Floria Sigismondi
Photography by Mary Rasmussen
by Donari Braxton

Sculptress, painter, videographer, director; it’s almost boringly obvious to call Floria Sigismondi a polymath, and anyway, her occupational hit-parade could march on quite awhile. Most know Floria from her seminal contributions to music video production. And chances are, most who don’t “know” her have already been exposed to her work. Not simply due to the MTV Video Music Awards or the vastly diverse, all-purpose spectrum of artists for whom she’s created videos—Björk, Marilyn Manson, Sigur Rós, Christina Aguilera, David Bowie, Fiona Apple and Leonard Cohen, to name a few—but also due to the fact that even if you’ve caught no footage by Sigismondi herself, you’ve likely glimpsed her aesthetic plenty-nigh. Sigismondi’s predilection for abstract, often unsettling histrionics, combined with shudder-heavy cinematography, which makes the frame-by-frame look like antefix, has become a readily repeated visual trope.
But perhaps the most interesting thing about Floria Sigismondi is her ability to equate and balance. On the one hand, her work is tightly countervailed: yes, the postmodern theatricality aspect is there, but with it—sometimes in the very same shot—is a restrained sense of cerebral-ness. Sigismondi can shoot a scene with Fiona Apple in the mirror-experimentalist tradition of Maya Deren, and simultaneously seem to call reference to Richard Brook’s acclaimed “accidental tears” shot from In Cold Blood. On the other hand, her videos still concretely celebrate the artist in question.

With seesaw quality in mind, it probably isn’t surprising that, with two collected art books on the stands, and her first feature length film to begin shooting in January (about ‘70s rock group The Runaways), Sigismondi was still able to talk about her work with us in a moderate, percipient way—and yet, one that didn’t betray the fact she’s <still> excited about what she does.

YRB: Mind telling us a little about how you got the ball rolling as an artist?
Floria: There’s always been something in the creative process that I’ve loved. From the beginning, I approached it from a surrealistic [viewpoint]. Always colorful and impressionistic—though doing everything all wrong, pressing all the wrong buttons—until I found something that was a little off and a little bit different, which got me excited with the medium. I never looked at [photography] as something to document; I look at it as something to create. Then, a friend of mine who owned a production company thought maybe I should get into directing…
YRB: And thus came the cinema?
Floria: Yeah, I was taking photographs that were in a [motion]-series, so it ended up being a nice, easy transition to get into. Very exciting for me too, because then I could incorporate sound. Having been raised by opera singers, sound’s very big.
YRB: Theatrics seem a definitive aspect of your art across the board, from the applied arts to photography and cinema. How do you keep a fresh perspective going from medium to medium like that?
Floria: I’ve noticed I’ve kind of put them all into a big melting pot, mixing the mediums together. But I think I’m an artist first—a painter first. For me, it wasn’t that I found this camera and said: “I’m in love with this camera.” It was a tool for me. If I get rid of the camera, I’ll grab something else. The tools are interchangeable…I’ll compile all the images and realize sometimes [what I like] only afterwards. For me, I’ve found that—and it’s kind of a broad statement—but in order to find ourselves, we need to destroy ourselves.
YRB: Is that an idea you swear by?
Floria: Sure, I’m always taking apart things [laughs]. For me, putting something on its head, or watching life from an alien perspective helps you look at things, take them apart, reorganize them and go: how about that way, is that interesting?
YRB: Sounds like a deconstructivist’s approach, appropriated from architecture into the visual art.
Floria: That approach is made for ideas. Tearing things apart helps. If I think of something, I’m maybe thinking of it upside down or backwards—that gives me another perspective on whatever it is.
YRB: Does that maybe have anything to do with the fact you’re now creating your first feature length film?
Floria: I’ve always wanted to. After a while, three minutes gets straining. I wanted to take more time and dig deeper into the emotions and ideas. In music videos and in short films, you have to be more aggressive; you have to make impact. You have to be aggressive visually.
YRB: You’ve worked with such a diverse roster of artists; each project must have been dramatically different.
Floria: I’ve been really lucky in working with talented people. And I’ve found that the more creative the artist, the more freedom they give you. [But] there has to be a lot of mutual respect, so I’ve been very lucky to be able to create what I want to.

YRB: How much give-and-take is there with the artists you create videos for?
Floria: I’ve worked with people who allow me to do what I do. It really has never been watered down…I’ve never been in a situation where I feel like it’s fallen apart.
YRB: Any personal favorite collabs or work experiences?
Floria: It was so inspiring to see Leonard Cohen, someone that colossal […], not be pushy or aggressive about any ideas…Also, David Bowie—the endless, amazing energy he has—would do anything I asked of him. Put on any kind of weirdo outfit or suit that has spiky shoulders and things—he was totally up for it. What was crazy was, we were shooting at this old mental institution in New York, and I had [David] wear what are called squirrel lenses, which covers all the whites and darks parts of your eyes—quite hard to put it in, so we had to have a doctor there to do it…But one of his eyes [ended up going] completely red and he had to be rushed to the hospital. What an amazing guy—he showed up the next day because he knew, that was my day; I couldn’t shoot without him. We had this idea to put a patch over his eye, and he’s there, just ready to do everything. Amazing. But, yeah, I almost blinded David Bowie…[laughs]
YRB: I wonder how many people can claim they’ve sent David Bowie to the hospital.
Floria: And Marilyn Manson….
YRB: No?!
Floria: Well, apparently that mouthpiece I put in his mouth, you know, that dental apparatus, cut him up inside…Method acting…[laughs]
YRB: Yes, I believe they call that extreme method acting.Speaking of, do you ever manage to enjoy the bigger budget films coming out these days? Are you influenced by them at all?
Floria: My film influences are a little bit older. I don’t know if it’s gotten too realistic or something? There’s something in the art of filmmaking that was so magical. I don’t mean flying people; I just mean in the ways stories are told. I did like Batman though. It was escapism…I really enjoyed There Will Be Blood.
YRB: You, yourself have had a significant impact on the music video business, both from an aesthetic and a technical point of view. Do you see the outgrowth of your own impact manifested in the industry?
Floria: I try not to step outside of myself too much—I create my world in such a tight bubble. I know I’m making this for a mass audience—obviously, it’s on television—but I don’t think of it, and try to be fearless about my decisions. I think if you step outside of yourself a little bit, there’s easily censorship: “oh that’s been done,” or something like that, instead of making it as personal as possible and trying to be as fearless as possible, letting those seeds go and not just stamping on them. You know? Letting the strange little ideas come to life. You know, like: where am I going with this? I don’t know, but I’m going to follow it.

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