Ellen von Unwerth (born 1954, Frankfurt) was a fashion model
herself for ten years before stepping behind the lens. As a
photographer, she shot to fame with her pictures of Claudia
Schiffer, for the label Guess, in 1989. Since then, she has become
one of the world's most notable fashion photographers, renowned for
her provocative and sexy images of models, movie stars and music
celebrities. Her current exhibition, at Michael Hoppen Gallery, is
small but deliciously decadent, presenting a series of works, shot
at the Madonna Inn, LA, portraying women in seductive poses, luring
the onlooker into the fictional world that they create.
Each bedroom has its own colour scheme and style, and each
invites the viewer to imagine her own narrative of events, past,
present, and future.Room 7, for example, bedecked with blue fleur
de lys wallpaper, depicts an alluring and highly made-up blonde,
sprawled across a bed, strewn with the spilled contents of an ice
bucket. With baby pink finger and toenails, and a sequinned blue
chiffon blouse exposing her cleavage, her smoky shadowed eyes
confront the voyeur, almost in a wink, and her frosted lips are
parted. The tones are saturated, and the contrasts breathtaking: a
blue as deep as an ocean in which one would be more than willing to
drown.
Equally soft in terms of contours and flesh, but harsher in its
BDSM undertones, is the teasingly numberedRoom 69, in which a buxom
burlesque dominatrix, with nipped waist cinched tightly in a
leopard-print basque, and ample thighs spilling out of their
fishnet stockings, stands astride in the doorway, her immaculately
placed vibrant red curls jarring against the green walls. Her long,
black, leather gloves, nose ring, gold studded cuff, and whip
contrast acutely with the delicate string of virginal white pearls
around her décolletage.
The theme of bondage continues inRoom 666, the only black and
white image on display, in which a swarthy model, adorned with a
heady mixture of leather and sequins, cuffs and chains, talon nails
filed to a point, and cigarette in hand, heaves, so that her
sharply contrasted collarbone juts forward, as her fingers press
cruelly into her soft flesh, both accentuating and concealing her
breasts. Dressed for the power role, one is nevertheless left
uncertain, since, unsettlingly, her face is hidden behind a gauze
mask, layered over with sequins and diamonds, calling to mind an
Egyptian mummy. 666. Is she the devil, or is that the role of
whomever she may encounter? Is this a case of empowerment or of
willingness to submit to being overpowered?
The glittering gold ofRoom 248is perhaps most intriguing to the
curious imagination. Differing from the others in its depiction of
two girls, one laid across a dishevelled bed, the other, hair
tousled and cheekbones accentuated, standing in front, knife in
hand, poised to add her graffiti to the array of love hearts and
initials in a wooden panel, face turned forward to the viewer, eyes
raised to the side, as if casting a backward glance to her
companion. What is their story? One of mutual passion, or are they
'workers', returned to base, exchanging tales of conquest? The fact
that one can never be sure is what is so tantalising about all of
these photographs. Provocative, sexy, and glamorous, they could
almost be taken from a men's magazine, but there is something too
feminine about them - a reclamation of the female body and
sexuality, and an opulently indulgent celebration thereof.
Michael Hoppen Gallery, London
Until 22 August 2012
www.michaelhoppengallery.com
Image: 2012 © Ellen Von Unwerth, courtesy of Michael Hoppen
Gallery
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