Kander, Nadav - Bodies: 6 Women, 1 Man (New in plastic!)

Bodies, consists of nudes painted white against a black backdrop, their faces tuned away from the viewer. Accessories are minimal, as is the aesthetic; yet, at the same time, the arrangement makes the sitters mostly voluptuous bodies seem baroque. Despite the abundance of flesh on display, however, the images lack a superficial sense of the erotic; the white makeup and lack of eye contact function as barriers, and the massiveness of the limbs recalls the work of Hans Bellmer and Lucian Freud. Like Bellmer and Freud, Kander presents us with a simulacrum of sensuality, questioning our images of the human body as well as the concept of beauty itself.

Nadav Kander (born 1961) is an Israeli-born, London-based artist, director, and photographer, internationally renowned for his landscapes and portraiture.

His father flew Boeing 707s for El-Al but lost his eye and was unable to continue flying. His parents decided to start again in South Africa and moved to Johannesburg in 1963. Kander began taking pictures when he was 13 on a Pentax camera, which he bought with his Bar Mitzvah money.

He states the pictures that he took then and until he was 17, although unaccomplished, have the same sense of quiet and unease that is part of his work today. After being drafted into the South African Air Force, Kander worked in a darkroom printing aerial photographs. It was there he became certain he wanted to be a photographer. He moved to London in 1986, where he still resides with his wife Nicole and their three children.

Publisher: Hatje Cantz; Ostfildern (2013)
Language: English
Hardcover: 136 pages
ISBN-10: 377573449X
ISBN-13: 9783775734493
Item weight:
Dimensions: 38,3 x 27,6 x 2,7 cm

New in plastic!