Photographs of Nudes 1978 - 2008
John Bernhard is a photographer with a unique vision to the nude figure; he endeavors to go beyond mere beauty and eroticism. To Bernhard the human body is an unexplored terrain. He approaches it with the eye of an adventurer, discovering new possibilities at every curve and turn, infusing the figure with new meaning. Through the play of light and shadow, as well as the superimposition of various incongruous images over his nude subjects, Bernhard adds an ethereal aesthetic element to his pictures that suggest spiritual transcendence and remind us with great poetic force that the flesh is transitory, and all that we desire is destined to return to the earth.
Body Work is the first complete collection of Bernhard's finest nudes featuring images from his early explorations ñ from his seldom seen early Skindream series to the transformation imagery of his best-known series Metamorphs. His latest work Bodily Change is published here for the first time.