Monthly Inspiration: July

Wind, Stone, Silence

There are moments when image, sound and space suddenly align. This newsletter brings together a few of those moments.

Man Ray once said:

“I paint what cannot be photographed, something from the imagination… I photograph the things I don’t want to paint, things that are already in existence.”

That quote perfectly captures how I approach Echo from Beyond. I create images that I cannot make with a camera. Visuals shaped by imagination, yet grounded in photography. It’s about giving form to something that doesn’t exist, but feels like it should.

Here are the things that shaped my thinking in July.

---

The Studio

A satire on Hollywood that feels more like a mirror than a comedy. The Studio follows a fictional production company where ambition, ego and idealism meet in a controlled storm. There is a choreography in the way it’s filmed, with long takes and shifting light that feel closer to installation art than television. It’s about what happens when creativity collides with business, and how chaos can sometimes look like clarity. In the middle of summer, it’s also the perfect excuse to relax, slow down, and watch something light that still speaks to the creative mind.

---

Eduardo Chillida

Chillida has been one of my all-time favourites for years. His work moves between sculpture, drawing and painting, and always stays rooted in balance. I’m drawn to his use of negative space, the physical weight of materials combined with quiet, almost architectural restraint.

What inspires me most is how he moves across disciplines without ever losing that minimal, timeless language. It feels close to how I think about black and white, about form, about stillness.

---

Danit – Cuatro Vientos

I first heard Cuatro Vientos during an inner journey with psychedelics, and the track hasn’t left me since. It moves like breath, like wind shifting across landscapes. There’s a grounded stillness in the rhythm, but also something untamed. The minimal instrumentation and layered vocals create space rather than fill it. It doesn’t happen often that a voice grabs you so purely and refuses to let go.

---

Javier Viver – Révélations

In Révélations, Javier Viver reworks photographs from the Salpêtrière hospital, stripping away the medical context and allowing the images to speak for themselves. What remains are gestures, expressions, postures. Raw and sculptural.

I picked up this book years ago during Paris Photo, and it still sits on my desk from time to time. There is something deeply human in these images. Fragile, but also theatrical. It reminds me how photography can reveal more by removing explanation, not adding to it.

---

Vincent van Duysen – Casa M

One of my favorite architects. His work combines clarity with warmth, restraint with tactility. Casa M is a perfect example of that balance. Every material feels considered, every transition quiet and deliberate. Stone, light and wood come together like elements in a black and white composition.

We featured a long interview with Van Duysen in one of our 1605 magazine, and his way of thinking continues to inspire how I look at space, rhythm and reduction.

---

Wishing you a slow and inspiring summer, wherever you are. I hope these fragments bring something to pause with, or carry with you. I look forward to sharing next month’s inspirations with you soon.

— Bastiaan