We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Formento Formento a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Formento, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

Making the purchase of a vintage airstream, which at the time was pretty much all our money invested in that item. We had needed to move out of our apartment with our 2 cats and litter of kittens, flown across the country to purchase it having only seen photos. On arrival we spent the night in it outside the owners house and next morning bought a used car to pull it, we spent 3 years back and forth living in that airstream before buying a house. The whole thing was a huge risk and sometimes scary but overall looking back fun and lots of life lessons, we created our first fine art project together that really put us on the map and broke us out of the commercial and odd job hunt. We had no idea where it would lead us but knew we had to try something radical, and the recession that was going on at the time of 2008 had us take that chance we had no idea what we were really doing but knew keeping at it was all that mattered.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We brand ourselves formento & formento, photography and creative direction but I really feel we are just one entity on set. Lucky to be partners in love, life and art.We met 18 years ago, while working on a common assignment, Richeille and I mix it up, the creative spirit constantly flows through us and we nurture it. I do most of the photography and lighting and Richeille concentrates on the styling, hair and make up and art direction. We travel to places that interest us for our own reasons and decide to visually explore them within themes that fascinate us within that culture or place. Leaving your comfort zone, the familiar, your safe place, and experiencing unknown things. To fully experience something that was once just an idea makes the journey and process just as important as the image. There is no singular message, no right or wrong, but the platform to raise discussion on subjects that the images may trigger within the viewer. What we like is that an image could be a central connection amongst a group of people to open a dialogue, and exchange views and ideas and wanting to learn more about something or look within themselves. For BJ and I we work as a couple, we bring a female and male perspective, sometimes crossing over as a third eye. I feel it is this combination along with our personal backgrounds that make for our unique vision.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

As a creative person being able to see beyond the mundane is what drives me. Finding a way to look at things from a different perspective or a creating a spark of excitement an idea or a question to keep me on the creative path that leads me through life in my own unique way. I think we all wonder what it is all about don’t we? as individuals we must find what feeds us and gets us through the days, I want to be able to continue searching for that constant question I have about who I am and how do I belong here.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The journey. What matters most to me isn’t finding an answer, it is about what happens along the way and what we learn about ourselves and each other. I think the beauty to being a creative person is we don’t expect a final reward or answer, we are rewarded by being able to live in the moment and the experience of what it is to see from a different point of view without the pressure life or judgment clouding our creativity as individuals.

www.hamptonsfineartfair.com
July 13-16, 2023
Booth 308

Contact Info:

• Website: www.formento2.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/formentoandformento/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bj.formento

Image Credits
Copyright Formento & Formento 2023