Joel-Peter Witkin, photographer

Posted July 5, 200915 yr

http://www.davidknipper.com/famous_person/...peterwitkin.jpg

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http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showtopic=22405 **edited by MauiKane

Joel-Peter Witkin is a photographer whose images of the human condition are undeniably powerful. For more than twenty years he has pursued his interest in spirituality and how it impacts the physical world in which we exist.

Finding beauty within the grotesque, Witkin pursues this complex issue through people most often cast aside by society -- human spectacles including hermaphrodites, dwarfs, amputees, carcases, people with odd physical capabilities, fetishists and "any living myth... anyone bearing the wounds of Christ." His fascination with other people's physicality has inspired works that confront our sense of normalcy and decency, while constantly examining the teachings handed down through Christianity.

His constant reference to paintings from art history, including the works of Bosch, Goya, Velasquez, Miro, Botticelli and Picasso are testaments to his need to create a new history for himself. By using imagery and symbols from the past, Witkin celebrates our history while constantly redefining its present day context.

Visiting medical schools, morgues and insane asylums around the world, Witkin seeks out his collaborators, who, in the end, represent the numerous personas of the artist himself. The resulting photographs are haunting and beautiful, grotesque yet bold in their defiance a hideous beauty that is as compelling as it is taboo.

Witkin begins each image by sketching his ideas on paper, perfecting every detail by arranging the scene before he gets into the studio to stage his elaborate tableaus. Once photographed, Witkin spends hours in the darkroom, scratching and piercing his negatives, transforming them into images that look made rather than taken. Through printing, Witkin reinterprets his original idea in a final act of adoration.

Joel-Peter Witkin lets us look into his created world, which is both frightening and fascinating, as he seeks to dismantle our preconceived notions about sexuality and physical beauty. Through his imagery, we gain a greater understanding about human difference and tolerance.

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July 5, 200915 yr

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July 5, 200915 yr

wow.....

im familiar with pic #13.. and have always dug it.... but ive never seen his other works.

he works well in all mediums

the pics leave me feeling part disturbed,amused and energized

i love the one of the skeleton weighing the fish and the penis....and the penis is left lacking!! lolol

pure gold!

thanks for the intro to this mans world!

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July 6, 200915 yr

Author

i wanted to post more but i choose the softest for the first part and i hadn't time to put the nude picture.

"unfortunately" in 90% of his work there are nude people... :whistle:

and i deleted the cadaver/beheaded pictures because i saw bellazon doesn't accept them...

his work is so incredible. very beautiful... he used the sexuality, the people "fears" without vulgarity... i'm totally in love with his work. it's just fabulous.

the 18, 19,20, 21 and 22 pictures come from his fashion work for New York Time magazine. it's totally different of his normal work but i think the reasult is very interesting.

and lol, i didn't see the penis on this picture XD

moderator won't be happy XD and i just discover there is a panis on the second picture two... at the beggining i thought it was the man intestine or a mini leg... as a parasite siamese but no, it was his penis...

the nude pictures/draws

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL27915.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL29276.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL36421.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL36419.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL34184.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL34183.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL34182.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL34180.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL34179.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL34027.JPG

http://www.baudoin-lebon.com/upload/oeuvre/BL33804.JPG