Write up from the BLACK & WHITE MAGAZINE / Australia
Years of taking photographs of Fitness Models for the American magazine Men’s Workout have developed Hans Fahrmeyer's interest in the human body as a sculptural form. The sensual and sinuous twists of Fahrmeyer's subjects can be as dramatically accented with light and shade as they are enhanced by regular physical training. "Body sculpture becomes for me a feeling that I create with light, in the same way that an artist uses his brush." says the largely self-taught photographer.
After travelling throughout Europe and Asia, German-born Fahrmeyer settled in New York in 1984 and has since produced work that has appeared in numerous magazines including Time, Newsweek, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Madame and Connoisseur. Now his obsession with documenting the beauty of male and female nudes is presented in the book Between Men And Women.
In over 120 photographs Fahrmeyer explores the interaction between the sexes. "I like to juxtapose opposing elements. I use bodies in a totally different way from how they are usually portrayed. In my work they are sometimes fused, sometimes close and sometimes separate like in a marriage," he explains.
Despite the overt sensuality of Fahrmeyer's subjects he regards his photographic execution as displaying "elegance without being sexual, achieved by choosing a backdrop and lighting that gives them an air of classicism. There's so much ugliness out there, sometimes we need beauty to stimulate us and relax our eyes."'
Between Men And Women‘s published by Universe Publishing.
Write up from David Leddick
Between Men is an extraordinary portfolio of intimate and sensual male nudes. With an exceptional attentiveness
to the male form, German photographer Hans Fahrmeyer pays tribute to the male beauty with honesty and insight.
His classical, almost sculptural approach to the human body is complemented by his technical perfectionism;
Fahrmeyer’s processes and print all his own photographs, reproduce here in rich duo tones.
While Fahrmeyer’s photographs are meticulously refined and stylized, there affective power is very much about flesh and blood and the erotic charge between men - thus creating an electric tension between the abstract beauty
of his subjects on the one hand and their raw sexuality on the other. While each photograph stands alone as an
arresting portrait, the progression and pairing of Fahrmeyer’s images create a unique visual dialogue among the
men featured in this volume.
Between Men is an unabashed and exquisite salute to human sensuality and a refined visual commentary on male
desire and eroticism.
David Leddick is the he author of the highly acclaimed Naked Men, was a creative director for Revlon and
L’Oreal advertising, and is currently an advertising consultant. He lives in Paris and Miami Beach.
© Hans Fahrmeyer
