© RANKIN

Blue Leopard – Pink, Saved by the Bell series, 2018

RANKIN CHOSEN TO REPRESENT THE VISUAL CAMPAIGN OF MIA FAIR 2021.

This year, photographer Rankin’s project Saved by the Bell is MIA’s official fair image in its 10th anniversary.

Rankin is an eclectic artist who has constantly been at the forefront in every stage of his artistic development, including as co-founder of the magazine Dazed &  Confused and as a film director.

In each of his roles, he has been guided both by his well-known inclination towards innovation and by his audacious style. Rankin’s approach in expressing his unorthodox creativity is inspired by a wide range of different tools, such as the use of textures and colours, which he places around his subjects to create strange and unexpected forms.

Saved by the Bell, created for Hunger Magazine in 2018, in collaboration with make- up artist Andrew Gallimore, combines marked references to the culture of the 80s and 90s, through the use of pop colours and graphic patterns, with a cutting-edge style emphasised by the inclusion of three-dimensional elements applied to the faces of the subjects.

While clearly referring to the past (also in the title itself, Saved by the Bell, which is the name of a famous American sit-com from the late 80s), the project effectively conveys an intention to reinterpret the period through a re-elaboration of key elements (colours and patterns) which characterises the decade. Rankin presents, therefore, a unique visual narrative capable of capturing the aesthetics and characteristics of an era.

MIA Fair 2021 will be held at the new venue of SUPERSTUDIO MAXI from 7 to 10 October 2021.