When instant photography giant Polaroid introduced its sporty 1965 camera, it coyly invited users to “Meet the Swinger.” More than half a century on, this coded acknowledgement of the camera’s popularity for “intimate portraiture” lives on in the images of the film’s devotees, including Berlin-based artists Jens Pepper and Mario Wyrwinski, whose “Polaroids and Nudes” will be on view beginning June 1 at the Garden of the Zodiac Gallery.
Pepper’s nude photos have an intentional snapshot aesthetic; candid and unretouched, his images of non-professional models taken over the course of several years become portraits of the development of their role-playing. By contrast, Wyrwinski emphasizes the illusion of intimacy through the sensuality of classical nude photography, using professional models posed in the studio.
“Jens Pepper and Mario Wyrwinski: Polaroids and Nudes” opens at the Garden of the Zodiac Gallery, 1042 Howard Street in the Old Market Passageway, on June 1 with an opening reception from 6-8pm; the show runs through August 6. It is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon-8:00pm and on Sundays from noon-6:00pm.