Customer Reviews

Turkish Wrestling

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lawrence Grecco's photographs provide a texture uncommon in the artform. There is a sensitivity here, a strange, weighty slowness. One gets the impression that you're not looking at a still picture at all, but a few moments blending into one another, less an instant than idea, a feeling. Grecco captures a complete world; he manages to make a several-hundred year-old, highly public tradition seem private, quiet and secluded.

The wrestlers are all men, of course, but the pictures are often disturbingly intimate, delicate, and emotional. Perhaps what has really been captured is the athlete's love for their history and culture -- respect, essentially.

The book's text offers a short history of the origins of the sport as well as a subtle and honest look into Grecco's personal experiences during the years spent documenting the event. No doubt, it is the same way that readers will view the photographs.

Lawrence Grecco's photographs bridge the eroticism of the human figure with the exoticism of an ancient sport that is truly fascinating in every way. His compositional ability is exceptional; each of these images are powerful and almost every one of them can stand on their own quite well. The book itself is beautifully designed, almost antique looking with its cloth cover and adhered black and white photograph. This is THE BOOK on Turkish Wrestling.

Lawrence Grecco's "Turkish Wrestling" appeals to me strongly as a wrestler, a psychotherapist and an amatuer photographer. Through beautiful pictures and descriptive text he makes a very foreign culture seem kindred. The univerals of sport, masculine struggle, comraderie and brotherhood leap from the page in moments and movements that seem at once very different from my experience as an American wrestler, and yet somehow very close to home. Through his talent as an artist he is able to bridge the cultural gap and connect me with the deeper meaning of what it means to be in a community of men who strive for perfection through the particular sport of wrestling. Through his keen photographic eyes, we are all winners as we experience the age old traditions of theTurkish Kirkpinar. I highly recommend this wonderful book.

This handsomely-produced coffee table book features an extraordinary array of photographs over a three year span, resulting in a stunning celebration of human strength and spirit. "Turkish Wrestling" expertly details the Kirkpinar experience from exuberant start to breathless finish. Grecco's camera enshrines the athletes with uncommon grace, from the turbulent struggle between combatants to the aftermath where victors strut with open pride and vanquished lie horizontal in near-collapse. Even though these are still photographs, one can virtually feel both the electricity of the moment with its mix of oil and sweat under the full glare of the hot Turkish sun.

Turkish Oil Wrestling is a sport that has been around for centuries. Interest in this sporting seems to be kicking up since the publication of Aydemir Ay's KIRPINAR OIL WRESTLING EDIRNE TURKEY, and now older books of photographs alone are becoming popular. One of the best of these is TURKISH WRESTLING, a book of rich black and white photographs by established photographer Lawrence Grecco. In this rather brief but involving book Grecco shows the wrestlers in preparation (the wrestlers must wear 'Kispets', the leather knickerbockers which are worn by the wrestlers during the traditional Turkish oil-wrestling matches. Olive oil is then poured over the kispets and the entire body, making contact slippery to say the least!) as well as individual wrestlers and action shots of the games themselves. Here again the emphasis is on the city of Edirne where the Turkish equivalent of the World Series in oil wrestling takes place. The winner is named the 'Bas Pehlivan', a title highly respected among Turks. Photographer Lawrence Grecco reports in an ongoing brief commentary his discovery of the sport and his journey to Edrine, offering the rules of the game itself and a bit about the history.

This book, combined with the excellent resource book by Aydemir Ay, serve as an excellent introduction to the art of Kirpinar! Grady Harp, April 11

This is a Sexy, Beautiful book. Very nice photos of Turkish Wrestlers - well printed and designed book - very happy to have it in my collection of photo books.

Grecco combines Fine Art and Photo Journalism to give us a look into the sensual world of Turkish oil wrestling. The photographs are exciting and engaging. A great buy!

This is a gorgeous book devoted to the ancient art of Turkish wrestling. The models are absolutely stunning.

The subject is so interesting, but the photos are so bad. Could be so much better.