This Christmas I was incredibly lucky to receive a book I’ve been after for a very long time – Alex Box by Rankin. This beautiful book is a fantastic collaboration between Alex Box, Make-up Artist and Co-Founder of Illamasqua and world-famous photographer Rankin. Both parties are equally amazing in their fields and together have produced images that will take your breath away and have you looking at them again and again!
With a background in fine art, Alex Box initially began her creative career designing installations and only doing make-up at a shop near her college on a part-time basis to fund her projects. After a while it seemed that make-up was the true path she wanted to explore. To get a feel for her work, her aesthetic, you only need to browse the Illamasqua website or peruse one of their lovely glossy brochures and you’ll find all of her works of art painted on each and every face (or body) displayed.
Alex Box is wonderful at telling a story simply by using a face and/or body as a canvas. She creates beautiful, charming and often dark make-up designs which have your eye roving all over the minute details, wondering how she created the swirls so perfectly or made a face look so ethereal.
Rankin has been a favourite photographer of mine ever since I discovered him. Chances are, if you haven’t heard of him you’ll have definitely seen a piece of his work, whether it be a photograph of one of our icons of today or film. Rankin has been behind two of my recent favourite music videos – Kelis’ ‘Acapella’ and The Noisettes’ cover of ‘Ever Fallen in Love’.
Rankin too, didn’t begin in the field he’s now celebrated for. He went to study accountancy in Brighton before discovering that his true passion was for photography. He loved it so much that he resolutely went back to A Levels to take photography from scratch and the addiction bloomed. Inspired by people, his talent lies in being able to capture people and moments honestly.
When I attended IMATS last January the audience who attended a Q&A with Alex Box were treated to getting their hands on the Alex Box by Rankin book and to have a preview of the images on-screen as the interview progressed. I finally got to have a proper leaf through when I attended a Rankin exhibition ‘Painting Pretty Pictures’ in London a few months ago.
I went through the entire book cover to cover and was completely and utterly captivated. I never seem to tire of looking at each image, in fact I seem to find more to focus on, more to see every time I look at each one! A3 in size, to say the book’s a coffee table book would be an understatement, but nevertheless it now sits on ours, practically taking up half of the width of the table!
I really recommend this for anyone who’s inspired by make-up, photography or even art, because these images are as inspiring as any painting or illustration could be. No stranger to colour or unusual textures, Alex has provided the most unusual inspiration for creating a make-up design and Rankin has captured each piece wonderfully.
Alex Box by Rankin is published by Rankin Photography Ltd. at £50.
Illamasqua can be found here.
Rankin's beautiful portfolio can be seen here.
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