Abi Benitez
Age: 33
Nationality: Dominican Republic
Profession: Co-founder and editor in-chief of GAYLETTER / graphic designer
Favorite place in NYC: Prospect Park and the Prada store in SOHO.
Favorite artist: This one is very difficult… Keith Haring.
Favorite designer: Miuccia Prada
Favorite music: Phillip Glass
What was your most memorable art experience? Richard Serra at Dia: Beacon
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? Painting
Josh Cassidy
Age: 25
Nationality: Brasilian/Irish
Profession: Model/cook
Favorite place in NYC: LES or Riverside Park
Favorite artist: Keith Haring / Os Gemos [Graffiti Artists]
Favorite designer: Not one favorite designer but my favorite brand is G Star Raw.
Favorite music: 90’s Hip Hop
What was your most memorable art experience? Going to Art Basel in Miami two years ago.
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? Spray Paint
Alvaro Colo
Age: 30
Nationality: Spain
Profession: Filmmaker / performer
Favorite place in NYC: Cheap Chinatown massages
Favorite artists: David Wojnarowicz, Michael Borremans, Anders Petersen
Favorite designer: Gosha Rubchinskiy caught my attention lately.
Favorite music: Any song I can blast in the shower.
What was your most memorable art experience? Performing at Fuerza Bruta with the incredible cast.
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? I find ‘film’ to be the best instrument to express my art at the moment.
Ramon J. Goni
Age: 34
Nationality:Spain
Profession: Exec. Creative Director / Filmmaker at Swoon New York
Favorite place in NYC: Any place by the water (or on a rooftop) that actually reminds me the crazy city I live in.
Favorite artist: Marina Abramovic
Favorite designer: Phillip Lim
Favorite music: Jazz and electronic, if possible mixed in some awesome way.
What was your most memorable art experience? Bill Viola’s sculptural and monumental video-art exhibit at the Grand Palais was mind-blowing, hypnotizing, meditative, and deeply emotional all at the same time. It was not just the scale of some pieces, the layering of others, the gallery setting itself, or how clever his whole artistic trajectory is; it’s one of the boldest statements of a lifetime dedicated to experimenting within a fairly neglected part of the art world (hint: as opposed to a painting or a sculpture, video-art is just quite difficult to sell).
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? But I AM an artist!
When I’m not shooting commercials with Swoon New York, my business, I’m directing experimental films like the one here, inspired by David Lachapelle’s “Rize”. Being an immigrant myself, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut during this #yuuuuuge US election nonsense we’re going through. It’s a dance-and-VFX-vandalized-news take on it. It also helped we had some amazing fashion models and dancers involved such as Juana Burga (L’oreal and future movie star), Vinny Balbo (Vine sensation) and Tadia Taylor (she’s got the moves).
Adrien Figeac
Age: 29
Nationality: French
Profession: Fragrance story-teller
Favorite place in NYC: A dinner at An Choi then shots at Swat Bar.
Favorite artist: Yesterday-Francis Bacon / Today-Clemence de la tour du Pin (Berlin, Germany)
Favorite designer: Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy and waiting for Demna Gvasalia’s first mens collection for Balenciaga.
Favorite music: Techno. The track i listen to everyday right now: Alice Smith – Love Endeavor (Maurice Fulton Remix).
What was your most memorable art experience? It’s a bit cliché but I love to get lost, alone, in empty museums. I remember for instance being lost in Centre George Pompidou in Paris and discovering Bacon’s triptych Three Figures in a Room or Otto Dix’s Porträt der Journalistin Sylvia von Harden for the 1st time. A fascinating shock.
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? Scents
Martin Gregory Jerez
Age: 27
Nationality: Dominican-American (my parents came to NYC for college and never left)
Profession: Model agent
Favorite place in NYC: It’s a toss up between Ladyfag’s Battle Hymn party at Flash Factory and my tailor at Marrakech, 76 E 7th Street.
Favorite artist: Tim Walker. Each one of his photographs has so much emotion and depth to them. I like being taken to a fantasy world and he always delivers.
Favorite designer: Raf Simons
Favorite music: Disco. I was definitely a Studio 54 queen in a past life. My mother used to go there all the time.
What was your most memorable art experience? Watching my great friend Millie Brown suspended from the ceiling with a bunch of crystals dangling from her body in London last year at Gazelli Art House during Frieze.
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? Photography. I take digitals and video of the girls a lot. I tend to turn them into way more than just stoic poses and imagery.
Jae Joseph
Age: 37
Nationality: British West Indian
Profession: Cultural programming director
Favorite place in NYC: Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Favorite artist: Kara Walker
Favorite designer: Haider Ackermann
Favorite music: Anything on Soundcloud.
What was your most memorable art experience? Walking into Kara Walkers exhibit with the Domino sugar installation.
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? My medium of choice would be mixed media or either performance.
Nico Mao
Age: 22
Nationality: American (Portugese/Chinese if that’s what you mean)
Profession: Model agent
Favorite place in NYC: My bed
Favorite artist: Tom Wesselmann
Favorite designer: J.W. Anderson
Favorite music: I just binge listen to whatever I have checked off on spotify until I get sick of it.
What was your most memorable art experience? Hooking up with someone who had a giant Sterling Ruby hanging in their bedroom.
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? Photography
Franco Noriega
Age: 27
Nationality: Peru
Profession: Chef
Favorite place in NYC: The Williamsburg bridge (going down in my skates towards Manhattan).
Favorite artist: Julian Schnabel
Favorite designer: Dior
Favorite music: Salsa
What was your most memorable art experience? What I felt walking around Richard Serra’s permanent installation at the Guggenheim in Bilbao #WOW.
Rafael Pérez
Age: 22
Nationality: Dominican
Profession: Model
Favorite place in NYC: Central Park
Favorite artist: Celeste Woss y Gil
Favorite designer: Dsquared2
Favorite music: Hip hop
What was your most memorable art experience? We painted a mural in high school at our basketball court.
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? Oil Paint
Zachariah Shaw
Age: 21
Nationality: American
Profession: Model/party promoter
Favorite place in NYC: Sticky’s Finger Joint
Favorite artist: Yoskay Yamamoto
Favorite designer: I’m not sure if I have one because I like so many.
Favorite music: Dancehall or trap
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? If I was an artist my medium of choice would be like smoke and fire, so a lot of the art would be burn marks or smoke stains.
Tony H. Voong
Age: 34
Nationality: American
Profession: PT, chef
Favorite artist: Adrià Ferran
Favorite designer: Zaha Hadid
Favorite music: Tropical
Favorite place in NYC: Times Square
What was your most memorable art experience? When I saw a woman get run over by a 16 wheeler at the New Museum.
If you were an artist, what would be your medium of choice? Glass
All photos by Remi Lamande with creative direction by Mark Hsu.