The photographer Norbert Schoerner has turned his camera to the subject of food, working alongside Tokyo-based art director Steve Nakamura to create a sublime and mysterious portfolio of solitary meals, obscure ingredients and improbable still lives.
Nearly Eternal is not an everyday foray into edible imagery. Schoerner is an acclaimed and accomplished photographer, a pioneer of digital imagery with numerous fashion credits to his name and has long-running collaborations with The Face, Dazed & Confused and the Chapman Brothers. The German photographer’s partnership with Nakamura – another regular collaborator – treats food and its accessories as if they were props in an ongoing but obscure narrative. Both men revel in the use of rich blocks of colour and abstract forms, as well as the physicality of working with real things in real places.
Nearly Eternal revels in juxtaposition and artifice, whether it’s enticing or jarring (a smashed glass amidst melted ice, a strawberry against fake green fingernails). The result highlights not just the absurdity of hyper-styled food photography but the transient nature of food itself.
Simple food items morph into props over the course of the series
A meal without an eater – Nearly Eternal plays with the concept of 'food as display', something to be admired and not consumed...
... which touches upon the inherent irony of the 'food book' – at its heart, food photography creates images that 'look too good to eat', as seen in this almost-too-perfect, potentially plastic fruit
The dilemma: how to capture to the transcient nature of food via the distinctly un-transcient form of still photography, which by very definition can only capture a moment?
Schoerner tackles this by making each dish an art work, something intended to last, and Nakamura makes each photograph a beautiful record, together forming something which is 'nearly eternal', despite the subject's perishable nature. Pictured: two egg yolks are delicately suspended between pincer-like chopsticks, mimicking a hanging kumquat and testing our sensory perception
The role of 'eater' or 'restaurant-goer' is never filled – chairs remain empty and forks remain clean – which forces the reader into the position of 'eater', visually tasting and sampling each meal
Nearly Eternal will be available from December
INFORMATION
Nearly Eternal by Norbert Schoerner and Steve Nakamura, Chance Publishing (an imprint of Claire de Rouen Books) limited to 500 copies. Available from December, from Claire de Rouen's website
Photography: Steve Nakamura and Norbert Schoerner. Courtesy Claire de Rouen Books
ADDRESS
Claire de Rouen
First Floor
125 Charing Cross Road
London, WC2H 0EW
-
Discover Acqua di Parma’s new Mandarino di Sicilia fragrance at Milan Design Week 2024Acqua di Parma and Fornice Objects bring the splendour of Sicilian mandarin fields to Milan to celebrate new fragrance Mandarino di Sicilia
-
First look at Samba Room, London’s innovative cocktail lounge packed with Brazilian energyLondon’s Samba Room, an extension of SushiSamba, is a dynamic bar, lounge and private dining space designed by Fabled Studio
-
Thom Browne shows how to make the perfect bed with theatrical performance at Milan Design Week 2024American fashion designer Thom Browne makes his Milan Design Week debut with a new homeware collection created in collaboration with historic linen company Frette
-
‘Package Holiday 1968-1985’: a very British love affair in pictures‘Package Holiday’ recalls tans, table tennis and Technicolor in Trevor Clark’s wistful snaps of sun-seeking Brits
-
‘Art Exposed’: Julian Spalding on everything that’s wrong with the art worldIn ‘Art Exposed’, Julian Spalding draws on his 40 years in the art world – as a museum director, curator, and critic – for his series of essays
-
Marisol Mendez's ‘Madre’ unpicks the woven threads of Bolivian womanhoodFrom ancestry to protest, how Marisol Mendez’s 'Madre' is rewriting the narrative of Bolivian womanhood
-
Photo book explores the messy, magical mundanity of new motherhood‘Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I’m Back’ by photographer Andi Galdi Vinko explores new motherhood in all its messy, beautiful reality
-
Best contemporary art books: a guide for 2023From maverick memoirs to topical tomes, turn over a new leaf with the Wallpaper* arts desk’s pick of new releases and all-time favourite art books
-
The best photography books for your coffee tableFlick through, mull over and deep-dive into the best photography books on the market, from our shelves to you
-
Behind the scenes of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining: new book charts the making of a horror iconPublished in February 2023 by Taschen, a new collector's book will go behind the scenes of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, charting the unseen making of a film that defined the horror genre
-
Brad Walls’ aerial view transforms pools into artworkAerial photographer Brad Walls provides a crisp conclusion to the summer months with new book Pools From Above – you’ll want to dive right in
