Part of his longstanding desire to conjure distinct artistic worlds, HWood Enchantmentz is Peter Ivancovich’s latest foray into portraiture. In the tradition of queer artists like Tim Walker and Derek Jarman, and shot on location around Los Angeles and the Mojave Desert, the series presents a knowingly kitschified mash-up of Old Hollywood, classical mythology and fashion photography. 

Conceived in collaboration with London-based writer-performer James Antoniou, who is also the model, the fictional landscape of ‘HWood’ transports viewers to a queer desert mythos while satirising the culturally omnivorous hall of mirrors that is LA. The costumes and props in these twenty works and five studies were sourced from around Southern California by Ivancovich, and then painted or adapted by him for shooting. Peopled with characters from commedia dell’arte, fairy tales, movies and myths, these studied, AI-free compositions lean into self-referential camp to create an ebullient playground for the eye.