Photographs by Mona Kuhn



from "Venezia"





from "Venezia"





from "Venezia"





from "Venezia"





from "Venezia"





from "Venezia"





from her previous "Brazil" series




from her previous "Brazil series"




from her earlier "France" series





from her earlier "France" series





from her earlier "France" series



The AIPAD photography fair is taking place this weekend at the Park Avenue Armory and one of the highlights for me was seeing the new Mona Kuhn Venetian Series at the M+B booth.  Not unlike her past series, they are photographs of beautiful landscapes, with model-gorgeous young people in a stunning palette.  What I love most is her play of foreground and background - the tension between depth and the picture plane and blurred and focused images.  I also love her art historical references as well. In the earlier series, the subject matter of her outdoor scenes reminded me of the carefree zeal of the bohemian colonies that the early German expressionists used to depict, while the nudes of the dark indoor nighttime scenes play in and out of the shadows like a Caravaggio.  In one, a woman reclines like les grandes odalisques of Ingres and Matisse.  Her last project was in Brazil and the jungle greens are reminiscent of the colors in Rousseau's paintings, I think.

In this series from Venice, there is a much lighter palette and water dominates most of the landscape photos - which is a departure.  The well-known Venetian architecture is cropped by the water and waves. Droplets of water on the lens are playful while the undulating waves of the water create an immense amount of movement as opposed to the solidity of the buildings in the background.  The point of view of these photographs are taken as if coming up from underneath the water which makes them even more dynamic,  as opposed to her nudes that are still, quiet and reflective.

The women (no men in this series) are unique in their beauty and have elongated, mannerist like limbs.  My favorite is of a copper red haired young woman sitting primly on a bed in a lush interior.  The paleness of her skin contradicts the deep, colors of the fabrics and the flowers in the background.  The scene is timeless except for a remarkable little still life in the bottom right hand corner of the photograph with a very contemporary Financial Times.  These works can be seen locally in Chelsea at Flowers, on the West Coast at M + B and in Atlanta at Jackson Fine Art.

Link to more of Mona Kuhn's phots