𝐒𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐆𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐍-𝐁𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐎

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆. 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒕” - 𝐽𝑒𝑎𝑛-𝐵𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑜

As I promised last week, we’re going to continue talking about a famous French photographer 𝑱𝒆𝒂𝒏-𝑩𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒐 who created an incredible artwork for Placebo’s fourth studio album 𝑺𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑮𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔.
Pretty reclusive and camera shy person, Mondino never opened much to the press to let his art speak for him.

Photo credit: Sleeping With Ghosts cover; Jean-Baptiste Mondino - unknown; Placebo - Jean-Baptiste Mondino / edit by Olga

💢Recently, I found a great 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 with the artist. Although he unfortunately didn’t talk about Placebo or Brian but some other musicians, I’d like to share the article in full because it’s such a brilliant interview of great – yet VERY humble! – artist.

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 and 𝑱𝒆𝒂𝒏-𝑩𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒐 worked together in 2003. This interview is from 2018. However, I was amazed by some connections - in terms of attitude and mood and wisdom - between persons 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 and 𝑱𝒆𝒂𝒏-𝑩𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒐 became during the latest years (although, Mondino is more than 20 years older than Brian). How similar their opinion on certain things like social media or today’s constant rush, is… how much in common they have in their worldview and their values! Well, both talented, intelligent, profound souls…

💢Let’s just go back for a while and remember what Brian said about the cover by Mondino in 2003.

𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐝𝐢 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲: 𝑯𝒊 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑪𝑫 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔?
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: It's just a bit too boy bandy. It's very old school, reeks of marketing. I think your album cover should represent something else as well as who you are as people. It's important to make your album cover a work of art, not just a masturbation shot. This time we worked with a huge and well-respected artist, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, who's done stuff for Prince and Bjork. He also did Madonna's Justify My Love video. So you want his interpretation of your album. You work quite closely but you want to set them free to do what they do best. And it's working out very well. There's only so far you can take that ghostlike motif which we're playing with at the moment. Eventually you have to subvert that a little bit. It's really lazy to just stick your face on the cover.
(𝐵𝐵𝐶 𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜 1, 2003)

𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑮𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔? 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕.
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: The great Jean-Baptiste Mondino is responsible for the artwork of SwG. He also did the cover of Bjork's Debut, Lovesexy by Prince and the video for Madonna's Justify my Love. Quite a pedigree if you ask me.
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝐴𝑢𝑔'03)

Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Mondino

"While the band reached the top of the charts with "Black market Music" and while the greatest fashion designers were struggling to dress Brian, it was out of question to release a cheap cover! Placebo used a renowed photographer and music video director (Jean-Baptiste Mondino has worked with Rita Mitsouko, Madonna, Bjork, Alain Bashung, Tricky) and treat themselves with a luxury cover.
📢"'Sleeping With Ghosts' is the only picture taken with the intention of being a cover, that was actually used as such. It is simply a double exposure. No tricks. It symbolizes the bond to the relationships' memory. But we had some problems with it in some countries. Too suggestive. In China it was more cultural, a ghostly appearance is synonymous with bad luck and that is unacceptable ... This is the kind of stuff with which one learns to be careful."
(𝑉𝑂𝑋𝑃𝑂𝑃, 𝐽𝑢𝑛-𝐽𝑢𝑙'09)

📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: The cover artwork is born thinking about the ghosts of past relationships, which sometimes come back strongly to create space in the present, because of an odor, a color, a sentence.
(𝐿𝑖𝑏. 2003)

And finally, please enjoy the 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖.
❤💫𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐍-𝐁𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐎: "𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄"💫❤

𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂

Mondino, of Italian descent, grew up in Paris and became known for his iconic images of singers and actors in the mid-1980s. Like no one else, he knew the spirit of time, a mixture of image, graphics, advertising, music and fashion, from different cultures and subcultures of the last 30 years, from pornography and gay aesthetics in his pictures, commercials and music videos.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅?
📢𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐁𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: I’m from a suburb of Paris. My world was that of music and record covers. Record covers were the Instagram of my time. I was interested in their design and they shaped my generation.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 "𝑳𝒂 𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒔" 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 1984 𝒐𝒏 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝑻𝒖𝒃𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒕?

𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨 - 𝐋𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐬
➡  https://bit.ly/3SjtLua

Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Mondino

📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: I always wanted to be a musician. Thank goodness that didn't work out. I might be dead by now. As a young man, I hitchhiked to the Isle of Wight Music Festival in 1970 because of Jimi Hendrix. He was my big idol. When I saw him play, I thought to myself: I will never be able to play like this. Over time, I discarded the dream of a music career. If I had known the work of Man Ray, Richard Avedon or Erwin Blumenfeld, I probably would never have become a photographer.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: That happened by accident. I was good at drawing and worked in an advertising agency in the 1970s. Back then I was still part of the music scene. When a couple of my friends got a record deal, I said, "Let me do the cover." I came up with a concept, borrowed a camera and took pictures. Since I never wanted to be a photographer, I never had much respect for photography. The concept was always more important to me than the photography. For a long time, I thought my work wasn't good enough, so I never bought a camera. To this day I don't own any. In my work I captured the vision of the youth of my time in pictures: punks, girls with shaved heads - there was a new way of dressing, of behaving, new music, new graphics.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒐𝒓 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒑 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: I don't think I really have a style. I would rather say that my "limitedness" is responsible for my style. My talent lies in recognizing the personality of the people I work with. I learned in advertising how to perceive what someone or something represents: I'm a kind of medium. I'm just not artist enough to draw anyone into my vision. I always need a counterpart to create something.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑰𝒏 1987 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 "𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒚". 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: I was a big fan of Prince and was over the moon when he commissioned me. I spent a week with him at his studio in Minneapolis while he was recording. He spoke little. He rather communicated by allowing me to be there. At one point he said, "Tomorrow we're flying to LA, where we'll shoot the cover. Let's discuss everything on the plane." We didn't discuss anything during the flight. When we arrived, he said, “Okay, we’re meeting tomorrow.” But after we were at a nightclub until two in the morning, it didn't happen again. The day after, at breakfast, we finally talked a little. At that time, Prince wanted to release his Black Album first, which he then withdrew for personal reasons. It suddenly crossed my mind that this man needs light, something like a rebirth. I drew my idea for him and he loved it.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒑 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒄𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏. 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: Iconic images by Helmut Newton, Irving Penn and Richard Avedon have existed for a long time. I've created a few myself, and I've done my part in fueling the desire for iconic imagery—through TV, MTV, and magazines. Instagram has democratized celebrity. Anyone can sing today, make a film or have fans. Every single image melts away like a snowflake in the sun. Iconic images are no longer relevant. You can’t help it. The icons of tomorrow will come from science.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: No! (As proof, Mondino pulls a small Nokia phone out of his pocket.) I've been showing my pictures for 40 years. There are enough people who are interested in me. I want to be left alone. I would like to disappear.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑬𝒙𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒆?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: Sometimes I would like to disappear, to dissolve. I find that very elegant. You know, over the last few years, a lot of people that meant a lot to me and with whom I worked, have disappeared: Prince, Azzedine Alaïa, Glenn O'Brian. They were part of my world and suddenly they're gone. Life goes on, but it seems to me that people can no longer grieve and suffer because they don't have time. So if you're asking me about my iconic images... It's all bullshit! My work was only important when it was created. I'm not an artist.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑰𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: They don't need me. They have their own world. I also didn't try to copy Avedon or Newton. Maybe I'll stay relevant because of certain images like the Prince cover or Madonna in the Gaultier outfit. Maybe my work will be some kind of fertilizer for the next generation. That would make me happy.

Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Mondino

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: I like it. I know it’s good. But that is not important. I feel proud when I look at my children, my wife and our life together. I do this job to pay my bills and have my freedom. I’m a simple person.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: Today I’m almost seventy years old. And I always thought my inspiration came mainly from music. In fact, it was the Church. The suburban life of my childhood and adolescence was brown and gray. I was fascinated by the church where I was a choirboy. It was like a Jeff Koons or Damien Hirst exhibition - the colors, the incense, the characters, the bodies, the bare skin, Christ on the cross, the angels, Mary. It was a mixture of sensuality, sexuality, emotion and transcendence. Later I found something similar in music and fashion.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔?
📢𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨: In the past I would have said: That's not good enough for a picture. (Mondino points to tropical plants.) Today I can see so much more beauty in many things. My perspective has changed. Everything I used to flee from, I live today: slowness, silence, being alone. I enjoy contemplation. I no longer play with sexuality, I no longer have to provoke. Been there, done that. We won this battle. I don't like to repeat myself. Today there is more poetry and gentleness in my paintings.
(𝐷𝑒𝑟𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑, 12𝑡ℎ 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2018)

“𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆…”

…like the ghost from Placebo’s captivating cover, like fading memories of love lost from Brian’s melancholic lyrics…

Post by Olga