Video artist and director Kenzo Digital talks about his show-stopping collaboration with Beyoncé and gives us his insider tips on New York City.
Kenzo Digital is a creative director at award-winning agency Weiden + Kennedy, based in New York City. His work in visual art has seen him create videos for clients as big as they come: think President Barack Obama and rapper/producer Kanye West. Yeah, that big.
His partnershp with Beyoncé at this year’s Billboard Music Awards combined elements such as frontal projection, expertly timed dancing, and an army of digital Beyoncé clones - resulting in a live performance that blows even some big budget music videos out of the water in terms of sheer awesomeness.
Here, Kenzo shares his influences, inspiration, and even some tips for exploring New York’s creative side:
How much does New York City influence your work?
I love New York; it’s my favourite city for sure. I am addicted to the visual textures of the city, the chaos, and it has some of the best food in the world. I would also love to live in Paris. I get the same bombardment of visual textures from cities all over the world but Paris is on another level. I would love to live out there to make work and just see how it affects me.
For inspiration: any local galleries or museums?
Sometimes, I definitely go in phases. If I’m in the middle of concepting something I don’t like to look or think about anything other than what I’m working on. The whole process of thinking it through on your own terms is very important to me. Sometimes it’s just nice to walk around the MET and listen to music. I mostly opt for just walking around the city though, that really does it for me.
What are your favourite places in New York to…
Eat: Torrisi Italian on Mulberry Street, Baohaus Taiwanese on Rivington Street, and Kanoyama and Ippudo for Japanese.
Shop: I like Opening Ceremony and Supreme and always Ralph Lauren.
How were you approached by Beyoncé’s team?
Beyoncé’s choreographer Frank Gatson reached out to me. We spoke about different ways to approach the concept (of video in live performance). She is a great performer and being able to collaborate with talent who dances and performs so masterfully really just opened up many possibilities for me creatively.
You do a lot of sampling in your line of work, do you think there is ever a line artists can cross when it comes to re-contextualising a video or piece of music?
Yeah absolutely. Sometimes I think a simplistic nod to an original is great, especially when it is properly contextualised but there are a lot of cheap rip offs in everything from music, to film, to art. I think great appropriators are able to really add to new value to the original and expand upon or re-contextualise the original meaning. I think a masterful sampler intimately knows what the source is and how he’s playing it; you have to have a full spectrum understanding to do it justice.
Kenzo Digital’s most recent film, City of God’s Son, is an ode to New York and the rappers he admired growing up.
“As a kid, my childhood fantasy movie starred all the rappers who were like my childhood heroes at the time. I wanted to still tell that story but find a whole new medium to convey it and give some real depth to the characters. It is a really unique experience.”
Food & Drink
Torrisi Italian Specialties
250 Mulberry Street
New York
+212 965 0955
piginahat.com
Kanoyama Japanese Restaurant
175 2nd Avenue
New York
+212 777 5266
kanoyama.com
Baohaus
137 Rivington Street
New York
+646 684 3835
baohausnyc.com
Ippudo NY
65 4th Avenue
New York
+212 388 0088
ippudony.com
See & Do
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York
+212 535 7710
metmuseum.org
Shopping
Opening Ceremony
35 Howard Street
New York
+212 219 2688
openingceremony.us
Supreme
274 Lafayette Street
New York
+212 966 7799
supremenewyork.com
Ralph Lauren
867 Madison Avenue
New York
+212 606 2100
ralphlauren.com