Customer Reviews

Mondino-Deja Vu

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

the long awaited mondino book, deja vu, is a disappointment for mondino enthusiats like myself. jean-baptiste mondino is the best photographer in the world, hands down. so much so that his injection of an untramodern (read ultrasexy) fashion sensibility into music and popular culture images can be considered definitive by all accounts. in that respect, he is the direct descendent of the legendary jean-paul goude. but deja vu is unfortunately just that. a career retrospective which fails to offer any new images to the many fans (like myself) who have followed every step of mondino's career. i expected amazing new fashion imagery, and a delirious portfolio of the millennium's up-and-coming artists and musicians. instead i got a mickey rourke cover and endless variations on the vanessa paradis theme. very eighties. for newcomers, this book will be a revelation, for no one masters image manipulation - and its effects on our pop saturated psyches - better than mondino. yet the initiated will feel that, grand though this first book effort is, the key to the future-forward lies in mondino's french vogue pages. mondino has seen the future, maybe he should start leading us to its doors again. could it be that he is saving that trip for his next book? i certainly hope so.

I was only vaguely acquainted with Mondino's work,but I LOVE fashion photography so I took a chance on this book.The low expectations I had made this book all the more STAGGERING-it is a MAGNIFICENT book,filled with the most unique,visionary approach to fashion and celebrity photography I have ever seen!And unlike some other big-name photographers,Mondino can leap from one style to another,he doesn't limit himself to any one technique or style.ALWAYS,however,he is original and endlessly clever and witty.This book conveys a sense of humor and whimsy that is delightful.Yet many of the pictures are tremendously moving in their beauty and power.And he photographs such a WIDE range of subjects,yet they all have one thing in common:an offbeat,striking,unusual type of beauty or appearance.He makes EVERYONE he photographs look extraordinary,by adding his singular eccentric touch.This is an awesome book,I LOVE it,I can't get enough of it.Five stars doesn't suffice!

Mondino could quite possibly be one of the greatest photographers our time. If you enjoy David LaChapelle and Stephane Sednaoui, whose works are similar, than you will enjoy Mondino. However Mondino seems to have an edge over his peers. I don't think that I would have bought the book if it didn't have any relation to Jean Paul Gaultier, a long time client of Mondino's. But in viewing the book I found that he worked with other designers and treated them all as individual as they are, without loosing his own edge. It seems to me that this book is a compilation of his favorite work, and it serves to communicate the artist's sensibilities on a personal level. His signature lies in that he can keep the photographs very simple yet thoroughly enjoyable, full of life, most of all he's capable of almost animating them, making them jump out to you - from paper to life!! There is an aspect of pleasure and "joie de vivre" in his work, despite the fact the fact that some of the photographs are dark and are made with a devilish sense of humor (at best)!! All in all I am very pleased with the book and Mondino's ideas on image and style.

needless to mention, one of the best. color saturation and creativity is impressive. It worths the money. If you like fashion and studio photography, u should not miss out this one.