Nadav Kander's nudes are a powerful protest against the airbrush generation

Date
14 January 2013

There’s no real need for us to talk about how great Nadav Kander is, to talk about his exceptional commercial or award-winning personal work which marks him out as one of the key photographers working today. His new show which opened in London last week is a stunning series of nudes which seeks to redress the visual hegemony of the airbrushed human form with which we are bombarded. All the models are auburn-haired and their bodies are coated in white marble dust and shot against a black background, emphasising every inch of their forms. In most of the images the faces are hidden, referencing classical sculptures, and there are touches of the bizarre, from unnatural stances to the odd appearance of a small white mouse.

Contemplated as a set they are hugely powerful, challenging and thoughtpprovoking and they stay with you long after you’ve left the gallery. Nadav says: “Revealed yet concealed. Shameless yet shameful. Ease with unease. Beauty and destruction, These paradoxes are displayed in all my work; an inquiry into what it feels like to be human. Wherever I may be, my pictures seek to expose the shadow and vulnerability that exists in all of us, and it is this vulnerability that I find so beautiful.”

Bodies – 6 Women, 1 Man is at the Flowers Gallery until February 9 and a book to accompany the show designed by Tappin Gofton is released shortly.

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Nadav Kander: Audrey With Toes And Wrist Bent

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Nadav Kander: Elizabeth With Elbows Hiding Face

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Nadav Kander: Isley Lying With White Mouse OnHip

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Nadav Kander: Elizabeth With Hand On Shoulders

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Nadav Kander: Isley Standing

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Nadav Kander: Michael Standing

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Nadav Kander: Stella As Maderno’s Saint Cecella

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Nadav Kander: Mengxi Stamping

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Nadav Kander: Mengxi Lying Away

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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