Surrealism, Fantasy and Colour: An Interview with Lélio Bazin
LÉLIO (self-portrait) Creative Direction, Photography & Model: Lélio Bazin, @dramatik___ Photo assis
Lélio Bazin: "In my head I have a lot of universes of colours, of things I wanted to explore."
Lélio Bazin, known as Dramatik, is a French photographer and art director based in Paris.
“I think for as long as I can remember, I have been interested in photography since I was very young. I would take my parents' camera to take pictures, have fun with the zoom, with the filters as a kid.”
“It wasn't a very artistic approach, but I still think that I was always interested in photography and taking pictures. When I was a teen, I developed these parts of my life by just taking a picture of a moment on vacation, pictures of friends, and then I started to take studio-like pictures with my knowledge and my budget.
“It was in my dorm room on the white walls with a desk lamp as lightning, and I would take pictures of friends, and it was very fun. And I, when I was doing this, I realized that I really like to take pictures.
“During my masters, I had a lot of free time to explore to develop my creative identity, and during this time, I focused the first year on photography. It was obvious that I really like spending time to prepare for the shoot, to create a universe, and this is one of my specialties to create immersive universes.”
MARGOT Art Direction & Photography: Lélio Bazin, @dramatik___ Model: Margot Jakic, @ame_de_m
Bazin says he has a large spectrum of inspiration “I would say in photography, the biggest one I think is Elisaveta Porodina. She has very great work about colours and texture and blur, and I really like this artist and the fact that she creates immersive universes which you have the feeling to go inside.
“Another one is Le Turk, he is a French photographer who happens to also be firstly a set designer for theatre. He creates universes with paper, with cardboard, painting elements to create visually immersive sets. I have a very different style than him, but I really like the workflow he has and the approach to photography, which is to handmake things. It's something that I intend to do way more when I can.
“In art movements, I’m inspired by art nouveau, art nouveau, and later surrealism. I think it depends on the project.”
The photographer says he would describe his work as “fantastical and with a bit of surrealism, very maximalist and pretty artificial. I would also say a bit kitsch and too much. There’s the notion of artificialness and glamour.”
LILOU Creative Direction & Photography: Lélio Bazin, @dramatik___ Photo assistant: Lucile Sueau, @su
The art director says the other-worldly nature of his work was brought about by “frustration from the environment and the society we are living in where everything is pretty bland. The insides of houses are mostly white with sometimes a grey floor. We are buying groceries in big metal buildings with no aesthetic consideration at all.
“It’s because of this frustration. In my head I have a lot of universes of colours, of things I wanted to explore. I think it comes from that, the magical part. To create a bit of magic in the life of people that see my work.”
He shares that he does not “have a real process from A to Z. Sometimes the idea comes when I’m asleep at 3 a.m. and I wake up to note it. Sometimes it's when I'm at an exhibition, or when I'm walking in the city, when I'm with friends, when we are talking. I think creative ideas can come anytime, anywhere, and there is no rule about that.
“When I have a bit of an idea, I do some research, I compare it to something that I know, perhaps a movement, and then I just sketch something on a notebook of what I have in mind.” he says.
“When the project is truly creative from me, with no clients, I go ahead and shoot and experiment. I have a studio at my flat in Paris, so I can shoot whenever I want. When it's for clients, I will do a sketch with a bit more quality, so the client can project and see what the final result will be.
“If I’m working with digital backgrounds, I create them before shooting. We plan the shoot and afterwards in my practice it’s a small amount of work because there was so much work to create the backgrounds.”
Bazin says when he faces setbacks in his work he simply goes “outside. Go see a museum, go to a park, and get some fresh inspiration.”
55ASKY Commissioned for @55_asky Art Direction & Photography: Lélio Bazin, @dramatik___ Photo assist
The artist shares that his greatest artistic triumph was one of his “recent projects with 55 ASKY, which is a French rapper, who called me to say ‘I'm going to publish a new album in a few weeks. This is the cover art, and I need some visuals for promotion. You have no rules, go ahead and create visuals.
“I had a lot of liberties and I think that is why I really like to work with musical artists. They allow me a lot of creativity with not much restriction besides format.”
Bazin’s advice to anyone beginning photography is to “never stop playing with things and experimenting. You don't have to be serious at the beginning. Just feel free to create and do some things.
“You don't need to have the greatest material and set up to start. I started photography with my iPhone and some desk lamps in my dorm room and now I have some professional set up.
“Even recently I have used some desk lamps and an iPhone to take pictures. Just create.”
Dramatik adds a statement about AI “For a long time when I was in my dorm room, I was using some parts of AI for some small elements, some things in the background.
“Now I have a better understanding of all the problems created by AI. I have decided to not use it anymore. I have written a thesis for my studies about its impact on the image industry particularly in communication.
“Writing this thesis let me understand more deeply why people are using it and why some others aren't. From this I decided to not choose AI anymore. It can be useful for some people. But I think every creative has to make a statement for their use of it. So, I decided for almost a year now to not use it at all.
“Now I think I enjoy my work way more by creating some miniature sets and creating some effect in 3D.”
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