Vanessa Beecroft

in the skin of the artist

interview and portraits by OLIVIER ZAHM in Los Angeles

Reinventing live performance and body art as multiple personality disorder, Vanessa Beecroft became one of the most successful artists of the 1990s, inside and outside the art world. She represented the female body as a psychic landscape, with somnolent girls dawdling in underwear and wigs or a phalanx of statuesque naked women. The Italian artist, now living in Los Angeles with her family, went even deeper into the female psyche, while also art-directing lavishly successful Kanye West shows, using dozens of multiracial models. She has returned to her Italian heritage, creating set pieces with live models, her own Carrara marble and bronze works, and original Roman scuptures. More than two decades after her debut, her influence on art and fashion hasn’t wavered.

VB62, 2008, Spasimo, Palermo, Italy

All works copyright Vanessa…