Karima Car Lay

American Myth
Archival pigment print on fine art paper, signed, titled, dated and numbered by the artist on verso

"BJ and Richeille
Formento and Formento come out of a hybrid lineage of art and fashion. You might call them Third Picture Generation Artists. Their work conjures the sensibilities of an art film and extends it through lengthy series. Although their work is not explicit fashion, they tend to observe high fashion standards in casting, hair and makeup, which invariably injects a frisson of glamour into the scenario. Their locations and their light are first rate, giving a genuine cinematic sensibility to the photographs with big screen values, but Formento & Formento are a duo that travels light and manages to achieve soundstage quality without Hollywood budgets.
Richeille Formento a former graphics designer, styles and art directs the pictures while her husband BJ Formento lights and photographs. In their first major body of work they created a dramatic portrait of the American West, traveling in an 25 foot Airstream and finding locations and casting on the fly.
In their work there is no resolution, only an allure that inspires longing for something strange and unknown. Everywhere there are hints of what might link these images, but the movie only happens in your head and it can be different every time. Real life happens in motion like cinema. Dreams, bounded only by the imagination, begin in stills.
Formento and Formento have come a long way in a s short time, but they have shown that they live for the journey and it will continue, leading, wherever it takes them. They are professional travelers, bringing expertise imagination and almost an alien gift for absorbing and rendering the spirit of a time and place. William S Burrougns, who loved to collaborate and who created “the cut up method” with painter Brion Gysin, said that when two minds work together they create a third mind.Here we see that two eyes can create a third eye, and everyone knows that the third eye can see through time and space, showing us the things otherwise invisible. ~Glenn O'Brien

BJ Formento was born in Hawaii and grew up in the Philippines. After attending Academy of Arts University San Francisco, BJ moved to New York training his eye with esteemed photographers such as Richard Avedon, Duane Michals, MaryEllen Mark and Annie Leibovitz.
London born Richeille Formento graduated with honors from Central St. Martins College of Art before working as an art director and designer.
In 2005, BJ and Richeille met while working together on a job in South Beach, Miami. They admit to love at first sight, and were married in New York City three months later. They continue to blend a fervent passion for photography with a lasting love for one another.


BJ and Richeille live and work in Connecticut with their Siamese cats."

All available sizes and editions:
30" x 45", Edition of 12 + 2AP's
40" x 60", Edition of 7 + 2AP's
60" x 90", Edition of 3 + 3AP's