Exhibitionism

Rating:
Summary: Images from an American Legend
Review:
Christopher Makos gets better every time. He's a genius at combining alpha with irony, wit with machine. He commands a strong and spontaneous approach to photography that teaches the student and entertains the viewer, all within a strong European sensibility.

Exhibitionism is Christopher Makos at his best. It's a book you can absorb over and over again, and discover something new every time.

It's a great opportunity to see the world through the eye of a living cultural icon. I believe a limited edition will be sold to the public. Run fast and grab Exhibitionism.

- New York Artist



Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Addition To Any Coffee Table..
Review: As an aspiring photographer myself, I have watched Christophers work evolve over the years. His latest work is a visual delight, not only the subjects he photographs, but his technique and intimate clossness of the camera to the subject. If you are a fan of Christopher Makos, than this latest peice of work will be the icing on the cake..He is truely one of Americas finest...Enjoy the book and appreciate his art !

Rating:
Summary: The Objects Of Our Desire
Review: Exhibitionism, the big, new coffee-table book from art photographer Christopher Makos, shows Makos off at his best - showing off! And egging him on is one of the other great masters of illusion - Calvin Klein himself. The result is a breathtaking collaboration. Part collusion, part collision, the result is a wonderful synthesis of ego, aesthetic and, dare we say it, exhibitionism!

Ostensibly (and most ostentatiously) about men, there is much masculine beauty encompassed within the confines of the book's hard covers - a hefty 12" x 9" for those of you impressed with such things. It is a particularly hyper-charged brand of masculinity - straight boyz for the most part, hard-core body boyz, white boyz mostly. Beautiful, in a rough and tousled, `tom-boy' boy kind of way.

They are so real. Very real. Almost corporeal. They have the kind of physicality that's unavoidable. We are forced to deal with it. It is inescapable. Ineluctible ...

Looking at Matt, Paris, I can't help thinking of the tennis coach in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. I want to taste the drops of water on that boy's arm. I am convinced they are the only thing that will ever quench my thirst. But questions mulitiply. Are the boys in '58 T-Bird, Woodstock, NY, trying to pick me up or are they being taken away? Who's driving? And who is Juliano kissing on the cover? I want to experience that kind of abandon, that transcendent transport of the senses, that gentle but fierce concentration. I want to be there. I want to watch!

And the boy resting his head on the football in Poolside, Woodstock, NY. Has he just fallen down exhausted in a tangle of limbs, hair matted with sweat after a game of touch? Or is he alone with his ball, hoping someone will want to play? I want to ask him. I want to watch him lie there, sweating gently in the hot afternoon sun. I want. I want. I want ...

And then there's Beach Boy, Miami, one of my favorite all-time Makos images. Is he posing for the camera or just re-arranging his gear? Is he acting as his own fluffer - prettying up the package so to speak? Is this the shot or just an outtake? What does his skin smell like, covered in salt from the sea and the sand and the sun? Actually, just looking at the photograph I know what his skin smells like. But what does it taste like? I want to know. I want. I want. I want ...

On the surface, Makos treats boys and their magnificent bodies as objects. He literally objectifies them. But that's where Makos and other photographers of a similar genre part company. Makos uses objectification itself as a language that elevates his subjects, not diminishes them. He revels in their complexity and celebrates the very unknowability of the `other'. In revealing all for Chris's camera, what the boys actually expose is their own, very personal mystery. In Exhibitionism, what Chris is really revealing is how much remains hidden.

It's an astounding work of artistry, because the subjects are all in such plain view. Everything is hanging out. Nothing is hidden except that which we want most because we can't have it at all. In other words, what's really on display in this book is the very real humanity of the subjects. Yes, we want to touch - my God, they're so beautiful, of course we want to touch! - but it's their feelings we want to know and, like teenage girls, we are left pondering the inscrutability of the very objects of our own desire.


Rating:
Summary: Clear Beauty!!!
Review: The amazing thing about a Christopher Makos Book is that by looking at his images in a concentrated environment, you gain access into the artist' real vision. While most photographers shoot subject matter, Makos tends to capture the soul of an object or human being and blend it with his own and create something unique that we havent seen or wish to see again. It is about memories, new experiences, and is very thought provoking. This book is one of his best compilations of new photos that i havent seen. I love it!!

Rating:
Summary: AMERICA'S BEST PHOTOGRAPHER
Review: This is, quite simply, the finest collection of work by an important American photographer to be published this year. It is stunning in its beauty. I am immensely pleased that Makos, an artist clearly at the height of his powers, has given the world such astonishing vision with this collection of recent pictures.
It confirms what critics have been writing for years: he is the
greatest photographer of his generation. I can't recommend it too highly!
Dotson Rader

Rating:
Summary: The Best Makos has done.
Review: What a collection of photo's, these are all prior Calvin Klein men I think? What bold and beautiful pictures I really would have loved to see more of the model Sebastian Chamberlain, I found him in the book and tracked him to modellaunch.com and after that who knows? anyone know anything. His body is the only rival to Michaelangelo's David, or a bit better. Can't wait to see more from Makos.