Hisaji Hara, A Study of ‘Therese’, 2009 and Balthus, Therese, 1938 The provocative paintings of the French-Polish artist Balthus are the starting point for Japanese photographer Hisaji Hara’s visually arresting photographs currently on display at the Michael Hoppen Gallery. Like in Balthus’ work, the photographs are deeply voyeuristic, sexually suggestive, and fetishistic. As their titles…
Massimo Vitali, Sarikiniko, 2011 If there is a dominant colour in Massimo Vitali’s photographs recently on display at the Brancolini Grimaldi Gallery it would have to be turquoise – the colour of the Mediterranean Sea. Water is the common denominator in the ultra-large scale photographs floating in the space of the gallery. While many images…
Laurel Nakadate, Oops!, 2000 The noughties are commonly described as a decade in which celebrity culture proliferated, a decade which saw a massive increase in the commodification of sexualized imagery, also the decade of voyeurism via TV shows such as Big Brother. The American video artist and photographer Laurel Nakadate, born in 1975 and raised…