3 questions: bruno zhu

Q: How would you describe your style to someone who hasn’t seen your work?

A: That question would just make me choke whatever I would be eating. I try to tell myself there’s no style to be followed apart from the established formalities like portrait, landscape and such. We live in a post-modern world, despite personally believing we’ve already moved on from that. There’s no style anymore; everyone misreads everything therefore everybody mixes whatever they want, only to pursue the meaning each individual wants to perceive, which is a selfish reality. I do take photographs, but I am too frightened to honestly define what I’m looking for when I do it. I try to make it as a lucid and spontaneous act, but if anyone asks me I’ll just scratch my neck + blush hoping they’ll get my expression facing such complexity, which an outsider would just consider schizo and weird.

Q: What inspired you to pick up a camera in the first place?

A: I picked up a camera for necessity, specially because I wasn’t feeling that drawing could follow the speed and capture the full moment I was looking for, or maybe I’m just a terrible drawer.

Q: Who are the photographers that you admire the most?

A: I don’t have a podium for my favourite photographer. Staring at a Hiroshi Sugimoto piece takes my breath away; flicking through a Nan Goldin makes me laugh; Francesca Woodman inspires me to get flowers; Ryan McGinley and Jurgen Teller could make me take my shirt off…”Streets” mean Cartier-Bresson, Frank Capa, Andreas Feininger and more…there’s also Fashion Photography, a nonstop growing phenomenon, from the early 20th century Edward Steichen to the contemporary Viviane Sassen, everything is a possibility + a source of information. I admire each one of them for having the power to strike in a visual form; that’s the achievement I praise because we as spectators are bombed by our own daily lives images + still be able to recognize, remember and dream with their work. But things got more intense lately, with online communities appearing everyday showcasing more and more photographers thriving with beautiful imagery from all over the world. There’s a huge web of beauty coming from this rounded planet! I shouldn’t be going on with this subject, there would be an infinite name list to be read + it would be excruciating to even think where to start.

Check out some of Bruno’s work after the jump!

Every Wednesday we sit down (briefly) with a talented artist + ask them 3 questions.

If you’re an artist + you’d like to be grilled, email me at questions@hardfeelingsblog.com