Read more about Constantin Prozorov’s new collaboration with MINI in ICON 213 or get a curated collection of design and architecture news in your inbox by signing up to our ICON Weekly newsletter
Perhaps best known for his immersive, avant-garde collages, honed to perfection at publishing company Condé Nast and later linked with esteemed fashion labels like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Moncler, Prozorov blends diverse elements to create new hyperrealities
Photography courtesy of Constantin Prozorov featuring Louis Vuitton
ICON: What inspired you to become an artist?
Constantin Prozorov: I am someone who likes to escape from reality. I love to dream and fantasise. Art, but also music, fashion and film play a defining role for me and my work, as these provide me with an opportunity to go into a surreal inner world.
Collage art has always fascinated me because it is the fastest of all the artistic techniques to learn and helps us go beyond our creativity and imagination. I started with collages during my time at Condé Nast Publishing.
My experience taught me that in the digital age, we need a medium that combines art, social media and advertising; I believe collage art is best suited for that. Collage is, in my eyes, a visual language that is universally understood around the world – it has the power to bring us even closer together.
ICON: You have a dynamic international background. How has that global upbringing and lifestyle across cultures informed your work?
CP: My international upbringing and lifestyle have of course shaped my work, as well as me as a person and artist enormously. From my point of view, being exposed to various cultures has made me much more empathetic to the world around me.
I see myself as a “border wanderer”, as I never have the feeling of being at home only in one place, but feel at home everywhere and that has shaped me a lot. As an artist, I try to build a bridge between reality and surrealism, between art, fashion and advertising, as well as between the virtual and the physical world.
Photography by Sarah Staiger featuring Constantin Prozorov
ICON: What inspired your latest project with MINI?
CP: In my project with MINI, I embark on a journey of discovery through the intriguing world of MINI. I call it “An odyssey through the Miniverse”. My collaboration with MINI focuses on a so-called MINIVERSUM: three surreal collage worlds that interact to tell one cohesive visual story.
Each of the works reflects the characteristics and spirit of the three vehicles, immersing people in surreal dreamscapes in which nature, urban environments and mythical creatures collide. I categorised the MINIVERSUM into three elemental worlds; air, water and earth. These represent a harmony with nature and themes central to my artistic practice.
In each of the three collages, I have created a mythical creature that takes us on a mesmerising voyage through its universe of colours, textures and forms, which leads us to reveal the new MINI models at the end of the journey.
ICON: What do you hope your work portrays to the viewer?
CP: With my work I want to encourage people to dream more, to be nicer to themselves, others and the world we live in. I want to spread love and hope into the world and also remind people how great it can be to think like a child again, when the world around us seems so innocent and full of possibilities. My next step will be as a film director, where I will hopefully get a much bigger chance to share my vision and stories with the world through the medium of film.
ICON: Who or what has been your biggest inspiration?
CP: From the beginning, I have been inspired by artists like Hieronymus Bosch, Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí. At the moment, I draw a lot of ideas from Mexican surrealists like Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and, of course, Frida Kahlo.
But also from designers like Alessandro Michele and Virgil Abloh or directors like Tim Burton, Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg. For me, these are personalities who tell stories with their art and do so with plenty of attention to detail.
