Behind every publication, there's an INSPIRATION, like US Vogue and Anna Wintour, it's also possible to be about HOPES and DESIRE behind, like god with Jesus
and the Bible or simply a kind of MOOD, Olivier Zham at Purple magazine for example. Therefore, if a magazine is a dream, let's say im HAPPY getting inside the mind of the one who created Fanzine 137 and Electric Youth. With his UNIQUE taste and vision, love for ART and BEAUTY, Luis Venegas offered this exclusive moment! My appreciation: WONDERFULL !
I’ve typed your name on Google and found more informations about your recent project, Electric Youth magazine than Fanzine 137. How do you explain that? Would you say sex sells more than anything?L. V : Undoubtedly sex is a great selling weapon... And you're right, EY! is -among some other things- a very sexy publication... But I guess EY! has been more present on the internet more than Fanzine137 because of different reasons. First, when I started Fanzine137 nobody knew me, so nobody really care about it at the very beginning. Now, after years doing Fanzine137 I've gained some kind of notoriety -even thought I think it's a very small one-, so it helped to get more excitement and press interest around the launch of EY!... and it means more reviews everywhere. Also I like to think about Fanzine137 as the "best kept secret" in publications... I like it be just for a cult elite, I don't like it to be for everybody, that's why I only print 1137 copies and I sell it at some specific exquisite shops around the world. EY! is also a special magazine not for everybody or to be found at every newstands, but you can find it at American Apparel shops, for example, and it means it's somehow more "mainstream"... I use that word, even thought I'm very conscious I don't print enough copies to be as "mainstream" as most magazines we know...
The first issue was about Spanish boys, then the UK issue and now it seems like you moved to the American dream. So when are we gonna get a chic peek inside Paris hottest boys ? Or at least please reveal in which new country have you decided to land for the next issue?L. V : Oh, of course there'll be a Parisian issue! I love Paris' boys... They're sooo cool and sexy... They look refined, classy and edgy. I like the very masculine ones, but also those ones who look like fresh little flowers... So, I'm sure the Paris issue will come soon! About the next issue's chosen country... Well, Ray, this is an absolute scoop for you: issue 4 will be published in May and will be about Argentina -or ArgenTEENa, as I like to say-... And it will be entirely photographed by the great Steven Klein. I'm so excited about it!
By the way, you’re one of the first who believed in youth power, restless teenagers, gifted twenty something lads…..therefore, would you also say as Steven Meisel in Vogue Italia February 2009 issue : “ so young, so cool ”?L. V : Absolutely. Oh, I love that Vogue Italia issue... Ash, Cole, Luke, aren't they amazing? I love young people... and I also love very old people. There's something exciting about those who are beginning to do stuff and something fabulous about those who know a lot about what they do. I think there's a connection between those two ages. At the beginning you don't care about anything and you're able to take on anything, and when you get older is probably the same... Your life is made and you don't have to prove anything to anyone, you've sen it all and you've done it all... I feel both are moments of great freedom: the beginning and the end of your life.
I must admit you’ve already done many amazing things. I just look at the people in Electric Youth, from it-boy Prince Pelayo, to Brazilian male supermodel Evandro Soldati or London greatest models Luke Worrall and Ashley Stymest, only nice and fabulous people actually !!! How come !? Are you this kind of Spanish Andy Warhol like-artist, only surrounded by amazing creatures?L. V : Oh, I don't think I could be at any level of comparision with Warhol, I wish I could! But you're right, I love being surrounded by handsome people and beautiful things. I'm addicted to beauty. I really deeeeeeeeeeply enjoy a good photo, a good movie, a nice Lladró figurine, a good magazine, an amazing kiss... I take all things I like in a very personal way.
So if I was the genius of the lamp and I could make one of your wish come true, what would you ask me to do?L. V : I would like to have Spiderman's superpowers.
On Wikipedia I’ve typed your name again but nothing…..as if the world was denying your amazing first publication “ Fanzine 137 ”. Tell me how and why you started this amazing but difficult project.L. V : Fanzine137 is about all things I like, about people I admire because of different reasons. Every little thing on each new issue is there because I like it... At last, it's a magazine about me throught the things I like, throught the artworks of amazing artists around the world that I admire. I like to think if someone likes my magazine is very possible that person will like me also... Does it sound strange? I started to publish it in sSeptember 2004, but I wanted to do it since always, because of my endless love to magazines since I was a child. I collect special magazines since I was 12 years old. From Vanity Fair to rare issues of Avantgarde, for example... So it was my dream to make my own special magazine... And hopefully earn money doing it!
I just adore the concept of your book, mixing the work of famous and well-known visionnaire with young and promising artist. Was it easy doing this ? I mean everyone knows it’s better playing safe as the economy isn’t going really well !? the crisis……do you care about that?L. V : I prefer not to think too much about it... I mean, of course I have to be realistic and be awake to make things happen harder than 2 years ago, but I trust a lot on my own enthusiasm. So I'm sure my magazines will survive. Think the team behind my mags is my computer, my phone and me... Maybe it's harder for big mags which have to fire their employeees, but my structure is so little...
So you’ve been showing the work of duet photographers Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin or Juergen Teller, some designers like Tom Ford or Christian Lacroix or some editors like Stephan Gan or Jefferson Hack!!! OMG how are you doing this!!? How much money to you spend!!? In French, there’s an expression that says if I translate it “you have to have sex with people to succeed”! True or False?L. V : Ray, do you know it by your own experience? I'm joking... Well, I love sex, so I've always done it without expecting anything in return -at least farther than pleasure-... So I wouldn't care to have sex if it would mean an investment in success! Unfortunately, it never happened before and luckily I've never needed it.
Ps : what about having Carine Roitfeld in your book ?!! not interested ? And what about working on a new way of showing your book like Visionnaire and their funny ways of approaching the concept of publications?L. V : Carine Roitfled on Fanzine137 would be as exciting for me as his son Vladimir on my bed. I mean, it would be great! I think she's doing the best Vogue nowadays -together with the American edition by Anna Wintour-... And about Visionaire, it is also a magazine I deeply admire, and endless source of inspiration. I also have to say Stephen Gan, Cecilia Dean and James Kaliardos -and all the rest of their team- are extremely kind and very supportive with me. I like them a lot! I like to change the format of my Fanzine137 and try new things, but I'll never be as radical as Visionaire is... why? Well, that's what they do, and they do it so great that I never would dare even try to imitate it.
Well I’ve sweared I wont give up trying to get to know you more thanks to the internet. So after few minutes on various blogs and websites, I found that you’ve been working with Thierry Mugler!!! You’re so lucky! Please tell us how he is and what do you think about the return of his brand to the menswear fashion week in Paris? L. V : I was an stagier at Thierry Mugler for 7 months from December 1996 to July 1997 and assisted him to his Couture shows, during that amazing season when Galliano did the first Dior, McQueen did Givenchy and Gaultier did his first Couture show... It was an extraordinary experience for me... Mr. Mugler was very strict and occasionally rude with most of his team, but at the end he took care about every little detail and was nice. I did the stage with another Spanish friend and we had lots of fun, working hard but also singing and laughing all time and he seemed to like that... I keep a wonderful memory of those days... And I would love to meet Mr.Mugler again and include him on forthcoming issues of Fanzine137!About the return of his brand... Well, it is a powerful brand, so I understand its comeback. Is Thomas Engel Hart still doing it? I think he's good... But Mugler was A-MA-ZING, and it's so complicated to fight and win against such a great legacy...
I also noted that (according to a french website) you’ve worked at Acne paper, Butt magazine and Dazed & Confused and at El Pais and at Marie Claire. What an eclectic journey. Those mags are just so different and unique, which may also explain your taste for various artists and creators. Would you say this is your force, a great background ?L. V : Probably. I feel lots of curiosity for maaaaany things. I have no prejudices. I can find joy and fun -almost- everywhere.
By the way, if you could work today at the magazine of your choice, which one would you choose and why ?L. V : How difficult! I guess I would love to see Vogue USA from the inside... But I really can't say I would love to work there... I love so much my own freedom...
I also read that you’ve been working for the brands Loewe and Carolina Herrera. So tell me what you have learnt from this experience and how it affects your present in your choices ?L. V : Working with big brands is so exciting! I like to see the other side of the business, that one focused on marketing rules, selling lots of products... I've learned a lot about business. Maybe it could sound too naïf, but I think it's not difficult at all to learn fast about those things. You only have to use common sense.
Oh and is it true that you’re a teacher? What are you teaching? Where? And yeah why?L. V : Yes I am... I teach Contemporary Culture at the main Fashion Institute in Madrid. I looove doing it! It helps me to re-fresh my own knowledge... And I love to be in front of an audience and entertain them for 2 hours... It's like being a performer! Also, it help me to get in direct contact with younger people and better understand what new generations like or dislike... And honestly, most of them need sooo much to learn sooo many things!
When I’ve typed on Yahoo.com your name, I’ve found articles related to a music composer or a football player!!! Not really glamour or arty right!? So tell me if you could control what people say or write about you what would you like to hear?L. V : I really don't care... But I love games, so let me try the ideal sentence I would like to read about me... It would be something like "the sexiest, funniest and cleverest independent editor and creative director alive is a very kind, lovely and normal person"... :-p
You’re ready to release one new issue of Fanzine 137 “ Ladies & Gentleman volume 2 ”. So first tell me why this very classic name? And then it seems so fashionable right now doing cross-genders things no!!? So tell me, are you one day gonna do one issue called “ trashy-trans ” ?L. V : Who knows? In fact, this 2nd volume of Ladies & Gentlemen includes a long interview about the story of wonderful hairdresser Jimmy Paul, who started working in NYC as a drag queen... Possibilities are endless and I like to celebrate them all, talent doesn't care about gender!
Then I’d like to know what are your upcoming projects ?L. V : Oh, next 2 issues of EY! and next Fanzine137... and open to many other possible projects.
What can I wish you ?L. V : Happiness, always.
Finally my very favorite question, today what is stylish ?L. V : Irving Penn's work always... Japanese women. Brazilian teenage guys... I also find stylish all actresses who style themselves and don't any stylists to dress them, like Diane Keaton.
