This past February, Mannion headed off to Trinidad and Tobago for two things: his 9th Carnival experience and, more importantly, to direct the music video for Trinidad James’ second single “Females Welcomed”. With a small crew, it was all hands on deck for a couple days working with incredible locations, half-naked beautiful women, fire breathers, rum, and festive carnival goers all filmed in Trinidad James’ hometown of St. James district in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

My brother Chamillionaire once said “A moment will pass, but a movement will last”… LACE UP is here to stay!

“I remember a moment of him riding a miniature bicycle in the Bronx and that he was taking it so seriously, giving his all to the performance and having a blast doing it. This kicked off our day of shooting and we knew that it was going to be a special session.”  - Mannion

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photos by Jonathan Mannion & Nils Krueger

“Artists are a rare breed. They bring the creative contents of their minds to the general public.  It takes acts of courage and strength to present their own unique visions, let alone collaborate with another artist with another distinct perspective.

REƧƎƎИ allowed this clash of creativity to be manifested. The night of August 30th marked a beautiful day of stripping down individual mental borders, putting artistic ego aside and making something collaborative that couldn’t have been individually conceived for Berlin to enjoy. Wanting to share this night with the world, I have selected a set of images that reveal a glimpse into the freedom and joy that we all experienced. Enjoy.”

- Jonathan

 

(Exhibition now open to the public until September 22nd, Tues.-Sat. 4pm-7pm. MADE | 9th Floor | Alexanderstrasse 7 | 10178 BERLIN)

REƧƎƎИ is a creative journey that has brought together 8 creative talents from different artistic fields for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas all centered around the work of Jonathan Mannion.

For the first time ever, Mannion granted access to his entire photo archive, allowing the 7 artists to cultivate an open dialogue with him based on mutual inspiration and putting ego aside – sparking a creative clash that resulted in 7 unique pieces, each shaped by the artist’s own talent and skills.

Featured artists include:  Amine Bendriouich (Fashion), Christian Awe (Painting), Conny Dreher (Graphic Design), Ebon Heath (Typography), Good Wives and Warriors (Painting), Lukas Feireiss (Illustration) and Noelle (Sculpting).

In the days before the opening event, Mannion visited with painter Christian Awe.

“I’m always fascinated with the artist’s process, how he or she achieves their unique vision, and to be let into Christian’s world, as it was happening, was truly rewarding. Seeing him in motion peeling, splattering and tearing was magic to see. I wondered in the beginning how my photographs would be incorporated into his abstract craft, but in the end it was seamless and brilliant!”

Next, he stopped by to see Ebon Heath hard at work on his 3-dimensional piece combining both images and lyrics of two artists born with the name “Rakim”.

“He described it as ‘SCIENCE’, ‘freeing letters from the page’ and ‘making letters dance’… he achieved all 3 in this spectacular piece. Using interior images of ASAP Rocky and exterior images of RAKIM Allah, Ebon utilized laser cut lyrics of an ASAP Rocky tune to create the canvas for my photographs. His creative process and dedication to going the extra mile to make something legendary was so appreciated by everyone who witnessed it in action. This piece took my breath away.”

Good Wives & Warriors took a more interactive approach to their piece, constructing a large piñata filled with Mannion collectibles.

“Creating in the actual MADE space was the team of Good Wives & Warriors. It was the first piece that I saw in person after landing from New York. Their idea was that it would be a fusion of their artwork in this outer shell and my work being held on the interior. It became a bit of a performance piece when I was blindfolded and was instructed to shatter this egg to reveal the inner surprises… fortune cookies, confetti and carefully selected photographs that gave off a certain joyful energy from my collection. These were all keepsakes and reminders of the joy of collaborating together and the celebration of the creativity that this clash allowed. Hours and hours of detailed and inspired work was shattered in a split second, but the cascade of inner surprises had the room scrambling for these treasures inside.”

Check back soon for more of REƧƎƎИ…