderful gift of not placing too much emphasis on the end result. I can be crazy, playful, explorative, take massive risk because my expectation is following the process of creativity and exploration as opposed to working strictly for a tight vision.
My ideas for photo shoots are usually dictated by my recycled material available. I am based in Las Vegas so the Las Vegas design market happens twice a year. I know I can get amazing packing material then. EDC, CES, NFR, New Years, etc… they all have unique trash that provides plenty of inspiration.
One of my memorable moments in Vegas was photographing the destruction and demolition of a church. Another one was the fire at the Town Tavern on the Westside of Las Vegas. Las Vegas has a strange way of demolishing history and a deconstructive energy. Watching history and materials be destroyed has given me an urgency to try and capture history and use sustainable materials to teach others about their importance.
For a great photo I need to see creative and captivating lighting and background. I also need to see a unique and sustainable subject. Capturing a moment in time and curating that moment is a special responsibility. Patience is another important ingredient. I’m a big fan of letting a shoot breath and meditating on a view before clicking away hoping to capture something.
As an artist I usually always will pursue what I believe is a better scenario for the shoot. Sometimes the client will come back and insist on their vision and I will say ok and follow their direction. However, I’ve got to be true to myself and try to make the shoot as good as it can be even if that means ignoring the client for a bit.
I am influenced by artist who work for a cause bigger than themselves. Theaster Gates is an amazing example of a visual, performance artist who tries to use the community as his canvas. Anyone who is lifting people up that is who I respect.
I’m a big fan of drama, theatrics and flash. I’m in Vegas it’s part of living and working on the strip. So, I’m a bit heavy on shadow and contrast.
My biggest challenge is always Marley. Marley is my very naughty and unpredictable alpaca. We do quite a few photo shoots with Marley and you have to manage his carrot expectations. Without the proper baby carrots he goes straight to spitting. When he spits you have to worry about models hair (carrot chunks show up a lot on the camera and are hard to get out of models hair), makeup (sometimes Marley spits green stomach bile when he’s having a particular day and that can mean an entire rework as green stomach bile can streak makeup and sometimes models can walk off set if they get a good spit. We did have one particular instance where Marley got a giant wad of spit in a models mouth and eye and she opted not to continue the shoot.
I say it’s a race to your first 1000 artistic experiences. If you’re a painter, sculptor, photographer or clothing designer your greatest advantage will come from finding your own voice and your own voice will come a lot from your mistakes. So, make lots of mistakes work as much as you can and stay six feet away from Marley give or take a few feet depending on wind speed and direction.
Las Vegas. We did an impromptu fashion show on Fremont street parting crowds and causing all kinds of craziness. I love dirty, grungy, alleyways with murals and feral cats.
In a week I’m doing a three part photo shoot with a creative director from Canada. She has come up with the ideas and I will create the clothing and do the shoot. We will do a desert shoot, a nightlife shoot in the strip and a commercial shoot in the legal district. The models are all new so it should be fun.
Victoria in black is a great example of using random material for a background set. Victoria has a great blond look with bright red lipstick she is a Bauhaus fan and a Vegas native so she is a lot of fun to shoot. Black on black was the theme so I basically walked around my studio and gathered anything black and tacked it to my wall. I then gathered up interesting black fabric and sewed it together to make like a poncho type design. The hat was made from a vest that I cut into a hat and sewed together.
A lot of my work can be seen at stevenspann.fashion and that has links to jacksonstreetproject.com (sculpture). I do have a small instagram at trashedinvegas
