One day, many years ago, Victor was piloting his Hot Air Balloon upwards to 11,000 ft as a jumping platform for sky divers. While descending, he mistakenly thought a prison was a high school from a mile up (true story) and landed in it. Upon landing, the warden of the prison had his photograph taken with the “captured” balloon and all became a joke. Without any damage done, Victor was soon on his way as it just happened to be one of his most rememberable birthdays. Shortly after, Victor decided to sell the balloon and start traveling.
Camera in hand.
Ok, lets rewind
After becoming an Eagle Scout he obtained a Bachelors of Arts degree in Architecture at the University of Buffalo, New York. In his travels through 70 countries Victor Spinelli has visually documented cultures, religions, landscapes and people. Eventually this photographic work became recognized in many art and production circles across the globe and this was the career path that he took.
For the past 19 years he has split his time between New York, the Mediterranean and California and has evolved into a multi-media artist by working on films, commercials, music videos, documentaries and print campaigns. After working for three summers in Mykonos, Greece photographing the island life, he was drawn to another island in the Mediterranean: Ibiza, Spain. The land of Hierbas and dance.
His documentation of the Ibizan nightlife has since been published in his first book ‘Manumission Reflections’. In 2002 Pacha’s then Music Director, Danny Whittle, called it “the best photographic work to come out of Ibiza in 10 years”. Spinelli also received a great personal compliment about his first book from Director/Writer Quentin Tarantino. For two years Spinelli served as the principle photographer for the islands largest magazine, ‘The Best of Ibiza’ and Manumission for 5 summers.
On permanent display at the Museum-Palazzo Chigi Ariccia in Lazio, Italy one can view several portraits by Victor of the Aristocratic Italian, Chigi Family.
Victor has had commercial success with clients like, HBO, NBC, 20th Century Fox, Law & Order, A&E Biography, Harman Pro Audio, Peavey Guitars, The Travel Channel, MusicJustMusic, Pacha, Manumission, Subliminal Records, Ibiza Rocks, Ushuaia Beach Club Ibiza, Orange, Las Leñas ski resort, XBox, Slow Dazzle, Modern Times GMBH, Entrenue, The Italian Trade Commission and Cornell Medical Center.
Since 2007 Victor has successfully steered his company, Camera Verité LLC into an expanding distribution base of over 30 countries and with such commercial success on such a cultural level his images are becoming engraved into our 21st century society. His latest book, ‘Camera Verité’ was published in December, 2009.
Several museum shops are now selling Victor’s work including The Museum of Modern Art (MUMOK) in Vienna, Austria.
In 2011 Victor was commissioned by Ibiza Rocks to outfit their newly acquired Ibiza Rocks House at Pikes Hotel in Ibiza, Spain, which is rated in the top 100 hotels in the world by the UK Sunday Times. He created 40, one of a kind, photographs on canvas, mixed with acrylic paint to hang throughout this famed historical hotel in Ibiza.
In 2013 a venture capital group has invested in Victor’s work and creative foresight and opened the first installment of “SPiN Galleries” in Shanghai, China. A second, larger gallery will open at the Wuxi Film Studios in early 2017.
One of Victor's more prominent collectors was the TV mogul, Merv Griffin and also his son Tony. Tony now assists Victor with more of his ambitious projects like his “Crucifixion Project”.
