As Winter falls it's time to visit The Doc+ors...

As a younger man growing up in Brisbane winter was my favourite time of year. In the Sub Tropics it's the only time of year you get to layer up with jackets, coats, shirts and neckties. I loved it then & I still do. And of course no one can break a heart quite like a Brisbane girl... And so perhaps it was in some way appropriate having recently had my heart broken by a beautiful and stylish Brisbane-girl-in-Sydney that I should set off to the Doc+ors to mix and mend my broken winter’s heart.

It was nice to see so many splashes of colour mixed in with winter coats and jackets. Even I made a special effort last night donning a vintage 80s leather Blouson, the full New Romantic catastrophe over a bright yellow checked shirt with vintage cotton knit necktie. The splashes of colour, Reds, Blues, Greens, reminded me that Rhiannon was quite right, winter doesn't need to be dark at all but can instead be about 'All The Colours Of The Rainbow' as styled in our editorial shoot for Le Magazine.

Of course another reason for the colour splashes may have been that we were at the opening of 'Evolve Already' with Antochrist – the “Madonna of the art world”...

Evolve Already
6pm May 19
"The Doctors"
102 Burton Street
East Sydney

And a little plug for me; SNAP my solo Artist Portrait show is on until the the 30th of this month.

Bill Henson : Untiltled 2010

Last night I had my first chance to attend a Bill Henson opening. Yes I am a fan, yes I have been following him since the early 80s & love his work. I am certainly not alone there; this was the biggest crowd I have ever seen at Roslyn Oxley9 and possibly the biggest opening crowd I have seen outside a major art event.

The show was opened by Edmund Capon and I was fortunate enough to witness a rather beautiful moment on E.C.s arrival. Quite a wonderful greeting, Bill, Edmund, Roslyn; at the top of the stairs, a show of intimate solidarity. Then everyone that could made there way toward the already very full main gallery. Edmund gave an inspired speech reported in part in the Sydney Morning Herald Here & Here. I am not sure about Miranda Devine's comment in the SMH about no cameras in the gallery. I waved my G10 around over my 6'4" head and no-one said boo to me!

E.C. set the record straight right off the bat with, in a nutshell something like,

They are big, they all have the same title (untitled) and they are 30K each. They are beautiful, they speak to us and they are not porn (they never have been).

The show is beautiful. Some critics seem to be making with the idea that the show is turned down. I think Bill has always been about beauty and the volume has been turned up! Yes, I got a bit of a feeling of, well just can't say it... OK a big FU to those who think the work is just about nudes. But I can't imagine Bill actually saying that.

It's a brilliant show. The prints are his first using digital printing technology which is quite significant in and of itself. Master prints of course.

Roslyn Oxley9 Go see it for yourself till June 5.

SNAP @ SNO Artists Portrait Show

Shots from the show now up on Flickr SNO Portraits on Flickr.

SNAP my Portrait show opens next Saturday. Please come and join me at the opening.

An exhibition of artist portraits taken at SNO openings since 2005. SNAP is a combined project with SNO and Australian Centre for Photography's Head On Photo Festival at galleries in and around Sydney.



Shots from the show now up on Flickr SNO Portraits on Flickr.
LEVEL 1, 175 MARRICKVILLE ROAD
MARRICKVILLE
SYDNEY, NSW 2204
AUSTRALIA

T. +61 (2) 9560 3470
E. info@sno.org.au
W. www.sno.org.au

Kent Johnson
0433 796 863
kent@artcommunication.com.au
www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au
www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/
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Being Born Again, RAFW Prequel...Hallelujah!

Art & Fashion mixed it up big time in this designing duos x 10 Couture collabo extravaganza at NAS, the National Art School last night in Sydney. As I think you my wonderful readers are fully aware by now. Most of the 'street style' I blog about here usually happens when I am out at art openings; personally I think this is just fine as the art crowd usually have a mind of their own & tend to do things a little differently anyway. So  last night at the NAS where I have attended many memorable openings (one of my most memorable experiences was beating author & art critic Robert Hughes to the very last glass of red wine one night by the slimmest of margins), was an event stylish, fun and quite I think outside of the usual.

We knew we were in for a stylish night right off the bat when we saw one of the shows Creative Directors Emily Fitzgerald in a stunning dress (which I shall describe later) and the most serious set of door people I have ever seen at an NAS opening. There was going to be no sneaking into this show!

And so it was that even though I had asked exhibiting designer & photography client of mine Shadi Tambrchi of Lulu in Chains if she could 'get me in' unfortunately this was a strictly +1 event. I even asked Emily a few weeks ago at another opening if she could slip Street Fashion Sydney a press pass only to find out I had left it too late, the event was already over subscribed. Fortunately, Freelance Stylist/FashionWriter/Editor extraordinaire (and personal friend) Rhiannon Bulley had a +1 press pass for Tangent Mag. And so it came to pass that a handbag I was to become, or at least a friend that could carry one.

Rather than doing the oh-so-boring thing of putting a picture up with the designer info below it I am going to give you all the the link to the 'Being Born Again' website (navigate to the Artist/Designer Collabbo page) and see if anyone out there; can can guess/see/work-out which dress belongs to who. I think the (mildly blurry atmospheric) shots contain all the clues you need; the magic link is HERE.

But enough already, on with the show!

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So there are your nine Designer/Artist Collabo shots (the 10th is the Jewellery)
Lets see how you go & in about a week I will post the who is who under the shots in informative style.

Lindy Lee and Emily Fitzgerald.

And as I promised a few words about Emily's dress which as you can see has a face on the front. This dress was causing quite a stir due to the nature of its extremely low cut back. I am not sure if many people noticed but I fancied I could see a face on the back as well! But it was not just the dress it was a combination of the lowness of the cut of the back which made a deep scoop like a smile way down south, if you can imagine for a moment two cheeks together and a line a little like a tiny nose and two petite dimples just above and there you have it; a smile a nose between the cheeks and a pair of eyes. A very daring look but Emily pulled it off with complete Panache. I guess when you have been a Vogue cover girl you just do it! Perhaps surprisingly this was one picture I was a little worried about taking with my camera so you will have to create the vision in your minds eye instead.

Enjoy the shots, visit the Being Born Again website for lots more information about the project. And please post your thoughts about the show in the comments section below.

Thanks to Emily, Davina Reichman, the Designers and Artists and all the people who made the show happen. Congratulations on a great show, lets do it all again next year.

Telling Stories in Pictures all over..

Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.

0433 796 863

kent@artcommunication.com.au

www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au

www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/

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Nude, is the New Black!

I suppose it had to happen & I am not referring to garments in a skin tone style. Nudity it seems is everywhere in fashion right now. Not just the flash of a breast or of a pretty young quim as photographed for Vogue France by Mario Testino. We are talking about full nudity, whatever happened to the clothes! Over the past couple of days I have been perusing the editorial photo stories over on Fashionising & can you imagine my shock and horror to find full frontal female nudity! OK Helmut Newton probably got there first in a strictly fashion sense with shots like "The Unclothed and the Clothed" for Vogue France circa 1981 or; even earlier with "Laura dressed in a fox cape, Avenue George V, Paris, 1974".
I am not sure why they always put NSFW next to these stories but being a photographer and being quite frankly mildly dishlexic; I always think the story has something to do with NSW the Australian state I live in and always click to see what is going on. Of course being so socially minded and a touch touched, as the saying goes as you can well image I get to see an aweful lot of nudity every single day! It kind of reminds me of my first job where there was a pile of Playboy magazines in the lunch room, I mean that was at work... Not to mention the first photographer I ever worked for shot for both Playboy & Penthouse & that was work! Sure it was a dirty job but someone had to do it...
So as you can probably imagine I was quite overcome; in a William Burroughs and Brion Gysin, "Cut Up" kind of way, when I attended last night; the 'Qualia' show at Mils Gallery near Central Station in Surry Hills.
Not only was there a B&W nude floating in the galleries display window; but once inside there was all manner of phsyco-sexual imagery! But enough of my talk, here are the shots from last night.

Art Performance.

The Vulvic Knitting Nancy

The phallic Rorschach Blot, (there was also a wombic one).

My own attempt at a photographic Rorschach test outside!

J.G. Ballard would be proud; no?

Picture (from the show) by Ella Condon. There's a theme er I think...

I always have a soft spot for Houndstooth Tweed.

This shoe and tights como reminded me of one of the great loves of my life. Meagan; come on lets talk, its been forever!

Ernest Aaron photographed in front of his work. Strangely I Perceived no Psyco-Sexual nature to this work at all (it could just be me) and asked him how he got to be hung in this show? However I did invite him to my show at SNO. BIG PLUG

I am having a solo show of my SNO portraits at SNO on the 8-05-2010, thats next month! Its my second solo and will feature over 30 of my SNO portraits taken over the last 4+ years. The show is also part of the Head On Photography Festival.

Opening is 3 till 6 pm on the 8th, all welcome. See you there.

Sydney Non Objective Gallery
First Floor 175 Marrickville
Road Marrickville.

All I can say is the 90s porn of Terryworld is gone. Black is Back. And it's wearing such a fine thread, no-one can see it at all.


http://milsgallery.com/ Great show. on NOW!

MCA, Gaffa Gallery & The Sydney High Lock

When heading out and running late the quickest way for me to get into the city is to cycle over to Sydenham Station, lock up my bike and catch the train. Last Thursday on my way to the new Gaffa Gallery in Sydney that is exactly what I did but imagine my complete surprise when arriving at the lock-up-spot at the station I saw my first 'High Locked' bike in Sydney. Apparently this is an imported idea from the NYC cycling scene. Whilst I was delighted in how the bike framed a curious composition with the city in the background; I was at the same time rather bemused as to why someone had taken so much trouble locking up such a basic commuter bike. We shall most likely never know.

The new Gaffa Gallery is a multi storied wonder and the MCA Staff Show was a great way for me to experience Gaffa's new gallery spaces. After photographing artist Mark Booth downstairs (The B&W Portrait) we able to head upstairs and cavort with the artists and friends on the roof top.








Portrait of Mark Booth









Gaffa Gallery, THE MCA STAFF SHOW
25 February - 9 March 2010

ime Launch 'At Perry Lane'

I have attended a few launches and shows at 'At Perry Lane' now. Its a rather sweet courtyard cafe on the weekend and a funky public/private gallery space during the week. On Wednesday the 17th it was Daniele Blaauw's and her new ime jewellery ranges turn to bask in the spotlight. Of course as usual I was doing a fair bit of people watching in between knocking over a few Coopers beers.















Strangely I seemed to find the men winning in style stakes on this night; or maybe it was just that the men had some unique Aussie style (no, mens Aussie style is not an oxymoron) at this launch that got the better of my cameras attention.

Of course the jewellery got plenty of attention as well and after sending a phone camera pic to stylist Rhiannon Bulley I was instructed to secure a couple of pieces for our 'Le Magazine' photoshoot this weekend.

You can see the ime jewellery range for yourself at Akwa Avenue, 78 Enmore Rd Newtown or call 9565 5803.