'Nearly Eternal': food-art that’s too good to eat
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
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.
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
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Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
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