model behavior

I com­pli­ment artists in two ways. There’s the post-art school high cul­ture com­pli­ment: ‘Con­grat­u­la­tions your art has man­i­fest­ed it­self and re­con­fig­ured a painful or awk­ward past in or­der to rewrite your own meta­nar­ra­tive.’ And the Ba­sic AF ver­sion ‘Wow, you are hustling.’

I al­ways mean both.

I gave the for­mer to flom­mist Lexy Nicole re­gard­ing her lat­est ven­ture. She’s com­pet­ing for Miss Jet­set Mag 2018. It’s an op­por­tu­ni­ty to be on their cov­er and fol­low in the foot­steps of A‑list celebri­ties such as Scar­lett Jo­hans­son, Halle Berry, and Jen­nifer Lopez. Oh yeah, and there’s this $50,000 prize she’s in the run­ning for.

Lexy is sec­ond in her dis­trict at the mo­ment, you can help her place first here.

She’s also rais­ing mon­ey and aware­ness for a char­i­ta­ble cause, The Front Street An­i­mal Shel­ter.

Please vote and do­nate if you can, there are only 11 days left. You can vote once per day. 

Ear­li­er to­day, I talked to her about her work and prospects:

10 FEB­RU­ARY 2018
5:47 P.M. PT

LOUIS    What is the na­ture of this com­pe­ti­tion? You’re do­ing well in your sec­tion, was this a surprise?

lexy
I am in 2nd place now and it is a mod­el­ing com­pe­ti­tion to earn a spot on the cov­er of Jet­set Mag­a­zine. I re­al­ly want to try to win. It could help a lot with my work.

LOUIS    What would you do with the prize money?

lexy
I would use the mon­ey to pay off my stu­dent loans and cre­ate more art. I also plan to com­mis­sion lo­cal artists for art­work and do­nate a por­tion to The Front Street An­i­mal Shelter.

LOUIS    Your work is so art­ful­ly shot. You col­lab­o­rate with some amaz­ing pho­tog­ra­phers. Where did theme shoots orig­i­nate from?

lexy
I’m noth­ing with­out my pho­tog­ra­phers. Some of these themes are from the minds of col­lab­o­ra­tors but most are my own creation.

LOUIS    You also act as your own cre­ative dept. I hear you do cos­tumes and com­po­si­tion, what else?

lexy
I do a ma­jor­i­ty of the wardrobe, make­up, hair, some prop work, head­dress­es, and all the small de­tails that bring a look together.

LOUIS    As a mod­el, are you art?

lexy
To a de­gree. I’m more an out­let for art.

LOUIS    How long have you been mod­el­ing and why is this your cho­sen medium?

lexy
Five years. My work is about be­ing able to ex­press my­self and to show that no mat­ter what oth­er peo­ple say or think of you, it’s pos­si­ble to ac­com­plish any­thing if you work hard.

LOUIS    Is us­ing your body in this way more per­son­al than oth­er art forms?

lexy
Yes. I was bul­lied for my phys­i­cal ap­pear­ance grow­ing up. I’m do­ing this to ful­ly im­merse my­self in my artwork.

LOUIS    You were bullied?

lexy
Mid­dle school is when bul­ly­ing start­ed. I was bul­lied to the point where I con­front­ed ideas of self-harm. I was qui­et about it for a long time. I’ve grown from it.

LOUIS    It’s said that every artist is mo­ti­vat­ed from a well of sad­ness. Is this why your pho­tos have ethe­re­al el­e­ments like fairies, smoke, mer­maids, the cir­cus, and nature?

lexy
I’ve al­ways been drawn to na­ture. When I was re­al­ly de­pressed I’d es­cape to the blos­som filled or­chards of my home town to wan­der end­less­ly. It gave me a sense of calm. Hear­ing the bees, smelling the sweet blos­soms and watch­ing them fall gen­tly so full of grace to the ground. I know even with­out me here, those things still hap­pen. That silent beau­ti­ful hap­pen­ing. I want to chan­nel that same essence into what I do.

LOUIS    Hei­deg­ger pos­tu­lat­ed that art and mod­els of art re­de­fine re­al­i­ty and per­son­al his­to­ries. You’ve used your mod­el­ing as a way to re­frame your ex­pe­ri­ences with bul­ly­ing. It’s a ro­man­tic notion.

lexy
I feel I have. We are giv­en two choic­es in life. To take our ex­pe­ri­ences and let them de­stroy us or to let the ex­pe­ri­ences shape us into bet­ter peo­ple, the type of per­son who strives for greatness.

LOUIS    Do you strive for great­ness? What does that look like to you?

lexy
Try­ing. Try­ing to build something.

Let’s help Lexy build some­thing. Re­mem­ber to vote for her and check out her work.

 
 

—louis her­nan­dez

Flom­mist Louis Her­dan­dez is ob­sessed with go­ing Bauhaus and be­com­ing The Ma­chine. Prefer­ably a drill press. Copy­right © 2018 Louis Her­nan­dez. Pho­tog­ra­phers: Pamela Mon­ti­ni, Tronel’s Pho­tog­ra­phy, Sara Loc, Jen­na Bryant, Randy De­loviar, Ed­ward Vin­cent, Kay­la Rae Hen­nesey, VR Fine Art Im­ages, and personal.

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