From John Harris’s article discussing his studio visit with Joseph Desler Costa for B&H Explora:
Cory Rice and I visited Costa’s studio, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. We met after he dropped his child at school; having kids adds an urgency to all of the reasons to create. Costa could not have been more welcoming, despite our relatively last-minute request to visit. His space blended natural light from a high window with neon light from art he created for an earlier project. It felt as much like the workshop of a high-end motorcycle engineer as that of a photographer—there was a chrome spinner rim, a very old Macintosh computer on the floor, a cordless phone with an antenna, and a Contax 35mm film camera hanging near his desk. Costa works primarily with the Hasselblad H6D medium format system and his work deals in still life and multiple exposure in the forms of objects and products, and seeing through layers. Color is important and exacting and he is not shy about the cross-influence of his commercial work to his art pieces.
“I’ve always been into logos, and that’s also part of my commercial work. I tried to keep the art photography impulses separate from the commercial work, but it felt awkward, like I had to try too hard, so I started incorporating ideas. My images are highly lit, highly produced, my commercial work is about creating want and desire, so I’m trying to create that sensation, but work it in a more contemplative way. There’s also a lot of tongue-and-cheek in this, as well.”
Browse the exhibition “Dream Date” at ClampArt
Browse all of Joseph Desler Costa’s work at ClampArt