Zev Magasis is a filmmaker and photographer based in New York. Inspired by the eccentricities of everyday life, the self-taught artist observes and documents chance encounters that merge familiar experience with the uncanny. Drawn to moments that he “could never predict or imagine witnessing,” Magasis’s practice involves traveling for long stretches of time and capturing footage on his iPhone. The artist considers this amassed footage as a sculptor considers clay. His craft lies in the editing process—cutting, molding, and piecing together disparate elements and overlaying them with sound until the work “begins to reveal itself.”
Magasis moved from his hometown in Seattle, Washington to New York City when he was 20 years old. Compelled by the notions of transience and impermanence, he began taking photographs and videos at 19. With no formal training, Magasis honed his practice by experimenting with iMovie, and later, Adobe Premiere. The artist’s work is a poetic observation of passing time and a glimpse into the way that the mind records and processes happenings into memory.
Magasis has been commissioned to create original video works for Supreme, Gucci, and Acne Studios, alongside several music videos for musician Alex G.
