Michael Grecco Talk: Naked Ambition
Saturday, Dec 10, 4pm
Martine Chaisson Gallery
727 Camp Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
Free and open to the public
The Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry project contains over 200 photographs of actors, filmmakers and personalities in the world of adult entertainment. Grecco photographed his subjects during the 2006 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, the convention which surrounds the annual AVN Awards. The accompanying book’s forewords, written by rock musician Dave Navarro and Hustler magazine editor Larry Flynt, discuss modern culture’s acceptance of pornography into the mainstream, which allows an overtly sexual work like this to be considered a coffee table book. Uncommon in pornography-related works, the photographs have not been altered with any significant image editing or photo manipulation, thus avoiding the layer of fantasy usually applied to actors in this field.
Michael will speak on the interesting aspects of bridging the porn industry and the art world and the various challenges that each arena poses for the artist and the viewer. He will also touch on many of the topics he travels the world speaking about to photographers, such as creativity and The Environmental Portrait.
A selection of images from the series will be on display at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club during PhotoNOLA 2011. Naked Ambition has been shown everywhere from Art Basel Miami to the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University to the Museum of Sex in New York City.
Bio
After a defining stint in photojournalism at the Boston Herald, Michael realized that, while he loved documenting his real-life, and 80?s music subjects on the fly, he wanted to explore his interest in directing people in a more controlled environment. Of course, the prospect of warmer climes and, a proximity to an industry that had a lot of interesting subjects, proved to be a more than attractive impetus for moving West.
Michael has spent years perfecting his signature lighting technique, and in addition to his work for clients, and as an authority on studio and location lighting, he began teaching his process to photographers all over the world, as well as publishing a book on the subject. He has won awards for his advertising and editorial portraiture for a large and impressive diverse group of clients. Recently, Michael has moved into publishing books and creating films around his photography projects, beginning with his publication of “Naked Ambition”, his coffee-table book on the porn industry, and “Naked Ambition: An R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry, the movie.”
