Labor of Perfection with Alton Mason

look by DURAN LANTIK

“We didn’t over-choreograph things... That sense of discipline comes naturally through the way he moves and holds a pose.” - Samy LaCrapule

look by SAINT LAURENT

Originally conceived by photographer and designer Samy LaCrapule, Labor of Perfection derived from a desire to image tomorrow’s idea of beauty. Despite having a pedigree in fashioning digital representations, a practice that typically employs artifice, control, and manipulation, LaCrapule remains deliberately attuned to the sensitivities of the human body with each image he creates.

In Labor of Perfection, the artist’s approach is pared back, relying on the classical language of photography and the disciplined presence of model Alton Mason. The result is both out of time and firmly within it, presenting a digital image of beauty, classical in convention and futuristic in its departure from a world in which blatant digital manipulation has become the default. Tomorrow’s beauty, it turns out, might just be a return to the foundational truth that perfection always demands something from us.

In conversation with Alton Mason and Samy LaCrapule, Em Mai Chmiel interrogates their pursuit of the ideal image in the digital age, and the rigor required to get there.

pants 424, belt SAINT LAURENT, shoes D&G

EM MAI CHMIEL: Samy, given your background in digital representation and modeling artificial forms, when you first imagined this series, did you picture the human body as something expressive or as something closer to an ideal form to be constructed, or almost sculpted?

SAMY LACRAPULE: I’m always trying to sit right between the two. I love when the body becomes something malleable. But I never want to lose the expression or sensitivity inside it. Otherwise, the image wouldn’t make sense to me. I’m not really into purely realistic images, nor purely artificial ones. I’m more interested in that in-between space, where things feel slightly blended.

EMC: How did this shoot come to be?

SLC: I ran into Alton in the street one day in Los Angeles. Seeing him in real life, I immediately felt there was something to do.

EMC: Have you two worked together in the past?

ALTON MASON: This is our first time working together, and the dynamic felt like water. It was natural, and there was a flow. The best part about shooting is the one-on-one connection with the photographer. And the trust that you build playing off of each other’s frequencies.

SLC: We had never worked together before, but it felt like a natural connection for me. We share a lot of the same references, from Jean-Paul Goude and Grace Jones to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Tekken.

“The best things are created in God’s hands.”

- Alton Mason

EMC: The bod(ies) here feel almost artificial in their precision, yet in a way that’s closer to classical sculpture than to science fiction. Is “tomorrow’s beauty” a return to older ideals, or something newly shaped by contemporary tools?

AM: That’s just hard work and the muscle memory of a dancer. I feel tomorrow’s model is a mix of it all: the past, present, and future.

SLC: As I get older, I find myself closer to that Rick Owens idea that the body itself is almost a kind of couture. Not about being the most muscular, but about working it enough to feel comfortable in it, beautiful, and fully present in the image.

EMC: The images suggest a kind of perfect form, but perfection usually comes with effort. Alton, what kind of labor, physical or mental, does a project like this demand from you?

AM: Nothing is perfect. Everything is imperfect. Projects like this just demand you surrender and be open to what you feel and the frequency within. I usually choose stillness and channel water.

EMC: Over time, certain expectations accumulate around one’s body in fashion — about how it should move, perform, or be read. When you approach a project like this, are you conscious of those expectations, or do you try to work against them?

AM: I usually just approach projects like this with an open heart and an open mind, keeping a compass within, but allowing things to flow naturally. I like to find ways to be of service and to maximize what’s being asked of me with my gift, but overall... the best things are created in God’s hands.