Customer Reviews

New York Girls (Amuses Gueules)

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

 

 

At first glance it is tempting to see Richard Kern as an imitator of Eric Kroll. This is hardly the case, but the comparison is inevitable. Both are New York photographers who specialize in fetish work, primarily photographing women. Both have a good sense of graphic imagery. In truth, though, the similarities end at the surface. Their intent and approach are radically different.

Kroll has a strong background in commercial and fashion photography which gives his images a more glitzy, mainstream look. Kern came to New York and immediately fell in with the extreme sex crowd. He spent his early years publishing little, Xeroxed magazines and making short films with such dark stars as Lydia Lunch, Nick Zedd and Cassandra Stark. In a sense, "New York Girls," marks a shift closer to mainstream fetish work.

These are harsh, revealing images. His color work reminds me a bit of Nan Goldin, but his black and white images are uniquely his own. The sexuality is blatant, sometimes erotic and sometimes not. There is a profound alienation in his images. These are people being sexual to and for themselves. They rarely meet the viewer's eyes. When they do face the camera it is to issue a challenge, to dare the viewer to cross the line into a solipsistic universe of tension and release.

Many of the photographs are haunting. There seem to be layers of content that keep the viewer's attention for hours. If you haven't encountered Kern's work before or a looking for the right collection of fetish work you will find this and excellent introduction to photography's more challenging visions.

Richard Kern's photographic and film works are immediately identifiable -- blending S&M, punk-rock, documentary and fetish styles into a sensibility that is at once bold and revolting, sensual and ugly.

His photographs are more intriguing than his films, which suffer from too much emphasis on violence, oftimes bad acting, and shaky shot selection (and I'm not referring just to the handheld style). It's surprising how beautiful some of Kern's photographic subjects appear very often, just because his style has a complete lack of pretension that can be inviting.

Granted, all the violent imagery, gun fetishes, and people (usually women) in compromising positions gets repetitive. But Kern is one artist you can pick out from the crowd on the spot, and his toughness can be welcome in a world of airbrushes and perfect bodies and makeup. You could even argue some of these subjects look more human in this style than in any fashion magazine!

... but there were other photos that were less so! Kern looks really sleazy (why he included a photo of himself is beyond me!), but his work shows a lot of talent. I especially liked the bondage shots --- one, in particular, has this beautiful nude girl with her hands tied over her head --- it's one of those pictures that just make you groan inside! Also, a few promising girl-girl photos, but too few if you ask me. Overall, a really hot book! (There's a tiny little version of this book, much deleted, that has most of his best stuff in it --- I'd suggest you get it first before shelling out the bucks for the big version!)

i cant say enough good things about this book!the photographs are striking reverently disturbing master art with no fashion model looks. i highly recommend it.

This is a fairly good sized book of good sharp images.

There's a lot of bondage sort of images but not in poor taste, everyone looks to be having fun, even if a little perturbed now and then but always looking completely consenting. There's a little bit of penetration with objects but it's not in poor taste.

I like this book for it's quality of printing and happy feel to the images. Though it's not by any means quality glamour (I guess I mean arthouse!), I don't believe it ever set out to be. It's engaging and creates a nice feel, like you're sharing some women enjoying pushing their sexual boundaries and then sharing it with the reader.

It's not a book you'd give someone to learn photographic rules by but it is a book you'd give to someone just to feel they were sharing in all the good things about putting convention aside and wallowing in the pleasure of their own sexuality. A nice coffee table book for somewhere fairly liberated that, in that environment, would probably bring the reaction Mmmmmmmmm, yuu-uum more than too many other reactions.

Cheers

Lloyd

I didn't feel like spending lotta bucks in "full" New York Girls, so I ordered this "pocket edition".

Well this is so damn good, that the next day I bought the complete edition ;-)

So, if you don't want to expend extra bucks, just buy the full one...

An excellent pocket book

There are very few that can pull off flash photography like Richard Kern. Although some of the models were a little too bland to pull off the subject matter, he shows us some gems that make buying the book worthwhile. What you get from his flash work in this book is the starkness of the themes, and the sense that these could easily be home photo's taken by you or me.

The concept was excellent, but the execution is disappointing. Maybe the format is just too big, as the size itself drew my attention to the mediocre photography, rather than the otherwise interesting commentary on pop fetish culture. If the intent was to lend immediacy to the subjects though casual photography, it failed, because the models were clearly posed. The style of photography may have work with unposed models (as in Kroll's photography) but it didn't work here.

I wasn't impressed with the photographs. I have a more interesting collection of ex girlfriend nudes then this book has to offer.. Save your money.