Recent Events – September
Brawler, Los Angeles
In August, DYP signed a long term collaboration deal with Brawler productions in Los Angeles. Brawler have produced hours of commercial content for some of today’s top brands and artists accruing hundreds of millions of views. They have worked on many big budget film projects but were keen to explore areas where we could collaborate in still photography.
The founder of Brawler - Caspar von Winterfeldt - worked successfully in investment banking for many years before leaving JP Morgan to start a new career in film and music production. He is highly regarded in Hollywood and is a patron of the Sundance Institute.
Brawler can help us, not just with sourcing talent, location permits and general logistics throughout America, but also - on a higher plan - with idea generation. I need to bounce ideas off as many smart people as possible - preferably those that can question my sanity and my creative direction. The images in the previous pages could not have been taken without Brawler's help - we have made a good start and there are other projects now in the pipeline. I have known Caspar for some time and he is blessed with formidable energy and cognitive processing.
We are in a world where the bar of original thinking, true authenticity and creativity is being pushed ever higher and much of the upward pressure is in California. That is why we print in LA and that is why we will continue to forge links like we have with Brawler.
Tusk - Rhino Trail, London
We have worked with the UK’s most recognised and established conservation NGO, Tusk, for several years now and I am most proud to be their affiliated photographer. Other than charity auctions and our last book, much of this collaboration is a step away from the public eye. But in August we were flattered to be one of a small number of British artists that contributed a rhino for their spectacular rhino parade in London.
Making our rhino has been a meaningful amount of work and I can claim very little of the credit. Thank you to Alex Ames, the artist Venetia Berry and of course Ken Sethi of Genesis - whose brilliant team wrapped the rhino with my prints of endangered wildlife. Genesis - London’s leading counterparty for fine art photographers - will also be sponsoring the work.
The sculpture was installed in Duke of York Square, a mere 400 yards from our Sloane Street Studio in Chelsea, London, on the 20th August. Please go and check out an art piece that I think sends a most emotional message. The sculpture will be auctioned off at Christies, London in October, with all the proceeds going to Tusk to help their relentless efforts in Africa. We have made a pre-auction bid of £15,000 to buy the work back, but it should go for much more than that. Thanks to my team, it is a stunning and unique piece of art.
Maddox Gallery - West Hollywood, Los Angeles
Maddox are our lead gallery partner in the world and sales of DY prints through their London galleries have now exceeded £5m in the last year. They have been exploring locations in West Hollywood for a while and in a matter of days they will open in Beverly Boulevard with an exhibition of British artists including Damien Hirst, Banksy and myself. I have watched the gallery take shape over the last month and I am of course hugely flattered to be included amongst some giants of British art.
Of course, we have gallery representation in Los Angeles with Art Angels, who have done a very sound job and staged a wonderful single man show for us at Easter. But the two gallery teams know and respect each other well and I see the market for us evolving organically in California. It does not need to be a one or the other decision. But we would never have two galleries in any other city and we are not now looking to expand our wholesale efforts in America. Our focus is very much new original content not new galleries.
