Outside the Frame: Roberto Gotti on Make-up, AI and the Tension of OFF STAGE
OFF STAGE / FUORI SCENA is a fashion editorial created and art-directed by Roberto Gotti of GRart’hè, a studio that uses artificial intelligence as one tool within a process of concept, direction, selection and refinement. The images are set backstage in a travelling circus: caravans, straw, a bulb-lit dressing-room mirror, a white horse, an elephant, a clown and the lit ring itself. The story is published in the printed edition MALVIE MAIN ISSUE 72, November 2026.
OFF STAGE is one of the twenty editorials in MALVIE MAIN ISSUE 72, the 190-page, perfect-bound November 2026 main issue of MALVIE Magazine.
Order MALVIE MAIN ISSUE 72 in print:
Roberto Gotti: the interview
You began your career as a make-up artist in the 1980s, working closely with faces, styling and proportions. What from those years still guides your eye today, now that you are directing the entire image rather than just one part of it?
One thing I still carry with me from those years is, above all, the way of looking. Before technique, I learned how to observe a face, a proportion, a light, a balance, and how even the smallest detail can completely change the perception of an image.
Make-up gave me a very direct relationship with the body and with identity, but also with transformation. For me, a face has never been just a face: it can become character, tension, narrative.
I believe that way of seeing has remained almost unchanged. The difference is that today I no longer work on just one part of the image, but I build the entire system: subject, styling, proportions, space, light, atmosphere and gesture. My way of working, however, is still very similar: I start from the detail and look for a very precise balance between control and visual tension.
At GRart’hè, artificial intelligence is a tool within a broader process of concept, direction, selection and refinement. At what stage do the most important decisions happen, and how do you keep the idea under control rather than letting the tool lead it?
For me, the most important decisions happen before generation. The work always begins with the concept: I need to know what I want to communicate, what atmosphere I want to create, what kind of figure I am looking for, what tension I want to build, and what relationship should exist between the subject and the environment.
If this part is not clear, AI will inevitably take you somewhere else. And that is exactly what I try to avoid.
I have never thought of artificial intelligence as something that should make decisions for me. It comes later, as a production tool and also as a tool for exploration. Sometimes it can open unexpected possibilities, and I find that interesting, but the direction has to remain mine.
Then there is selection, which I consider fundamental: understanding what really works, what is coherent, what is unnecessary, and what betrays the original idea. And finally, there is refinement, which is often a very long process. For me, an image is not finished when it is generated: it has to be controlled, corrected, made credible and, above all, made coherent with the project as a whole.
Your work sits on the boundary between photography, synthetic imagery and fashion editorial. Do you still feel that this boundary exists? And how do you decide where an image “belongs”?
I believe that this boundary still exists, but today it is much more fluid. And, honestly, I do not always feel the need to decide which side an image belongs to.
I am more interested in understanding whether it works, whether it has presence, whether it has a visual logic, and whether it can sustain the concept.
My reference point remains very photographic. I constantly think in terms of light, optics, materials, skin, depth, proportions and physical credibility. It is a way of thinking that comes from my background and that I will probably never lose.
At the same time, I do not see why a synthetic image should rigidly imitate traditional photography. One of the interesting aspects of these tools is precisely the possibility of pushing certain ideas beyond what would be practical or even possible in a real shoot.
For me, the point is not to hide this hybrid nature, but to use it consciously.
Identity, transformation and the construction of the body often return in your projects. Why do these themes continue to stay with you, and how has your way of exploring them changed over time?
These are themes that have always stayed with me, and I believe my background in make-up and fashion has played an important role.
The body and the face are very powerful surfaces because they can be modified, emphasized, compressed, made fragile or monumental. I am very interested in that moment when a figure stops being simply a person and begins to become almost a symbol.
Over the years, however, my way of approaching these themes has changed. In the past, transformation was mainly connected to beauty, styling and aesthetic construction. Today, I am much more interested in the tension it can create.
I am interested in the body when it is constrained, exposed, multiplied, isolated, protected, or altered by scale or context.
I also believe I have gradually moved away from a beauty that is too reassuring. I prefer it when there is something unstable, ambiguous or slightly unsettling within an image. That small friction is often what, at least for me, makes it harder to forget.
OFF STAGE / FUORI SCENA explores the relationship between what is shown and what normally remains outside the frame. What did you want to make visible with this project, and what did you choose to leave hidden?
With OFF STAGE, I wanted to work precisely on the moment when the public image begins to crack.
In fashion, we are used to seeing the final result: the perfectly constructed subject, the pose, the clothing, the control. I wanted to shift the gaze toward what might happen before, after, or simply beside that official image.
I was interested in making visible a controlled vulnerability, something that appears private but at the same time remains constructed.
I believe the heart of the project lies precisely in this ambiguity: the viewer never fully knows to what extent they are witnessing an authentic moment and to what extent they are still inside a staged situation.
What I chose to leave hidden was, above all, the explanation. I did not want to say exactly what was happening, nor define completely the relationship between the characters and the space.
I prefer part of the story to remain outside the frame. In my view, it is precisely that void that creates tension and gives the viewer the possibility to build their own interpretation.
Looking to the future, how do you imagine editorial production will change, and what kind of dialogue would you like to see between traditional photographic techniques and generative tools?
I believe editorial production will become increasingly hybrid.
I do not think traditional photography will disappear, and I do not believe generative tools should replace it. In fact, I think the most interesting part is still to come, and it will emerge precisely from the dialogue between different skills and disciplines.
Photography carries with it a knowledge of light, the body, time, matter and reality that remains fundamental. Generative tools, on the other hand, can greatly expand the conceptual phase, allow us to explore very complex scenarios, and reduce certain production limitations.
What I would like to see is less opposition and more awareness.
Sometimes AI is discussed as if it were automatically a language, but for me it is not. It is a tool. The language comes from the person using it, from their choices, their visual culture, what they decide to keep and, above all, what they decide to discard.
In the end, technology changes, but the central question remains the same: to have an idea, to know how to direct it, and to be able to transform it into an image that truly has something to say.
OFF STAGE credits
Creative Director and Photographer: Roberto Gotti / GRart’hè @grarthe.studio
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