The artwork depicts a black-and-white photograph of a woman holding a handgun. The composition features a tight focus on the subject, with the woman's face and gun dominating the frame. The overall aesthetic conveys a sense of tension and unease, emphasizing the subject's confrontational pose and intense expression. The artist appears to be exploring themes of power, violence, and feminine identity through a striking visual style that blends realism with a more stylized, cinematic quality. While the subject matter may be controversial, the artwork invites the viewer to consider complex societal issues surrounding gender, violence, and the human condition. ...
Richard Kern, photographer and filmmaker remains, first and foremost, a portraitist. For more than two decades Kern has sought to unravel and illuminate the complex and often darker sides of human nature. Kern makes the psychological space between the sitter, photographer and audience his subject. With his dry, matter of fact approach, he underlines the absurdity of truth and objectivity in photography while playing with our reliance upon taxonomies around sexual representation.
Kern is a regular contributor to The Face, Dazed, Numero, Vice and Purple and has published 28 books. His films and photographs have been exhibited at MoMA, The Whitney Museum and in more than 50 solo shows around the world. ...
