CONCURRENT: SHELLEY ADLER & BRENT MCINTOSH

Shelly Adler 

Brent McIntosh 

Shelley Adler and Brent McIntosh: The Nude Polaroids

Following a discussion in 2006 about attitudes surrounding “the nude” in contemporary a2rt, Shelley Adler and Brent McIntosh began The Nude Polaroid Project to delve into the different ways in which men and women view the opposite sex.  In this project, Adler has photographed the male nude, and McIntosh the female nude. The two artists each have a longstanding affection for the soft grain images captured through the Polaroid camera, which offer a special kind of warmth and colour.  The uncropped images in this series are high resolution scans of Polaroid 600 photographs that have been generated as archival digital pigment prints.

The original, small prints become sumptuous enlargements in which nuances have burgeoned into bold features statements of sensuous observation and delight.  The nudes are lone, central images against single colour backgrounds.  In each photograph, the shape of the body is positioned by the artist to make a declarative, abstract composition within the frame.  Yet, within the undulating contours, we sense the human body’s curves and bends, and the breathing pliability of healthy, bare skin. – Bryce Kanbara