Fine Art Publishing
PRESS RELEASE:
We invite you to join us for an exploration of human vulnerability and the timeless beauty of the unadorned form. “OBSESSIONS” is an ode to the human spirit, a celebration of the profound authenticity that lies with us.
For more information about this exhibit, link here: https://www.prismartsphiladelphia.com
Tableaux Vivants: 1994 – 1996
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Text by Tony Ward, Copyright 2021
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This exhibition Tableaux Vivants: 1994 – 1996 is being hosted by my dear friend the artist James Dupree. I met James and his wonderful wife Anita in the mid-eighties when I moved my family into Philadelphia’s Bella Vista neighborhood. It was known then and still is a haven for creative people including the likes of Isaiah Zagar, Jenny Lynn, Ray Metzker, Ruth Thorne Thompson, George Krause, Robert Asman, Harvey Finkle, Zoey Strauss, James of course and many others.
James asked if he could host an exhibition of my work the day after we were hit by a massive water main break on our block at 6th & Bainbridge streets. He made the offer knowing how damaged The Ward Studio was from the flood waters on July 25th, 2021. It was truly an act of friendship and empathy from one artist to another. For that I am truly grateful.
I dedicate this exhibition to the late Paul Mojica also known as “Luna” in the Philadelphia gay community. Paul and I met in 1993 just as I was beginning to think about the tableaux vivant series. He was by my side for those years first as my main makeup artist, but then another aspect of his many talents emerged. That of a muse. Paul appears in many of the pictures in this show in various costumes we dreamed up over drinks at the Latest Dish or on our photographic excursions to the Big Apple.
I was very saddened to hear of his passing a few years ago. This exhibition is dedicated to the life and times of Paul Mojica.
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To access the gallery of Tableaux Vivants, click here: https://tonyward.com/early-work/tableaux-vivants-1994-1996/
Photography and Text by Alejandra Guerrero, Copyright 2020
WICKED WOMEN
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Wicked Women is my first solo book and a photographic monograph of 12 years of my works in erotica with emphasis in fetish photography. It presents my vision of sensual, strong and sexually confident women, with images full of narrative and erotically charged stark portraits. It presents my visual aesthetic, including elements of fashion and fetishism blending seamlessly together. Fetishism relies heavily on garments as symbolic elements of power and surrender which I delight in using in my work. It presents a type of woman I like to call a “Vamp”, a seductress, dark and mysterious with a bit of film noir, Femme Fatale. She is in tune to her desires and her fantasies, without apologizing. It flows sensually and provocatively.
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The story of how this project came about happened in New York City in the Spring of 2018, when I met David Jenkins, the editor in chief at Circa Press, London, England. He had an interest in doing a book with me. I had some ideas, but then a section on my web site I had called “Wicked Women”, to group the more fetish oriented photos caught his attention as well as the title I used for the body of work. We settled in the name quickly and then worked on selecting photos I had already shot that fit the theme of the book. After we met, I shot a few new photos to add to the portfolio, as well as the cover image, but the work was largely there from our first conversation.
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As a collector of books that have inspired and entertained me since getting into photography, I’m very excited and thrilled to launch my Wicked Women unto the world. Please support my Kickstarter campaign by clicking on this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649001578/alejandra-guerrero-wicked-women
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About The Author: Alejandra Guerrero is a photographer that has been establishing her unique vision for female empowered eroticism, fashion and fetish. It is a vision that can be traced back to her early upbringing in Bogota, Colombia. A more conservative society, its constraints did wha constraints so often do: the reverse of what was intended. They filled her with a desire and curiosity that would eventually be satiated in the less judgmental underground communities in the US, where the erotic/fetish community would embrace her and show her that people could have more open minds about how they express their sexuality. For Alejandra, this expression would take the form of a unique combination of seductive fashion, erotic fantasy and an unapologetic embracing of fetish as seen through the eyes of a powerful woman.
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TW: What do you find most compelling about the medium of Photography?
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CG: I’m a card-carrying voyeur, and my exotic subjects excite me. My camera is a passport to adventure and creative fun. I am my own boss. I have never had a “job.” I travel the world, do whatever I please, photograph famous people, and have kinky sex with beautiful punkettes. ‘Nuff said!
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TW: You have covered a variety of subject areas in your involvement in Photography. Which of these subject areas to you find the most compelling and worthy of further exploration?
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CG: I’ve been photographing almost fifty years, and I’ve covered lots of subjects. Most of my work is about people and behavior, and I’ve spent many years documenting alternative culture in all its ragged glory. My extended photo essays include 60s counterculture, rock and roll (I shot for Rolling Stone and Crawdaddy), the radical sex community, and tattooing, piercing and body art (I helped launch the “new tribalism” movement by sparking the RE/Search book Modern Primitives). I also did lots of traditional photojournalism in the 60s and 70s.
One of my favorite extended photo essays is Wall Street, shot between 1972-1976. This work is more formal, and more about social conditioning, societal control, corporate excess, and fascist architecture. Which subjects do I find most compelling today? Barely-legal girls, ha ha.
TW: How do you think the medium of photography has impacted popular culture at large?
Are you serious?
CG: What was it like to encounter William S. Burroughs as a subject in your work?
In January, 1972, Rolling Stone sent me and writer Bob Palmer to London to do a feature article on William Burroughs. Talk about a dream assignment. We spent a week with Burroughs, smoked hash, stared into the Dream Machine, played with the E-meter, and dug all Burroughs’ best rants and stories. Rolling Stone liked the story so much they asked me to be their New York photographer.
I shot Burroughs again in NYC, 1975, for Crawdaddy. He and musician Jimmy Page met for tea and chat before a Led Zeppelin concert. I got great shots from that shoot too.
TW: Are you equally compelled to photograph men and women. If not, which gender do you prefer to photograph and why?
CG: For most of my career, I’ve photographed everyone. Today, I mostly photograph gorgeous women. Wouldn’t you?
TW: How has photography broadened or defined your view of today’s world?
Like totally!
TW: If you could turn back the hands of time, would you have chosen another profession?
No, no, no. I do enjoy creative writing, but at heart I’m a picture guy.
TW: Describe the feeling of taking a great picture? What happens at that moment?
CG: Well, for me the creative act is a wonderful high, especially if the subject is exotic or sexy. I go into what I call “magic space.” Psychologists call it “flow.” Athletes call it “being in the zone.” It’s an exhilarating feeling. Time stands still, there is total communion with the subject, and the creative process (right framing, angle, moment) is like a beautiful zen dance. I work it, work it, work it—and suddenly there it is, my shot!
TW: How do you define Photography as Art?
CG: Andy Warhol said, “Art is anything you can get away with.” I agree!
Photography and Text by Tony Ward, Copyright 2020
Ike’s Study
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I visited Ike Hay at his home on many occasions. He was a great teacher of art and design at Millersville University where we first met when I was an undergraduate student from 1974 to 1977. I took several classes with him as he was a great teacher of art and design. Ike’s first love was sculpture, but he had other interests as well. Ike was a collector of Empire furniture and a significant amount of his scholarship was defined by his love for French culture, especially French antiquities and an emphasis on the history of Napoleon Bonaparte, the great French military leader and emperor of France. Ike’s study was a place where we often chatted about art and also life. He became a lifelong friend and confidant until his untimely passing in 2014 at the age of 69. When I began the project of a book of Tableaux Vivants, I selected Ike’s study as one of the nostalgic places I wanted to photograph because of my longstanding friendship with Ike and his family. So one summer day in 1994, I packed up my gear with models in tow and traveled from Philadelphia to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he lived with his wife Teri and his daughters Miraya and Mistral. On this particular occasion I decided to shoot in black and white and in color, an unusual departure for me at the time.
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To see selected works from the book of Tableaux Vivants, click here: https://tonyward.com/early-work/tableaux-vivants-1993-2000/