Product Description

Richard Kern likes real women: unpretentious, unadorned, and definitely undressed. Those who love Kern know each book is an invitation to join him in his privileged world where natural young women share their most intimate moments. Richard has never lost his boyish curiosity with girls and their secrets, so instead of posing them in sterile sets he follows them through the house - or rather his New York apartment - from backyard to kitchen to bathroom to bedroom, capturing every sexy and embarrassing moment. "Action" is his most revealing book yet. For 280 pages, we careen through the life of Kern, accompanied by dozens of energetic, fun-loving, clothes-dropping exhibitionists. "Young women want to show the world they're not like their man-hating women's lib mothers," a Kern model once told me, and these girls certainly get the point across. To further assist the young ladies in their rebellion, the book includes an hour-long DVD of original Kern film with an exclusive musical score by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. 'Way to stick it to the Mom, ladies! And thank you, Richard, you lucky dog.' - Dian Hanson

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91015 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: German, French, English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover

About the Author
Richard Kern was born in North Carolina in 1954 and has lived and worked in New York City since 1979. In the '80s, he produced a series of short films that now are recognized as the central works of the movement known as the Cinema of Transgression. In the '90s he switched to still photography full time and occasionally directed music videos for bands including Sonic Youth and Marilyn Manson. Kern has published nine books and is a regular contributor to a variety of international publications. Dian Hanson is a twenty-five-year veteran of men's magazine publishing. She began her career at Puritan magazine in 1976 and went on to edit a variety of titles, including Partner, Oui, Hooker, Outlaw Biker, and Juggs magazines. In 1987 she took over the '60s title Leg Show and transformed it into the world's best-selling fetish publication. She is also the author of TASCHEN's Terryworld, Tom of Finland: The Comic Collection, and History of Men's Magazines six-volume set.

Customer Reviews

Classic Richard Kern Erotica
The evolution of Richard Kern continues. His new book, Action possesses that quintessential pizzazz that runs throughout all of his work, but it nonetheless has its own unique and wonderful flavor too. Kern has always been attracted to the atypical model - he was photographing girls from the "suicide" genre long before it became fashionable - and his affinity for sexy, young ladies continues.

Within the 280 pages of Action there is a subtle yet piercing element of fetishistic sexuality. Panty clad young sirens drop their bottoms, there's toe-sucking, spread shots, and other forms of tainted affection. All presented in that infamous Richard Kern style. Fan's of Kern's work will find numerous reasons to fall in love with his breathtaking vision all over again. And there's an hour-long DVD too. Action is a can't miss!

happy family - one hand clap...
Taschen is an outstanding publishing house,continuously bringing works of popular culture to its readers.
Opening up new worlds to its admirers.
Richard Kern is a photographer - a photographer that shoots stills - makes movies.
Some might say that in this part of his life he is an artist - some may say a pornographer.
I will say that to me he is neither - he is just an ordinary guy intrigued by the private lives and intimate deeds and desires of his women and then takes the extra-ordinary action of trying to capture their private lives on film.
A voyuer who wants to share his work with the world (or at least with like-minded individuals).
He is a mature adolescent - retaining his boy-like fascination in the opposite sex - a real curiousity.
He likes to record his women - his girls - exploring their sexuality - discovering their preferences - teasing out their otherwise private responses.
Whether he is teasing out his subject's own honest action or just their reaction to the camera - only he and they know for sure - either way it looks pretty good to me.
This book shows a progression from his original (somewhat contrived) hipness, recorded in other publications elsewhere, to a purer, truer more honest simplicity - an honesty I find sometimes lacking in other photographer's work of a similar genre.
And this book is further enhanced by the surprize inclusion of a DVD compilation of his women in action (hence the publication's title, I guess)- with a soundtrack by another of eternal youth persuasion - Thurston Moore.
Now I am led to believe Mr. Kern wanted this edition to be a little closer to the edge and published under the title 'Hard' but his publisher talked him out of it - so this book may not be exactly what he originally envisaged - but it sure hits the right spot for me.

Watered down action...
As a follow up purchase to Richard Kern's 'Model Release', I was really looking forward to getting my mitts on this book. However, apart from the remarkably quick delivery (thanks Amazon!), there wasn't an awful lot to be impressed by.

Anybody who is familiar with Kern's work knows what to expect, but for those who don't then, briefly, this is more of Kern's speciality: photos of waif-like (and not-so-waif-like) models in various states of undress. Basically, Kern likes his models slightly dirty - they all give off the air of being the girl-next-door, or the slightly kooky girl you fancied at school.

As far as this goes, then fine. However, 'Model Release' raised the bar for Kern's work; it was more of the porno-chic art that Kern specialises in, but done in such a way that it was an almost acceptable coffee-table work of art. In contrast, 'Action' dumbs down from porno-chic to just porno, and in doing so it takes away from the creativity and originality that Kern was approaching with his earlier work. Effectively, 'Action' seems to demonstrate that, in the ever climbing technical and artistic merit of his publications, 'Model Release' was the pinnacle - making 'Action' either an unexpected blip on ascent or, as I fear, the beginning of a decline in Kern's standards. I hope for the former.

On the plus side, the inclusion of a behind-the-scenes DVD adds a novel dimension to Kern's artistic process. This follows on from the DVD included with another one of Kern's Taschen stable-mates, Roy Stuart's 'The Fourth Body', and if so it provides a welcome direction from the German publishers.

Overall, if this is the type of work you are looking for, Kern's earlier work (especially the glorious 'Model Release') would make a better start or, alternatively, Roy Stuart's work (after vol. 2) or anything by Peter Gorman. For myself, I think that I might wait for Richard Kern's future work with hopeful patience, but I'll certainly have lower expectations.