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Artist Spotlight: Maro Hagopian
Crisp but gritty. Sexy and a little scary. Maro's celebs and club kids
have an edge. Then there are the cats.
Advocate.com
January 19, 2013
By Christopher Harrity
Maro is a celebrity, lifestyle, and portrait photographer. Born in the
suburbs of Detroit and having spent her teens in Las Vegas, she
incorporates both the pop, glitzy influence of Las Vegas and the
gritty industrial landscapes of Detroit into her images. She has been
the official photographer for several premier New York City parties
and a regular contributor to New York's Village Voice for over seven
years. Her work has also been published in The New York Times, Time
Out NY, the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone magazine, Us magazine,
and Spin among others. Recently, Maro's "Nine Lives" project,
featuring nine iconic felines, made it to Time magazine's editor's
blog.
The Advocate: The cats are so psychedelic. What inspired you to
photograph them?
Maro: The cat project was a long time coming - being a subscriber to
Cat Fancy at a young age, it was bound to be. It came out of an
accidental photo I took of my cat Razzy Starr. I was shooting a model
on a red backdrop. and during a break my cat walked on to the
backdrop. I grabbed my camera and quickly caught her walking toward me
- her expression is priceless. The photograph captures her
intensity. She is an extremely sensitive, emotional cat. The use of
color is a trademark in my nightlife photography. I thought, Why not
make cats just as iconic as the people I photograph? They have
distinct personalities, and I wanted to convey that in images that
pop. Cats have attitude, after all.
Favorite celebrity you have photographed?
Lady Gaga. I photographed her after her first national appearance on
Logo's New Now Next Awards. I loved shooting her, as she was so open
to the camera and so interactive. She obviously embraced the attention
and knew exactly what pose she wanted and served it. She's super
passionate about her craft, which I completely respect and relate to.
Who are some photographers,(or artists, writers, etc., that have
influenced you and your work?
I intentionally never studied other photographers because I wanted to
find my own style first. Once I developed myself, I would come across
work and realized I had a lot in common with some photographers. When
I saw some of William Eggleston's work, I realized that I was on the
same page in the sense of this intense attraction to color and
suburban landscape.
I find that I get a lot of inspiration and influence from music and
films: early Duran Duran, Prince, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg,
and Andy Warhol all have had a huge impact on me as an artist.
See more of Maro's work at her website (http://www.marohagopian.com/).
Crisp but gritty. Sexy and a little scary. Maro's celebs and club kids
have an edge. Then there are the cats.
Advocate.com
January 19, 2013
By Christopher Harrity
Maro is a celebrity, lifestyle, and portrait photographer. Born in the
suburbs of Detroit and having spent her teens in Las Vegas, she
incorporates both the pop, glitzy influence of Las Vegas and the
gritty industrial landscapes of Detroit into her images. She has been
the official photographer for several premier New York City parties
and a regular contributor to New York's Village Voice for over seven
years. Her work has also been published in The New York Times, Time
Out NY, the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone magazine, Us magazine,
and Spin among others. Recently, Maro's "Nine Lives" project,
featuring nine iconic felines, made it to Time magazine's editor's
blog.
The Advocate: The cats are so psychedelic. What inspired you to
photograph them?
Maro: The cat project was a long time coming - being a subscriber to
Cat Fancy at a young age, it was bound to be. It came out of an
accidental photo I took of my cat Razzy Starr. I was shooting a model
on a red backdrop. and during a break my cat walked on to the
backdrop. I grabbed my camera and quickly caught her walking toward me
- her expression is priceless. The photograph captures her
intensity. She is an extremely sensitive, emotional cat. The use of
color is a trademark in my nightlife photography. I thought, Why not
make cats just as iconic as the people I photograph? They have
distinct personalities, and I wanted to convey that in images that
pop. Cats have attitude, after all.
Favorite celebrity you have photographed?
Lady Gaga. I photographed her after her first national appearance on
Logo's New Now Next Awards. I loved shooting her, as she was so open
to the camera and so interactive. She obviously embraced the attention
and knew exactly what pose she wanted and served it. She's super
passionate about her craft, which I completely respect and relate to.
Who are some photographers,(or artists, writers, etc., that have
influenced you and your work?
I intentionally never studied other photographers because I wanted to
find my own style first. Once I developed myself, I would come across
work and realized I had a lot in common with some photographers. When
I saw some of William Eggleston's work, I realized that I was on the
same page in the sense of this intense attraction to color and
suburban landscape.
I find that I get a lot of inspiration and influence from music and
films: early Duran Duran, Prince, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg,
and Andy Warhol all have had a huge impact on me as an artist.
See more of Maro's work at her website (http://www.marohagopian.com/).