LA-based artist Mona Kuhn is acclaimed for her intimate, contemporary depictions of the nude. Through intimacy with her subjects, knowledge of traditional iconography, and technical mastery, Kuhn portrays the complexities of human nature, both tempting and provoking the viewer’s imagination. Her approach to photography is unusual in that she usually develops close relationships with her subjects, resulting in images of remarkable naturalness and intimacy, and creating the effect of people naked, but comfortable in their own skin. The scenes in The First Chapter were photographed in and around Les Landes de Gascogne, a pine forest region by the coast of France, and feature several subjects, all of whom knew each other in some capacity; sometimes mutual friends, sometimes lovers. Here, Kuhn takes an inverse position to a painter composing his afresco above the scaffolding. Instead, she stands on a ladder with her camera pointed down at her subjects, eliminating the horizon line in an attempt to mirror heaven and earth. Like Bosch’s paintings, Kuhn’s photographs have a surreal edge, due in part to their flattened perspective. Pine needles, cones, dappled light and subtle color tonalities add a layer of nostalgia to the visual vocabulary. Most subjects have their eyes closed, suggesting a state of intimacy.
Mona Kuhn, The first chapter
May 4 to June 10, 2017
EUQINOMprojects
1275 Minnesota St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
USA
