[Faline]

By Joel Peter Witkin

Born in 1939 in New York, Joel-Peter Witkin was known for his remarkable photographic work, where it mixes with defective bodies sado-masochistic symbols, pieces of bodies with religious icons, all complemented by the craftsmanship that makes every photo of her in one piece.

Face of woman:


Witkin started photographing at age 17, when determined to do the portrait of a rabbi who claimed to have seen and talked with God. Since he was the son of Orthodox Jewish father and Catholic mother, the religious theme was always present in his work.

Dog on a pillow:


After the rabbi's visionary, he photographed a hermaphrodite in a freak show of Coney Island. The fascination was such that there was also their first sexual experience, which left traces in his work.

The Cornucopian dog:


When it came time to enlist in the army, Witkin received the mission to document photographically the accidental deaths occurred in military training. "I came to toughen me so much in relation to death that I enlisted as a photographer in Vietnam," said Witkin.

Away from the army, he returned to art photography, graduating Master of Arts at the University of New Mexico in 1976

Le baisier:


When he made his first solo exhibition in 1980 in New York immediately became the focus of attention. On the one hand, received praise for thematic depth of his work, based on the themes of pain and death, and anchored by classical references, on the other, was attacked as sensational, shameless, blasphemous and other adjectives less respectable.

Bad student:


Witkin focuses on everything that society marginalizes. Contrary to what is done in most of the Art, Witkin brings the audience to the human condition more degrading and frightening, not only as a provocation and a social criticism and aesthetics, but also as a way to point out that even the grotesque can find beauty. (Haaa ... yeah ... okay.)

Woman with severed head:


This forces the photographer who sees him to accept the ugly side of things and, moreover, recognize in him the right to existence and their exposure without any reservation or shame.

Interrupted reading:


The references to classical painting and sculpture are almost always present in the photographs of Witkin.

He studied deeply religious art, with emphasis on Giotto, as well as symbolist Gustav Klimt, Alfred Kubin.

In his work are also elements of social criticism. By showing the horrible, it is also a form of criticism against the artificial beauty standard that the media and spread throughout the world.

Corpus medius:



Witkin's work is meticulous. Each picture starts as a sketch scribbled on the paper goes through a difficult stage of production, when models and props are sought, falls upon a meticulous studio session and spends many hours in the laboratory of post-production, with manipulation directly on the negative, intentionally mistreated to chemical and physical action.

Sepia prevails throughout his work, though sometimes also use the Black and White. One reason for this is perhaps the fact of being a Sepia tone that gives your images an antique look and decadent, and the contrasts are more pronounced. Witkin's work is all it decadence and bizarre, Sepia tone is one that rests perfectly, helping to create the atmosphere and exacerbating the impact of these elements in images.

[Phobophile]

Great post! Le baisier(the kiss) is very famous.

[Viking64]

I think I have lost my ability to get an erection until 2013.

[GODREKR]

I've been a fan of his for a long time and have ment to post a thread about him but kept forgetting. I own a few of his books and an original rarely seen DVD of him at work.

His process from concept to end product is very hard and time consuming. Which is why he's one of the very few artists/photographers who will do this sort of work. He's a remarkable artist. Thanks Kell.

[Frank_Furter]

Excellent!

[xXRockerGuyXx]

Nice

[pankajsharma]

Originally Posted by viking64 ↗

I think I have lost my ability to get an erection until 2013.

relief for the girls

[dooshman]

Weird yet quite interesting.

[Jere]

weirdo
but kinda cool

[RedneckR0nin]

gnarly