High Fructose: Your work has a very unique look, combining fantastic quirky images with striking lighting. I was curious about your beginning, what affected your aesthetics? You grew up in a drama family, and do you think this shapes the way art develops?
Floria Sigismondi: I think it’s a contradiction to grow up in the industrial town of Hamilton, Ontario, but living in a home in a theatrical costume, making all day long and playing lyric operas all day long. I brought this dichotomy into my work. Opposition attracts me.
HF: Is your art very acceptable, or did it take a while to grow your career? Have you really started taking off for a moment?
FS: When I directed the video, it did start to take off, for the beautiful figure of Marilyn Manson. For me, this is a key video of my creative and career, as I came up with some very challenging ideas that I have always wanted to do, but never find the perfect channel. He will do anything, so I really like it. I remember watching my sketch come to life before my eyes, so transforming for me. It really changed the way I approach creativity. This makes me believe I don’t know it’s crazy.
HF: Your work also has the elements of “beautiful weirdness”. I think you really helped bring this aesthetic to the forefront of contemporary art, and it is now widely accepted. However, I think your work has a strong rock element to this (besides putting rock and musicians as themes). Can you talk about the appeal of your aesthetics from dark images?
FS: I always believe that if you see something close enough, you will find beauty. It can be color, texture, symbolic meaning. I found that the color attracted me first. There is a specific image that thinks about the floating of the human heart. The color and texture are so rich that all I see is the beauty in the heart veins. The second thing my brain does is to understand the images. It murmured, “Where are people who once belonged to a person, and what happened to them now?” But I have seen beauty and therefore become a party to experience.
I would love to see the externalization of personal expression. When I grew up you had to build your identity, your own clothes, customize things. ”
HF: I’m curious about your inspiration. Your personal style is strong and your job has a specific stamp for you. What kind of things inspired you these days?
FS: metamorphosis, transformation, universe, dreams, aliens, emotions, love, movement, strength and contradictions.
HF: Many of your photos and videos are with people who are known for their creative output. What is your field of vision? Do you work with the topic (for musicians who tend to have an investment interest in their own “images”) or do you have a strict understanding of what the work you want to complete looks like?
FS: I almost know what it looks like when I plan on an idea and ultimately it never deviates from that idea. I took the artists to different places and it was the fun part. Let’s start something new together.
HF: You sometimes show up at your own work and at the creator’s work, and I’m curious about it…what if it’s a way to capture more eyesight (willing to see/action in some way maybe not), or is it a form of self-trait?
FS: It starts this way. I used myself because it was easier to capture what I wanted, but then I wanted to tell a little story I found along the way. Knowledge comes from experience. It removes the veil and makes things clearer. It becomes capturing an idea without an intruder.
