Sunday, January 28, 2018

Quaternate: Robert J. Guttke


'I usually ask the guys to just look pissed. Makes for better drama since I am stretching bodies into pain thresholds...'


One of the most fascinating themes to explore in any art form has always been pain. Physical pain, emotional pain and the intense pain that inevitably comes hand in hand with forced change, that we all experience. Robert's fearlessness in embracing pain within his work is one of the reasons his images resonate with me. The models Robert shoots are their height of physical perfection, meaning hours and hours of hard work and pain in order push their bodies to it's limits. Then, Robert doesn't light and shoot them, but instead has them scale the sides of buildings, hang from cranes, and contort their bodies in ways the gym couldn't possibly prepare them for.


They say there's no beauty without pain, and that's especially true due to it's fleeting nature. There is a raw honesty in this that Robert manages to capture, creating images that tell stories beyond the moment that they're taken. Although Robert continues to shoot new models and new work, when his schedule allows, he continues go through his body of work, scanning film, and recalling the stories associated with them. Luckily, I often to get hear the uncensored stories, stories for the most part, better shared in images, than in words. Check out more of Robert's stories at his site, Guttke's Classic Nudes HERE: and check out the many stories he shared with FH below:


2015 -2018


2013 / 2014


2012

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