Naked
Gymnastics by John de Lombardo.
Published by Edition Reuss. ISBN-10: 3934020372
John
de Lombardo is an Australian photographer and lecturer who is currently
teaching within the School Of Art campus at The Australian National University.
He is perhaps now best known for his work on a project he initiated, that
he has entitled 'Artflex,' in which he photographs nude contortionists
and flexible performance artists. The stated aim of 'Artflex' is to 'use such models to display the human body as a piece of art,
twisted and contorted, but in harmony with itself and its positioning.'
Does
it achieve its aim? Whilst the photographs are all technically well executed
and competent only a handful go someway to satisfying the
photographers self imposed brief - the majority do not. Instead most come
over as very ordinary and repetitive studio shots that do not give the
impression that the models are either skilled contortionists or flexible
performance artists - their talents have simply not been made best use
of in the examples offered within the pages of this monograph. This seems
to be still a work in progress with a lot of potential but it is not something
that holds together as a book at present.
'Naked
Gymnastics' is published in a hard cover, with dust jacket, and
opens with a two page introduction by a Lewie JPD that is somewhat laboured
and confused in its intent and would therefore have been best left out
of this volume. The 120 + photographs, a mix of colour and monochromatic
images the majority of which are printed one per page, are reproduced
on quality art paper to the standard that one has come to expect from
this publishing house.
Review by
Christopher John Ball
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