MUTUAL MUSES LIAM BENZVI & LUCA VENTER

The heartfelt friends and collaborators reconnect for a casual conversation surrounding their often chaotic creative process, leaving Liam on ‘read,’ and how film and friendship change everything. The director-artist duo give the magazine a taste of what happens when they meet in the studio in an accompanying, show-stopping friendship photo story. Read on to enter BENZVI and VENTER’s all original world.

LIAM BENZVI: Hi Luca.

LUCA VENTER: Hey Liam.

LB: How did we meet?

LV: We met at Dimes.

LB: Which is where I used to work.

LV: Real hot spot.

LB: Very trendy. I was serving and was a struggling, lost artist with big dreams. And you could make those dreams happen.

LV: I think I met you within the first year of me moving to New York. Was really special. I remember I would sometimes come in at like 8:00 AM when there was nobody else there.

LB: Which was a really serene, nice time to be there.

LV: Was really sweet. I think that was a nice moment where we first connected. Eventually we just started talking about a music video and that's when The Morning came together.

LB: You said you always wanted to work with foam. That was something that you came to me with. I feel like I was just very into comfy-chic at that moment. I wanted it to be “bed/towel” oriented.

LV: Yeah. I remember you came to me with that towel idea. I had been obsessing over foam at that same time.

LB: A terry cloth outfit would've been easier to make. 

LV: Yeah. It really would. 

LB: But we made a foam outfit. 

LV: That foam outfit is one of my favorite things still.

LB: We shot that whole thing in your apartment. I remember walking in and being completely stunned. I had no idea that it was gonna be that legit. 

LV: We have a very common thread, every time we work together, where it's a little bit chaotic, but there’s a lot of trust that it just kind of comes together.

LB: I always feel like it's gonna come together. 

LV: I feel like I don't tell you enough, but you're one of my favorite performers and I think that's where I just trust that, even just your movement, I can point the camera at you and you're gonna carry it.

LB: I don't feel that way with everyone that I work with. But with you, I do feel comfortable enough to fail big and make an ass of myself and ultimately it ends up looking really cool. I can also very unabashedly tell you to fix things about myself that I'm self conscious about or things we can work on in post. But, it's really a match made in heaven.

LV: I feel like it's such a rare thing to find. I honestly think about it a lot. I'm really thankful for the people that I have that I get to consistently work with. It makes all the typical work that I have to do to live…

LB: I tell people that you're basically my creative director. It is very much a collaboration, which is why it works. When I'm hanging out with you, it's the one time that I don't feel like ego, even from myself. I don't feel like I'm asserting it even. It's just kind of fun and light.

LV: I'm always excited when you want to do something or bring something to me. I definitely have the most fun in that space. There's people out there that are a full-on creative director for an artist and maybe that artist doesn't have that much to say or want to be that involved with it. I always have so much fun with our process even for how chaotic it can be at times.

LB: We've done shoots like outside, around people. We've done studio shoots. We've had a very malleable creative process together. We've used prosthetics, randos, the gym…

LV: I've learned so much by the stuff that we've done together. Even The Morning was the first music that I got to shoot on film and that honestly changed so much of what I wanted to do.

LB: Film changes everything. In my mind, I was mining for diamonds and I found Luca. I feel incredibly lucky because I mean, so much of what we do together is you doing me a favor. Kind of.

LV: I honestly don't even think about that part of it because I feel like it's been really beneficial for me too. I learned so much when we have to put something together really last minute, because we're both busy, but we really want to get it done. We just kind of make it happen. I know that the song is gonna be good. Your lyrics are gonna be great. Your performance is gonna be great.There is just no ego around it, which I think is really special. I don't care how many views the videos get. There's just so much more to it that has been just so positive.

LB: It's always a really fun experience and we have weird senses of humor. It just ends up being this really nice combination of weirdness and vanity. It works. It works with the music.

LV: I kind of want to talk more about our chaotic process. I've been thinking about it a lot more in trying to think about this interview and this shoot together and everything. I was thinking how when we're working on single artwork or EP or album artwork, I'll send you like a hundred screenshots in the matter of like a couple hours just going through iterations. Honestly I love those moments so much. 

LB: I’m glad you love them because when they're happening, I feel like I'm ruining your day.

LV: No, feels so good. It’s like practice. I tried to make a poster for your LA show but I hadn't done anything for a couple months and I was just like, I don't know what to do. I felt out of practice. 

LB: That’s why you just left me on read! I love those moments where you leave me on read.

LV: I was really busy and stressed at the time too! I realized how much that practice helps me in my creative practice, building those creative fossils.

LB: I'm not the one doing the manual editing, I'm just talking about what I want. I am coming from a place of insecurity because I don't wanna waste anyone's time. I think I have a script with you where I'm literally just, “appreciate you, appreciate your time.” That's my sign off. 

LV: I honestly feel that same thing when I'm dealing with other people. Where I'm just so concerned. I even have a hard time when I need more support on a shoot. They don't want to do that for like a few hundred dollars. They have better things to do. They don't want to be involved here. But I just appreciate that we have that. 

LB: I feel like the common thread is me planning to bring 25, 30 people to this shoot. And then it's just me. I just show up.

LV: In the very beginning we're like, let's really blow this one out. Then it gets to be too much, but the end result is always so satisfying.

LB: I was glad with the last video that we did get to work with other bodies.

LV: I feel like that is the next step. I feel like next time we do something, hopefully we can start to grow more.

LB: A lot of it is about the budget.

LV: Also somewhat confidence. Both of our confidence has grown so much.

LB: I couldn't believe that I was dancing without a shirt on in front of those two guys.

LV: I still think about those moments. When they were just showing us he can do the splits and I can do handstands!

LB: And it was the gayest thing in the world.. Coach Phil and Coach Rico. They don't read Bud's Digest. I remember when I was shooting that they were just looking down. They didn't want to engage, but that's fine. They were amazing, good energy.

LV: There's also a common thread of, almost accidents honestly, which is one of my favorite things. I can try to plan and sketch out a whole shoot, but there's always an accident like that is just so much better at that moment.

LB: When you have these like uncontrolled variables.

LV: It's even on the EP artwork, with the people in the background.

LB: That was so cool. 

LV: Those are some of my favorite moments. It's so special that it's all together. 

LB: We've been all over the city. Circling back to when we're having these manic text exchanges. I love to fuck up these images that you send. 

LV: It's so funny when I'm sending you all those different iterations and you'll just send one back, “what about this?” And it's just warped.

LB:  And my heads cut off. 

LV: Yeah. I love when you send me that.

LB: It has honestly informed our aesthetic, collectively.

LV: It really has. I feel like there's these little obsessions that we share. You talked about it at your album release show. It was nice to hear you share that in that moment.

LB: I was shaking when I was talking about it.

LV: It was so sweet. I felt really happy in that moment just because it was kind of like an unspoken thing that we share and it's kind of also nice to talk about it. It's fun to sometimes obsess over really mundane things. When you zoom in on them and just stare at that one thing for a while.

LB: And in our case, it's become a thing that we share, a moment that we share that's mundane. It also is just an individual thing.

LV: Having that kind of individual thing and then coming together and sharing that is really special. 

LB: Your current obsession with zooming in on random shit. 

LV: That's true. Maybe that's why I'm like, let me zoom in on this friendship.

LB: I mean, we're doing that right now. We smoked weed for the first time together. 

LV: That's true. Kind of unintentionally. 

LB: You only started smoking weed recently. 

LV: Which was funny growing up in Colorado because when I moved here and would tell people that I'm from Colorado, they were always like, “oh, you smoke weed?” I'm like, no, stop.

LB: Whereas I'm a high functioning stoner.

LV: That’s sick. 

LB: Except when…I mean, granted I was having a weird day. I fell deep into it and I excused myself so that I could be alone. 

LV: We still had a really nice moment. 

LB: We did have a really nice moment.