O.N.S Resident Artist: Featuring René Fragoso
We’re excited to introduce René Fragoso, our first O.N.S Resident Artist at 201 Mulberry. He is a New York-based photographer and friend of the brand. You will find his work on some of our campaigns. We’ve collaborated with him on putting together an in-store exhibition at our Nolita flagship store.
New York Cityscapes and Artifacts by René Fragoso is a collection of photographs focused on the overlooked city sidewalks, textures, stains and everyday, ordinary objects of the city. It attempts to bring appreciation to otherwise-ignored subject matter through vibrant color and precise use of lines and composition, while tracing a playful comparison between these elements and celebrated gestures in art and design history. The O.N.S team sat down with René to get to know a little more about him and his work.
At what moment in your life did you realize you wanted to be a photographer?
I don’t think I had a big aha moment. The closest thing was opening and going through the pages of an edition of American Vogue when I was probably 10 or 11. I don’t remember a specific image but it was probably full of Arthur Elgort and Peter Lindbergh and I was in total awe. My first real camera didn’t come until college and even though I l was hooked by the medium right away, I didn’t really register that I could do that for a living. A few years later I decided I wanted a new life and to move to New York—I had a miserable job at the local newspaper at the time. I always say that I moved here to be a photographer but in retrospect I realize that I kind of became a photographer as an excuse to come to NYC.
What inspires your photographs and how would you describe your style?
I’d say everyday life is what inspires my work the most but I also look a lot at art and design history and I try to reference some of that in my images, maybe marrying those two concepts is what defines my work in general. I think I started photographing the lines, marks and stains on the sidewalks because I was looking so much at abstract paintings that I started seeing them everywhere. The same happened with the tears on the mesh fabric in fences used in construction sites in the city, I had been looking at Lucio Fontana and suddenly all I could see was him slashing the mesh himself for me to photograph it, all over the city.
What project are you most proud of and why?
I’m super proud and excited of the little booklet we’ve put together for New York Cityscapes and Artifacts. I know it’s just a little self-published book but there’s something very special about books and printed materials and I’ve put a lot of love and time into editing this series and getting all the printing and finishing touches just right. It also encompasses the photographs I’ve been taking for the past three years, mostly with no pressure, a lot of them during covid walks. At the beginning I had no idea where I was going with them, and then, little by little, it felt like I had developed a language that felt my own.
What’s a project that you really want to get your hands on next?
I think I got hooked on books. I don’t know why I didn’t do one before. They’re expensive to produce but just finishing this one, I can’t wait to start working on the next series. I have a few ideas I’d like to explore, some are a continuation of Cityscapes but in other places. I also have a more personal portraits series I’d like to work on and present in the form of a book as well.
How does photography change the way you look at life around you?
In my case, since I started shooting the textures, lines and objects of the streets of New York, or any other place I go really, it’s becoming this weird thing where I just can’t stop looking at them, even when I don’t have my camera -which then I regret cause suddenly I see the most amazing stain on the floor and I can’t take the picture- but I love it cause it makes me pay attention, it slows me down, and it keeps my brain active. It’s like playing a game almost.
What is your favorite part about New York City?
The constant visual stimulation it offers, highbrow, lowbrow, both at the same time, and this sensation it offers that, even though we all mostly end up falling into a somewhat boring daily routine, something new, crazy or exciting can happen when you least expect it.
Stop By O.N.S Clothing Flagship at 201 Mulberry Street to view René’s Work from May 6th 2022 – August 5th 2022.
