wandael.com
alexowandael.com
italiany.us
@wandael73

The scene:
We are in Venice Beach, CA at Alexo’s home just off Abbott Kinney around 4pm. The light is getting lower and more golden. The way the sun is backlighting the curtains inside his living room is almost surreal: glowing 60’s pattern and color - a kaleidoscope of hot pink, green, brown, and orange. Alexo and I were match-made by instagram. We have a mutual friend in common and it suggested us to each other. I discover through our interview that we have quite a lot in common. Creepy to think the algorithm is teaching itself about human connection… The outcome: a lovely long interview of a budding friendship between two lone wolves.

Highlights:
+ Italian born
+ Lived in Berlin
+ First came to the US in 1999
+ Was an architect for 11 years
+ Was a fashion photographer
+ Alexo loves cowboys and westerns and pirates
+ His parents fell in love when they were 17 and 19
+ He was raised by his maternal grandmother
+ Practicing an art and making an art are often different
+ “Commercial” “success” is typically based on “who you know”
+ Began portrait photography while still an architect
+ Creating a magic connection with your subject
+ Human connection in art vs. product-driven art
+ Working with multiple exposures and layers
+ Worked with Vogue Italia and Elle Russia
+ Fine Art Photography
+ Loving to visit a city, and then leave
+ Finding balance with people/self/nature
+ Having deeper relationships
+ All Italians ride scooters and are good-looking ;)
+ The importance of creating social communities
+ The journey from architecture to photography
+ Embracing nuances and imperfection
+ Foreseeing the failure and doing it anyway
+ Bucket list item: traveling the US by train
+ Being kind AND opinionated (stubborn)
+ Drawing the line at someone harming another
+ In the end, our journey is our own
+ The community required to make a film
+ What inspired his first film: A Woman Makes a Plan
+ About his second film: Tomato Soup in Skid Row
+ Skid row is like a war zone in Afghanistan
+ Only 30% of homeless are from drug addiction or mental health issues
+ Homelessness is a systemic problem…of the US
+ Stay curious and ask WHY
+ Motorcycle stories
+ The desert is the ultimate metaphor for justice

A taste:
“Artists..they are not diplomats.  They should be the ones saying something loud, even if it’s going to hurt someone else, but at least you’re starting to make people think about or talk about it.  I don’t say that I’m the right one.  But at least let’s wake up from all the selfie and stuff.  Let’s talk about something more serious just for once.”

Favorite saying:
"Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction.” - Francis Picabia

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Love, Sagewolf xoxo