photo-eye's Nudes/Human Form Newsletter features books that explore the human form in a variety of ways. Past editions can be found
here.
Produced as part of the 'Shot by Kern' series on Vice's VBS video site,
Shot by Kern brings together 300 of the images made by the photographer while traveling the world and shooting young amateur models "Kern-style." While the video series has followed Kern into these sessions, interviewing the women and giving a behind the scenes look into how the work is made, the photographs themselves have been unseen until this publication. Kern's work is perfectly composed and executed with the highest level of technical finesse, but is famous for blurring the line between art photography and pornography. The first-time models appear to be just barely of-age, and are pictured brushing their hair, kissing girls, drawing, bathing, eating, and posing for the camera. So, is it art or porn, or both? We certainly can't help but feel a bit voyeuristic and naughty as we flip through the photographs.
Reserve your copy of Shot by Kern here.
Selected as a Best Book of 2012 by Erik Kessels and Rémi Faucheux,
Heaven by Paul Kooiker is a sizable collection of Kooiker's Polaroids. While featuring lesser-known work including cityscapes and nature images, the bulk of the collection focuses on his famous nude series. Multiple images from each sitting are often present, and with the photographs arranged sequentially, a lyrical quality emerges, animating his subjects and giving new dimension to Kooiker's evolving oeuvre.
"A book where Paul Kooiker shows an overview of all his Polaroids. He made a beautiful and touching edit in this large publication. Paul Kooiker is a master in combining the brutal, sexual and personal with each other." --Erik Kessels
Order your signed copy of Heaven here.
Copies of Kooiker's book
Sunday are also available.
In his new publication
Bodies, Nadav Kander begins with the nude form but transforms it powerfully by painting the bodies of his subjects white. This simple addition alters the forms immensely, allowing the viewer to look with different eyes, becoming a visual meditation on the human form.
"The body of this work reminds me of photo-realistic painting where the human visage takes on a ghastly quality of a likeness; but, as with likenesses, there is an eerie detachment. The models are left to be sterile things; human forms without souls; cracked vases from which the water has flowed, leaving them static, inhuman, and statue-like." -- Christopher J. Johnson
Read the entire review of
Bodies here.
