Photography Elvis Di FAzio
Stylist Bex Sheers
Body Paint By Becca Gilmartin.
FRANCOIS SAGAT BY ELVIS DI FAZIO from elvisdifazio on Vimeo.
Screen grabs from the clip.
as you can see the shoot was all about capturing the raw essence of Sagat and putting a spin on the fact that while he is essentially close to naked (as is his profession), its through the use of his own body mass we were able to celebrate his physique without being overly suggestive. He inspired us so much with his perfectly sculpted body despite his tiny stature that we immediately thought of him as a cross between a pop, cartoonish figurine and as a buff American grid-iron player.
This led us to the idea of body painting him as an otherworldly comic character due to the fact his own shape and form parallels the protective grid iron gear that is generally worn under garments, negating the need for much else other than paint. The results speak for themselves.
after the shoot him i made a fun, tounge-in-cheek short film of the bodypainted Sagat 'undressing' in the shower, which i have edited to play back in reverse so it appears that he is 're-dressing' himself. The film was created on the basis of proclaiming an anti-porn statement to mirror Sagat's own anti-fashion sentiments, along with his apparent frustrations at the narrow-minded perception his profession attracts.
He is a really unique, deeply introspective and intellectual artist with a surprisingly gentle spirit. And we think he would be an ideal subject for a feature article/interview, as from what we can ascertain he sees himself as more of a performance artist than 'porn star' and simply uses this industry as a vehicle for self expression."
oh and while he was getting painted we had his ipod playing and that guy has some fucking good taste in music.
