Customer Reviews

Closer (Revised Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Technically splendid and affecting photography from a major new talent. Carucci brings a Nan Goldin-esque virtuosity to her chronicle of the intimate spheres of self and family.

this book's simply moving, it's shows with very simple direct photos a very deep look into the artist's life and her realtion to family, lover, husbend, freinds and her own body. it manage to creat the exsact right tention between personal and univesral, makeing you feel as if the people shot in the photos are both extrwamly indevidual and at the same time iconic - as if the most perosnal emotions we have are a part of something larger.
someting that personaly intrest me is the sense of imaigrent in her photos showing very israely people and scenes combined beautifuly with that europian light and places.

it's one of the most moving photography i have seen.

This is a great book. The photographer managed to tell a beautiful story about the web of relationships in her life. I envy the simple and talented way she presents her life and the people she care for. I am sure that we will hear more about this raising star in the art of photography

Intimate. Delicate. Quiet. Elinor Carucci's collection of photographs in Closer submerges the viewer into the ultra personal, everyday moments shared exclusively between loved ones. Carucci examines details such as plucking hairs, impressions on the body, and the underlying emotions displayed on her mother's face. Carucci's camera is immersed so deeply into her life, its familiarity permits her to observe and record the subjects openly and honestly, allowing the viewer to do the same. Thanks to Carucci's insightful camera work, viewers are allowed to witness the typically unseen and become engrossed in Carucci's life. As a spectator, I am able to both relate to and desire to have the obviously open and treasured relationships captured. Elinor Carucci's photographic book possesses a gentle strength, provoking its audience to re-examine life, from a perspective that is much, much closer.

This is the most beautiful and intimate book of family photographs. I also recommend Diary of a Dancer. Elinor Carucci is extraordinary.

amazing intimate portrait of a family with compelling insights and perspectives on intimacy. lovely.

truly special

This book is a FRAUD. What makes it even worse is the fact that it is supposed to be the catalog for an actual art show. Has the art world become so blind and so devoid of vision that they actually fell for THIS?

This book reminds me of the initial lack of ideas the vast majority of art students start with at the Art 100 level. That is; there is no innovation whatsoever in either the themes, the technical aspects of the photography, or the subject matter. Like a novice Art 100 student who has no idea as to what to turn in for the next critique, Carucci relies on the cliche of photographing her feet, mouth, and other immediate body parts in a way that's neither enticing nor innovative.

The only thing that can said about Carucci is that she's proficient at operating a photo camera, but other than that there is absolutely NOTHING in this book worth the time nor the money.

What makes it even more of a fraud is the fact that the cover leads to think that somehow this will be a figure photography book based on the artistic nude. It isn't. The picture from the cover should be replaced with images of old people shaving or with images of toes with cracked nail polish. But then again with images like that on the cover who would buy the book, right?

It is really a shame that the art world has sunk to this level. This book is no different than any Hollywood movie in which they show you a bikini-clad woman on the poster so you spend 10 dollars on a ticket to see a movie that's just plain garbage. The only thing we can learn from this book is that, in the end, the art world is no different than any other form of commerce: it relies on fraud, misrepresentation and trickery in order to get you to give them money. Nothing more.

And before you condemn my review, please keep in mind I have two degrees in art: a BA and an MFA. And I HAVE exhibited my own work, taking a lot of risks in the process. [...]

I was fooled by the picture on the cover -- it is one of the few appealing images in this book. Most of the pictures are uninteresting and snapshot - quality. Many of them are unusually ugly images of beard stubble, moles, pores, wrinkles, a stitched-up wound, or people sitting around in their underwear. This is one of the least worthwhile photo books I have seen.