Customer Reviews

Naked Pictures Of My Ex-Girlfriends

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Excellent, evocative photography. However, there are a number of author's comments in this book which are almost mean-spirited and/or over-sexual, and not in keeping with the stated happy-go-lucky semi-innocence of the project. More prurient than sweet, in a couple cases. And gratuitous, in one or two cases. Whether the photos and text document real relationships or not (there seems to be some doubt), overall the book doesn't come across as a nostalgiac reflection on youthful friskyness. It seems more like a sleazy Internet photo gallery of "ex-girlfriends," or a collection of photos depicting women who don't suspect they're being written about on a bathroom wall. Not that this inherently makes it bad (or undesirable), but it certainly won't meet the expectations of people looking for good clean naked fun.

This book chronicles, in detail, what romance and love was like through a great period in American history. I think anyone who thinks this book is pornography is an idiot. It isn't about nude photos. The author offers a voyeristic view of all the intimate details of his love life with these women. Sometimes funny and romantic. At other times the book borders on crass. Overall, this is a very honest and unique piece of work.

This provocative new book documents one man's sexual journey and shows a nation of Peeping Toms how to do voyeurism right. The work is a diary, a confessional, a pop cultural chronicle, and, perhaps most resonantly, an elegant reminder of why we are all avid voyeurs. As you go through the book, you find yourself identifying with Helfrich because you gradually realize that you know these women - from your own life...the feminist, the earth mother, the crazy artist, the temptress, or just the girl next door...and you walk away feeling like you just had an honest talk with another guy about sex and women.

I find it very curious that the author has perpetuated such a fascinating fiction. Is the book criticism industry in on the joke or are they just reading the press releases and following suit? At least five of the women in the book were paid models who had no sexual history with the author, and their images were captured in the early to mid- nineties. The validity of the images and stories of and about the other women is obviously thrown into question. One can argue that this is irrelevant to the purpose of the book, but is it? A successful hoax to be sure, and appropriate in this age of rampant simulacra, but the reader should know that this is, above all, an "art project" not to be mistaken with the truth. Of course the issue of truth in photography, and art in general, is another discourse altogether. There is no doubt that this book will perform well in the marketplace based on its title and hip posturing. For a more penetratingly truthful document of a life lived in the proposed decade see Larry Clark and Lee Friedlander. Just so you know...

This book blew me away. Mark Helfrich's photo's brought back so many fantastic memories from the 70's, the women were incredibly beautiful -- It's so refreshing to see nudes of REAL women. I loved how and what Mark remembers about each of the women -- it's sentimental, sad, sexy, and honest. Beautifully written, beautiful photographs. Since he says he's married now, I'm itching to see a sequel..."Naked photo's of my family" perhaps?

So what? It's fake and cheesy. The guy presents his photo collage here as a set of piuctures taken of his ex-girlfriends from 1970-1980. Initially, it was aceepted as such and got pretty big press in all of the sources of intelligent media. Everyone was pleased at such an innocent take on the past-- rememberences of a time, well, for me-- when I wasn't even born....

And there is nothing earth-shattering in this photography. The pictures are alright; the whole style is a bit cheesy (especially considering the sappy dialogue added in fake-writing next to them... But, really, who ever is buying more than verismilitude? These are fun and could be some kind of coffee table book. Probably better to make one's own, but, well, that takes time...

It's worth a glance through-- for a laugh. It's definately cute. Intellectually, artistically, not worth that much....

Egads, man! When I first viewed this book, I loved it, but badly wanted to hate it, for it's self-congradulatory and bragging tone. But when I found out it was just a fictional project, a clever hoax, I was enthralled! Every once in a while, an artist produces a wonderful fictional work, and passes it off as non-fiction. The great radio talk-show pranksters like Phil Hendrie and Joe Frank, the media-critical splicesters "Negativland", etc.

The media in general, advertising agencies, marketers, political commentators, newspapers, seemingly trustworthy alarmists such as Y2K's Gary North, they LIE to us, the American/European public, CONSTANTLY. Yet, most of us take what they say as truth, we are too trusting.

Every once in a while, someone plays a trick on us, a harmless hoax. This is a wonderful phenomena, because it catches us off-guard and reminds us that it is LEGAL, in most cases, to be untruthful, in books, on the radio, etc. And we are lied to, all the time, usually for sinister reasons, not clever art projects.

I am aware that these hoaxes are not always created altruistically, or to teach us a lesson. Sometimes they are created for the sake of art (perhaps in the case of this book), or for recognition, money, or just because it's great fun. But, hopefully the "trick" of this book, and other similar projects, will get through to us and teach us to stay cautious, stay critical, and to remember that ANYTHING we see, hear, or read, no matter how true it seems, is not always the truth.

Apparently the legal system allows a certain degree of fraud, this book is a good example, but thank god for people like Mark Helfrich who remind us, whether purposefully or by side-effect, to keep our guard up!

It's a charming book, by the way. I like the style of photography - something we don't see too often - the nude female body, not glamourized, not pornographically sexualized, not even artful, just honest and fun.

The women in the book are models, not the author's ex-girlfriends. He admits to this in the "Talk of the Town" section in the June 19th New Yorker magazine. It is a work of fiction, being sold as a memoir, which I find objectionable.

In a Talk of the Town piece in the June 19-26 edition of The New Yorker, Mark Singer explodes the myth of this book and Helfrich's use of models to represent his supposed ex-girlfriends. Helfrich admits to using models, saying the photographs are "re-creations of the real thing." I think this is nothing short of misrepresentation. I haven't read or seen the book, but isn't the whole point of it supposed to be that the women are "real"? If they're just models who were paid to pose, what's the point?

I purchased this book expecting to get a sense of life and love in the 1970's. What I found instead was a mild titilation in photographs of naked women, and text appropriate to horny teenager. It seems that the author rated the women based on bodily characteristics, rather than any sense of the humanity of these women. It saddens me that he never found the people, only the genitalia. At one point he refuses to forgive a woman who was unfaithful to him, while at the same time he jumped from bed to bed. Another time he laughs at a woman for being shallow, while remaining shallow himself, all through the decade. You can purchase the book for the nudity, but you won't find the romance of the 1970's. That aspect seems to have been disregarded.