, jock straps and short shorts, a dumbbell flexed by their hot and sweaty arms. The impact this weighted metal bar has on our own and others’ self-image is both powerful and complicated.
, who began all three practices at the encouragement of his mother as a child. “An unspoken agreement is formed from the day you begin utilising [the weights] and that’s why I find them fascinating.”in New York’s West Village is Diego’s first venture into 3D art pieces, a set of solid 304 grade stainless steel dumbbells, each weighing 20lbs each. But, uniquely, the weights have been sculpted to fit perfectly across the human hand, almost like a glove.
To go alongside the sculptures, Diego created a series of black-and-white photographs that play on the physique aesthetics of the 80s. Shot using film to give it a timely distortion, empty flats in his dated apartment complex in New York’s financial district provide the perfect backdrop for the “nostalgic, lived-in feel” he wanted the images to have.
The overt sexuality of the photography matches the sensuality of the dumbbells themselves and is something Alexander May, SIZED’s creative director, enjoyed most about Diego’s work. “I was initially attracted to the Vagujhelyi dumbbells because of their striking medium,” he tells us. “[The dumbbell] is a staple, for most, especially during, and after, the pandemic. The way he has fetishised the object with his choice of materials and finish, I find them irresistible.
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Dumb balls you mean
Dumber balls
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