Although he trained in engineering, Martin El Mas Flaco’s vice is making erotic collages, which he does under the pseudonym of The Skinny Type. Brought up in a small town in Columbia, Martin now lives and works in London where he finds a steady stream of inspiration in the form of magazines and books – especially photographers’ monographs. Using surgical tools for optimum precision, Martin crafts these collages out of paper, imagining erotically-charged scenes borne from his desires and fantasies. He plays with different representations of the male form, ranging from contemporary underwear ads to images of classical sculpture.
Here, alongside a selection of his collages, Martin told me more about his work for Another Man.
on how he selects his images...
“My images are based on my artistic taste and a desire or fantasy. I pick something that generates a fantasy in my mind, or work out of the desire to mix two figures together. A constant in a lot of my work, though, is the desire to see someone I like interacting with himself – it’s a narcissistic fantasy from a voyeuristic perspective.”
on which artists inspire him...
“I’m quite into art and follow lots of artists, but I wouldn’t necessarily say they influence my work. There is of course a direct influence from the photographers I use, otherwise I wouldn't be interested in their photos. When I look back at my work there is of course a list of photographers I’ve used a lot, such as Slava Mogutin, Gerardo Vizmanos, Stephan Gizard, Matt Lambert, Ferry Van Der Nat and Ryan Mcginley. So they have definitely inspired me.”
on his process...
“In the beginning, I used to cut out figures that I liked for the sheer pleasure of cutting them out, but over time I became more selective with what I try. Now, I have a more or less clear idea of the result I want before cutting so there’s a lot of preselection and comparison; scale, light and colours are critical in order to merge two or more figures into one.”
on which emotion he wants a viewer to feel when they look at his work...
“It is the desire to create a fantasy by forcing images together which generate the end result, so desire should come naturally to a viewer providing he/she shares similar fantasies.”
