JOHN-PAUL HAS INTERVIEWED COUNTLESS CULTURAL FIGURES, provocateurs AND ARTISTS FOR VARIOUS MAGAZINES and editorial brand entities. including, In No Particular Order: Sir Peter Blake, Yoko Ono, Sophia Loren, Benedict cumberbatch, nick cave, Romain Gavras, BertranD Tavernier, Marianne Faithfull, Jarvis Cocker, Mike Leigh, The Chapman Brothers, TraCey emin, Julian Opie, Sylvie Guillem…
HIs full interview archive will be available soon on this site. SELECTED QUOTES WILL BE PUBLISHED IN HIS FORTHCOMING BOOK.
IDRIS KHAN
Into A Silence That Begs for language
A conversation with Idris khan (OBE) for FLaunt
”I’ve always wanted to make something beautiful first, from the outset—even when I was pushing the overlay of photograph, for me it was important to have that aesthetic experience in order to capture attention. It’s always the first thing I want to do, I want to make a beautiful thing. I don’t want it to go to complete blackness or darkness, or anything like that. I want it to then be an aesthetic experience so it can capture people’s emotions, and draw them into the work. So in terms of beauty, for me, the work has to be beautiful. It can’t be an ugly thing, you know? It’s never been about that. It’s always about creating something aesthetically beautiful to capture you first, and then go into whatever message you want to place in there.”
MERYL MEISLER
Undercover of the night
A conversation with meryl mesiler for CULTURE COLLECTIVE
”In the back of my mind, while going out clubbing as a young person in NYC, I thought that was my version of Brassaï’s “Secret Paris of The Thirties.” Brassaï nudged me to photograph the nightlife I was living, enjoying and exploring. it felt special, but I didn’t fully comprehend or appreciate how unique the time was then or what it is now. I am still aiming to grow as a human being with more gratitude, generosity, purpose, and joy of living in the present time as it happens. Life is a process and a gift, never to take for granted. The now is special, especially when it’s gone.”
LYKKE LI
we see through a glass darkly
A conversation with lykke li for port
”Because I can be quite dark, I sometimes have to force myself to ask, what are the things that I actually love about life? And one word that really defines what I love about life, and about everything, is beauty, but for me, beauty is that kind of sore spot between like love and pain. I kind of exist in that pocket. Life is full of multitudes and we need the dark to define the contrast, because, you know, anything beautiful comes with pain. It hurts when buds break open.”
ALISSA EVERETT
Covering Beauty
A conversation with Alissa Everett for Culture Collective
“I think you learn after some time to focus on making the most powerful images that you can with respect to the people that are experiencing what they're experiencing, but afterwards sometimes you just can't take it all in yourself. I definitely have my moments where I go home and cry, there's no doubt about it.”
JEREMY RENNER
But what of the trees seeing the forest, too
A conversation with Jeremy renner for flaunt
“I don’t think there is light without the dark… A truth doesn’t exist without a lie, you know? My job is always to look at other people’s perspectives, and in general, I always try to remain very, very hopeful about even the bleakest situation. It’s coming through darkness or hardships or failures in life, where successes become real success.”
CALEB LANDRY-JONES
Exploring the darker angels of our nature
A Conversation with Caleb Lanfdry-jones for POrt
“Sometimes you can hear things in music and see things in art, and it’s kind of naked – you can see struggle there, or something, and I love that… I was actually watching footage of Daniel Johnston playing in a record store somewhere in Austin just the other day, and he begins crying while he’s talking about the Judgement. He’s going through something right there! He’s letting it all hang out. It just gives me so much peace and joy to see people do that.”
NICOLAS PINNOCK
Character witness
A conversation with Nicolas Pinnock for Culture Collective
“I carry my characters mentally for however long I'm playing them, and you have to keep your mental health in mind as an actor, because your subconscious doesn't know that you're acting. When you've played a character, you can find yourself trying to shake off the character’s chemicals at the end of the day, which are still filtering out of your system.”
CASEY AFFLECK
BECAUSE EVEN THE SPECTACLED EIDER STILL NEEDS GLASSES TO SEE
A CONVERSATION WITH CASEY AFFLECK FOR FLAUNT
“I recently heard this ornithologist say that the work of being fully yourself is the work of an entire lifetime,” Affleck will later tell me, deep into our interview, as we unpack one’s potential purpose amidst life’s ceaseless evolutions, “And that you constantly have to be doing that work. He wrote a great book called Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature, and spent his whole life studying birds. He’s just so observant, calm, patient, and appreciative of things that have nothing to do with him—there’s a quality to him that is so antithetical to the me-me-me pace of our modern lives.”
JARVIS COCKER
A Collapse, an ode to joy, a bedtime story:
A CONVERSATION WITH jarvis cocker FOR flaunt
”you just have to keep hoping that you're headed in the right direction–and that's the best you can hope for, really. There's no such thing as eternal, perfect happiness, but there are moments of pure joy and happiness we can access. I believe in them and I've experienced them, so I know that they're there. And sometimes you can really despair of those moments ever happening again and you think, ‘Oh well, I wish I’d never been up here, because then I wouldn’t realize how miserable I am.’ That’s a bad way to think. You’ve just got to keep going.” – Jarvis Cocker
Sophia Loren
AGELESS ELEGANCE:
A CONVERSATION WITH SOPHIA LOREN FOR AUTHOR MAGAZINE
"I don’t like what I see in the world But I am a very positive person… at the beginning of every day, I know I have to start living. It’s the beauty of the soul, the beauty of how you see life that’s important–the beauty of finding the joy in being alive, and how you see and receive love.” – Sophia loren
DAVID LYNCH
A GOOD DAY AND DAMN FINE COFFEE:
A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID LYNCH FOR DAZED
”I THINK THAT HUMAN BEINGS… THEY KNOW A CERTAIN THING INSIDE. IT MIGHT BE BURIED REALLY DEEP BUT THEY’VE KIND OF GOT THIS THING WHERE THEY KNOW SOME FEELING ABOUT A BIGGER FUTURE FOR THE HUMAN BEING. THAT SORT OF DRIVES SOME PEOPLE TO BECOME SEEKERS. I ALWAYS SAY HUMAN BEINGS ARE LIKE DETECTIVES – WE LOOK AT THE WORLD AND WE KIND OF FIGURE THINGS OUT, AND WE DO RELY ON THAT STILL SMALL VOICE INSIDE BUT IT’S REALLY QUIET THESE DAYS BECAUSE OF ALL THE STUFF THAT COVERS IT.” – DAVID LYNCH
YOKO ONO
IMAGINE PEACE:
A CONVERSATION WITH YOKO ONO FOR TANK
”THERE IS AN INCREDIBLE UNCONSCIOUS COMMUNICATION GOING ON BETWEEN ALL OF US. WHEN PEOPLE MEET, THEIR BRAIN CELLS AND THE CELLS IN THEIR BODIES ARE EXCHANGING INFORMATION REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEYA RE THINKING, AND AFTER THE MEETING THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE… MEETING IS AN INCREDIBLE THING. EACH PERSON HAS HAD AN INCREDIBLE LIFE AND WHEN WE MEET WE ARE ACTUALLY ABSORBING ALL OF THAT.” – YOKO ONO
MILES ALDRIDGE
Imperfect Beauty
A conversation with Miles Aldridge for Author Magazine
”I’ve found these images that are mesmerising and intriguing to me, not because of the image I was trying to take, but because of accidental things, such as the model not being there or some damage to the image… I became really interested in creating a series of these that come together in a kind of Lynchian dream narrative.”
SYLVIE GUILLEM
A Conversation with Sylvie Guillem for Another magazine
“Honesty is really a pure thing and on stage who you are as a person comes across so much. Whether you are doing classical or modern dance, it’s about your choices – your choices of how to do things, how you find your information, how far you go into the work, how far you push the discipline, how much you fight against limits.”
MATT BERNINGER
American Beauty
A Conversation with mat berninger for Port
“I blame us for creating Trump. Trump is an American, make no mistake; and he is a reflection of the worst parts of the American psyche – a reflection of white male fear. He is a very sad man, and it sounds like he was never hugged, and he never learned how to tell the truth; he just learned how to manipulate those around him to get whatever power he needed to survive. He’s a tragic character and he has made everyone afraid of each other again. He sells fear.”
TIM YIP
Love Infinity
A Conversation with Tim Yip for CoLLEctive Culture
“I always had this kind of multi-wheeled way to look at things in the outer world, and a desire to create a kind of bridge to the subconscious, and to connect things together. It’s almost like creating a wheel to see the world. I believe everything coexists, and my attention is always focused on creation and artists because I want to really know this invisible spiritual sense of the world, and get deep into the things that I feel.”
CHARLES ZANA
THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE: Utopia at Tournabuoni Gallery
A CONVERSATION WITH CHARLES ZANA FOR PORT
” I strongly feel it is the responsibility of an architect not to simply be part of the culture and reflect it. I always try to convince my colleagues that we have to in the front seat of the culture. We all have a responsibility to look towards change.” – Charles ZAna
PETER LINDBERGH
SHOOTING GIACOMETTI:
A CONVERSATION WITH PETER LINDBERGH FOR ANOTHER
”MOST PEOPLE NEVER COME TO THE POINT GIACOMETTI REACHED BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO HAVE A POINT OF VIEW AND A CONNECTION TO SELF, AND YOU CAN’T LOOK AROUND TO FIND THAT. I FEEL I HAVE A MUCH MORE PRECISE FEELING, FROM SHOOTING HIS WORK, THAT IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR ARTISTS TO HAVE THAT REAL CONTACT TO SOMETHING THAT’S ONLY INSIDE THEM, SO THAT WHEN YOU DO SOMETHING IT COMES OUT OF THIS PLACE THAT’S UNIQUE.” – PETER LINDBERGH
ANTHONY GORMLEY
Test Sites at White Cube:
A CONVERSATION WITH Anthony Gormley FOR dazed
”I like the idea that consciousness is a field activity as much as an individual one. We have been sold a western idea of self-determination and individuality that is based on a very Christian notion of an eternal soul, but in my experience that’s just not the right mode. I think that human beings are immersed in space and time and matter, and that within all of those three fields of experience there are enormous connectivities.” – Anthony Gormley
NICK CAVE
MEET THE GRINDERMAN
A CONVERSATION WITH NICK CAVE AND GRINDERMAN FOR ANOTHER
“For me, it's always important that there's an element of the divine in the writing process – what happens within my imaginative world doesn't apply in the same way in my personal world… think it's fair enough to say that there are things that we should be doing or that we shouldn't be doing. And when you're doing those things that you should be doing, you do get swept away, and it feels like the right thing. Time is different and you get lost in it – you transcend the mundane... and you float among the stars.”
DAVID BAILEY
THE ULTIMATE PORTRAIT
A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID BAILEY FOR DAZED
“Most creative acts are an accident, aren’t they? Suddenly the paint splashes and you realize you can follow the splash to somewhere you never thought of. It’s the same with sculpture: you’re like, ‘Oh I didn’t think of that!’ and then you can go in a direction you could never have pre-conceived. I try not to ever have pre-conceptions, even with my pictures. That’s why I never wanted to do advertising because they always want you to tell them what you are going to do. I never know what I am going to do or what might happen on a shoot because it depends on so many different things.”
TARON EGERTON
IT MUST BE THE CLOUDS IN HIS EYES:
A CONVERSATION WITH TARON EGERTON FOR FLAUNT
”I think it’s annoying when people watch actors and say, ‘Oh, he channeled whomever.’ It’s like, what, like a fucking mystic? No. The actor is always dialing up his or her own qualities. I mean, I’m quite an immediate person. I am quite prone to the vagaries of emotion, and I’m prone to extremes of feeling. I’m prone to a bit of overreaction truth-be-told.
I recognize that in myself and I recognize it in Elton. So, when the time is right and it serves the story, I elect to dial that up.”
MILLA JOVOVICH
WORD TO THE MUTHA:
A CONVERSATION WITH MILLA JOVOVICH for flaunt
”God helps those that help themselves. So, if you’re drowning and you pray to God to save you, well, ninety-nine per cent of the time, he won’t, but he would’ve actually saved you when you were back on shore going: ‘Hmmm, should I go out there?’ He gave you that person inside that said, ‘I wouldn’t go out there, if I were you...’ That was actually God talking to you, but you decided to go. When you’re planning to do something you’re unsure of, watch for God, because I’m sure he’ll come to you in lots of different guises.” - MIlla Jovovich
DANIEL RADCLIFFE
KILL YOUR DARLINGS:
A CONVERSATION WITH DANIEL RADCLIFFE for flaunt
”writers don’t have to be these cerebral people who lock themselves away in rooms, and that creativity sparks creativity. The more connected you are to the world around you, the more likely you are to be creative and inspired by it.”
BARBARA KRUGER
SHOPPING FOR ART:
A CONVERSATION WITH BARBARA KRUGER for ANOTHER
”I think one of the things that art shares with what Damien Hirst would call advertising is that all art – especially poetry, for instance, or visual art – shares an economy with an advertising practice. It is a condensation of thoughts or feelings or moments, and that commentary is an encapsulation of what living might be or feel like.” – BARBARA KRUGER
ISABELLE HUPPERT
TRUTH AND PROVOCATION
AN INTERVIEW WITH ISABELLE HUPPERT FOR ANOTHER
“The human being is an enigma. Whoever you meet in life has a social figure and a more hidden person that you don’t know, so my idea of a character is never a one-angled person. I don’t choose films because they are provocative. I like the kind of film that explores the human being in their most complex and ambiguous possibilities, one that attempts to show the truth of what a human being is made of: maybe that choice is a sort of provocation.”
TARYN SIMON
A living man declared dead:
A Conversation With Taryn Simon for another
”Darwin assumes a certain evolution, and I guess what I’m considering here is this idea that it’s just repeating; that it’s not necessarily evolving. These evolutionary signifiers – our bodies changing, technology advancing and things like that – might just be another form of the same thing. We assume there’s the idea of a soul, or the idea of an identity, and all these things are linked to an investment in there being a purpose in everything – the idea that we’re here with a reason.” - TARYN SIMON
WILLIAM GIBSON
LOOK TO THE FUTURE:
A Conversation With WILLIAM GIBSON for DAZED
”I've encountered countless interpretations of my work, and some of them are probably actually pathological. In one sense, you can get so far away from a collective experience that the response is virtually meaningless: I mean, there's always one paranoid schizophrenic who watches Star Wars and understands it in a totally different way.” – WILLIAM GIBSON
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
ONE MUST IMAGINE ONESELF HAPPY:
A CONVERSATION WITH BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH for flaunt
”we can formulate and explain things in scientific terms but it doesn’t take any of the magic away; revealing the work, or the mechanism behind the beauty doesn’t destroy the beauty. I imagine that anyone who has a spiritual commitment and yet is a practitioner of high logic through science or mathematics can say that truth is beauty—the mystery of beauty is still truth, but to them it could be a spiritual truth or a factual truth; the two are equally divine.” - Benedict Cumberbatch
JAN SVANKMEYER
Surviving Life
A conversation with Jan Svankmeyer for Another
My work derives from other motives than the desire to communicate. I have never treated film as a means of communication above any other. In the same unrelenting way, I put collages together, assemble objects, make graphics, ceramics or I engage myself in tactile experimentation. The surrealists say that there is only one poetry and it does not matter which means we use to capture it.
CARLA BRUNI
LOVE AND OTHER PLANETS:
A CONVERSATION WITH CARLA BRUNI FOR PORT MAGAZINE
“I FIND BEAUTY IN MELANCHOLY. IT HAS A DARK SIDE, BUT TO ME, MELANCHOLY IS SORT OF LIKE A LUXURY FEELING – IT’S FEELING THE PLEASURE TO BE SAD AND TENDER; NOT THE PAIN, NOT SOMETHING THAT RUINS YOU, NOT SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU LOSE YOUR BALANCE… MELANCHOLIA IS CLOSER TO BEAUTY, AND SHOULD BE SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T BRING YOU DOWN, BUT JUST INSPIRES YOU.”
Michele lamy
Witche’s rave:
A CONVERSATION WITH MICHELE LAMY FOR AUTHOR MAGAZINE
“I am really like one of those Berbers who are always on the road. There have been so many times when I didn’t even know where I was going to end up, because I would travel on a one- way ticket. I really think that if you believe you are coming back, then there is really no reason to go anywhere.”
SIR PETER BLAKE
