RICHARD KERN AND THE PORNO-CHIC.

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT, JUST FOR PARALLEL MAGAZINE.

 

Richard Kern is a tightrope walker, he worked on the wire, hand grasping the lens, shooting the skin texture shivering and ecstatic smile of his countless muses lying on the wriggling negative paper .

 

Active artist of the underground, he personifies the narrow border of the popular unconscious which disunites erotica photography of the arty pornography, and feeds your imagination with pictures of naked women through its various series. This genius acrobat juggle between his involvement in the New-York famous music scene and its enticing lens at the end of the 1990's. Richard "Porno-Chic" Kern's leitmotif is photographing women - not necessarily accustomed to parade on the catwalk - without denying its visual signature , his video series "Shot by Kern" , designed by Jesse Pearson, head editor of the U.S. magazine " Vice " (2002 - 2010), is a safe bet alongside nuggets as "Hamilton's Pharmacopeia", he also contributed to music videos of Sonic Youth and Marilyn Manson.

 

Tell us a bit of you Richard, who are you? I'm a New York City based, photographer/filmmaker.

 

Let's speak about your career Richard, what's the favorite project you worked on? Every project is fairly equal. Lately, I've been enjoying making music videos.

 

How did you get into films coming from photography, and how did Cinema of Transgression start? I was a film freak before I discovered the art world and decided one day in 1982? to make a movie. That movie was "GOODBYE 42nd STREET". It costs about 35$ to make. I got a good response when I screened it so I kept at it. New York is filled with people looking for weird arty things to do, so it was easy to cast the movies. The idea of Cinema Of Transgression was dreamed up by Nick Zedd. We both were doing the same kind of things so he called it a movement. He believed that if you had a label then people would believe you were for real.

 

I know you took photos for adult magazines, what's your difference between porgnography and art? I knew I was going to get paid when I shot for girlie mags. I can't say that about the art world.

 

What's your favorite part about a woman's body? All the parts are great but I have to say that one thing I really look forward to is sleeping next to my wife's naked behind at night.

 

Do you have muses? Yes, there is usually at least one woman that is inspiring to me to work with. Usually there are many more. I get inspired by guys too.

 

Unhealthy curiosity, How to pass a regular working day in studio? Bump it hard? Depends on what's coming up. Right now, i'm trying to figure out how to figure out a project. So I spend a lot of time walking around in the house, sitting at the computer while living inside my head. At the end of the day I don't feel like i've done anything. Like today - it was 6 am and now it's 6 pm and I don't know what I figured out. It's hard to force out the visuals and the ideas cause they come in spurts and you have no way to know when they will come.

 

Your ten favourite songs? UGG. I like that French band "Indochine".

 

... A last word in french for our readers? Merde.

 

 

Extract from the Parallel Volume III, Richard Kern's Interview