Taking in Juergen Teller's photography is like eating a lot of candy: extreme giddiness followed by an unplaceable physical unease. Teller's grunge playgrounds, though they are sweet, refuse to sugarcoat the real. Imperfections are best served raw in his photographs.
Known for his refusal to separate his commercial fashion photography from his more autobiographical work, Teller finds fashion in unexpected places, from a hospital bed to a wet dog. His images are the antidote of glossy, commercial fashion ad. They are silly, gross, even boring -- anything but 'glam'. They create their own cool through anti-glamour. Marc Jacobs, a longtime collaborator, noted their common attraction to the "imperfection of what's real."
His models include fashion queen Vivienne Westwood and androgynous muse Kristen McMenamy, characters whose personalities are inseparable from their images. The nude women are not treated as ideals form up on pedestals, because to some nudity is a bore... to others a naughty treat. There's a a frisson of excitement contained in this seemingly lazy treatment of shocking subject matter.
Juergen Teller's works will display at Lehmann Maupin Gallery until March 17.
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