Model Release

by Lucy McKenzie, Richard Kern

There's something odd about Richard Kern's most recent photographs. They're so fresh. These are not typical soft-porn photos of the look-at-me-so-young-and-sexy variety. From bondage to leather to latex to guns, Kern is known for incorporating all of the elements of fetish imagery into his photos. These days, though, his girls are less equipped. They also smile a lot. Kern, long involved in the New York punk scene, has gained recognition not only for his photography but also for his underground short films of the 80s and 90s (in 1994 he also wrote and directed a video for the alternative rock group Marilyn Manson.) This volume features Kern's recent work, a testament to the new phase in his photography. Saturated colors and bright atmospheric lighting accentuate his pretty-but-not-perfect young nude subjects. Still sticking with the "no airbrush" motto, Kern's unpretentious, honest photos draw the viewer in close; sometimes it almost feels like you're right there. Imperfections galore, these sophisticated snapshots show it like it really is. Fans of Kern's previous work will find this new direction refreshing.

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Lucy McKenzie (b. 1977) is a Scottish artist based in Brussels.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, McKenzie studied for her BA at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee from 1995–1999, and at State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe in Germany in 1998. During this time she played guitar in the post rock band Ganger.

McKenzie first came to prominence when she won the EAST award at EASTinternational in 1999 which was selected by Peter Doig and Roy Arden. She has since shown work in many exhibitions, such as “The Dictatorship of the Viewer” at the Venice Biennale, Becks Futures 2000 in London, Manchester and Glasgow and “Happy Outsiders” at Zacheta Gallery in Warsaw. She has exhibited internationally at galleries and museums including Tate Britain in London, Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

In 2013 McKenzie exhibited at Tate Britain in 'Painting Now: Five Contemporary Artists'.

The Art Institute of Chicago featured McKenzie in 2014 in an exhibition entitled focus: Lucy McKenzie.

The seventh season of The Artist's Institute at Hunter College, New York was dedicated to Lucy McKenzie, September 20, 2013 – February 2, 2014, describing her as an artist who "makes works drawn from the artistic lieu of the cities and social circles she inhabits. Early paintings appropriated the language of 1970s Scottish murals, while more recent projects have reconstructed archetypal domestic interiors by employing faux finishing techniques. McKenzie has also founded a record label, a bar, a fashion line, and is currently experimenting with the field of crime fiction."

She was a guest professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf 2011-2013. In April 2025 an article on the Euronews website reported speculation that she was in fact the anonymous street artist Banksy.