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Renzo: I'm 25, living in Rome and I'm doing nothing at all. I just got a degree in economics.Tell me something about the birth of your hilarious blog.
Back in 2007 I started posting these portraits—I was just fucking with it, with no artistic claim whatsoever. I love posed portraits, maybe because we don't really have this big tradition in Italy—it's more of an English/American thing.And why do you call them sexy people? Isn't that mean?
At first the blog didn't have a name, and I would be the only one reading it, together with some close friends. Then this English dude posted a link on his blog, and the link said "sexy people." I thought it was perfect: the word "sexy" has this 80s vibe--it's ironic. All the people who appear on the blog want to look "seductive." Seduction is the purpose of it all. I think it's amazing. Yet I got emails from people that are shocked by the fact that there are babies on a blog that's called "sexy." But I think it's bullshit.Total bullshit. Do people send you pictures all the time?
Yes! After a while I started getting pictures from photographers and from the subjects themselves—it's like a celebration of self-irony. What got me excited about these pictures is that they're pre-social network era—the most recent were taken in 1998 or so. Today, every self-portrait I look at has this kind of "fake spontaneity": everybody is trying so hard to find everyday life situations that have to look fun at all costs. I find them very fake—pure acts disguised as "real life." In some way, Sexy People's portraits are paradoxically more honest—because they're posed and studied to the finest detail and so damn serious.
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Oh! Yes, my dad, who is a photographer, showed me one of his books—amazing! So photography is a family business?
No. My dad tried to get me involved with his stuff—landscapes and architecture—but he failed. I think I have some kind of natural aversion for this kind of photography. If you had to host a Sexy People's Sexiest People contest, who would win?
No doubt about it: Deandre. He represents the essence of Sexy People: that 90s office appeal, that "glamour" look in his eyes. He's the sexiest of all the Sexy People.
Phew! It's getting hot in here. Let's change subject: your blog is very basic.
Yes, I don't want to give out too much information. I want everybody to see in it whatever the fuck they want. But maybe today we could try and find out a little bit more about some of the people portrayed…
Sure, why not. We could email them. Radical!
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