MONA KUHN 1 1969 American, born in Brazil of German decent, lives in Los Angeles EDUCATION

1998-Pres. The J. Paul Getty Research Institute, Independent Scholar, Los Angeles, California 1996-1997 San Francisco Art Institute, Post-Bach, San Francisco, California 1993 The Ohio State University, BA, Columbus, Ohio

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016 Mona Kuhn: New Works, Galerie Catherine Hug, Paris, France

2016 Acido Dorado, Galeria Pilar Serra, Madrid, Spain 2016 Mona Kuhn: New Works, Euqinom Projects, San Francisco, California

2015 Private, Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2015 Private, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna, Austria

2014 Acido Dorado, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York 2014 Acido Dorado, Flowers Gallery, London, England 2014 Private, Jackson Fine Art, Georgia 2012 Bordeaux Series, Galerie Particuliere, Paris, France

2012 Native, Galeria Pilar Serra, Madrid, Spain 2012 Bordeaux Series, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta

2012 Bordeaux, Flowers Gallery, New York, New York 2012 Native, Brancolini Grimaldi, Florence, Italy 2011 Bordeaux, Flowers Gallery, London, England 2010 Native, Flowers Gallery, London, England 2010 Native, Flowers Gallery, New York, New York 2009 Native, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, California 2009 Native, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia 2008 Evidence, Jarach Gallery, Venice, Italy 2007 Evidence, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California

2007 Evidence, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York 2007 Mona Kuhn, Estiarte Gallery, Madrid, Spain 2007 Evidence, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia 2007 Less Than Innocent, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, California 2005 Mona Kuhn – Recent Color Work, Charles Cowles Gallery, Chelsea, New York 2005 Mona Kuhn-Close, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia 2005 Unbounded Youth, Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, California 2004 Mona Kuhn-Color, Camerawork, Berlin, Germany

2004 New Work, G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington 2004 Corporeal Space, Galerie F5.6, Munique, Germany 2004 Mona Kuhn - Color Photographs, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California 2004 Still Memory, PhotoEye Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico 2004 Body Language, Camerawork AG, Hamburg, Germany 2003 Somata, Schumann Galerie, Munique, Germany 2002 Mona Kuhn-recent work, Momus Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia 2001 Mona Kuhn-recent work, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California 2001 Bare, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, New York 2001 Mona Kuhn, Bassetti Fine Art Photo Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana 2000 Bei Nahe, Bodo Niemann Galerie, Berlin, Germany 2000 Mona Kuhn, G.Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington 1999 Mona Kuhn-recent work, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California 1998 Mona Kuhn Nus, Elkis Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil 1997 Mona Kuhn, Tappert Galerie, Berlin, Germany

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2016 Boundless, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego 2016 Out of Obscurity, Flowers Gallery, London, England 2016 Il Sogno Americano, Palazzo Ruspoli, Rome, Italy 2016 Love Potion, Maloney Fine Art, Los Angeles 2016 A Handful of Dust, curated by David Campani, Le Bal, Paris, France 2015 The New Portrait, Stieglitz Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium 2014 Living Rooms from the collection of Robert Wilson, Louvre Museum, France 2014 Decisive Moments, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii 2013 Image Search, Perez Art Museum Miami 2013 Staking Claim, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego

MONA KUHN 2 GROUP EXHIBITIONS (cont.) 2013 Under My Skin: Contemporary Nudes, Flowers Gallery, New York 2013 Mona Kuhn and Carla van de Puttelaar, Kahmann Gallery, Amsterdam 2012 Nudes, Flowers Gallery, New York 2011 Magie des Objekts, Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria 2011 Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, London, England 2011 Traummänner, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany 2011 100 Portraits, Australian Center for Photography, Sydney 2010 State of Mind, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California 2009 On the way to Robert Frank, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland 2009 Au Feminin, Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, France 2009 Anonymity, Sol Mednick Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2008 Modern Photographs, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York 2008 People and Places, Southwest Center for Contemporary Art, North Carolina 2007 Featured Works of Contemporary Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina

2007 The Machine, the Body and the City, Miami Museum of Art, Florida 2006 The Body Familiar, Current Perspectives of the Nude, Griffin Museum, Boston, Massachusetts 2005 Portrait & Figure Study in Contemporary Photography, Westport Arts Center, Connecticut

2005 Face Cachée, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France 2005 The Children’s Hour, Museum of New Art, Michigan 2004 Il nudo nell’arte, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy 2003 Traditions on Figure, G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington 2002 Collective, Vickie Bassetti Fine Art, New Orleans, Louisiana 2001 Love and Trust, Momus Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia 2001 Best of 2001 curated by Jack Spencer, Cumberland Gallery, Tennessee 2001 PhotoMetro, SFAC Gallery, San Francisco, California 2000 German Artists, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California 2000 Among Us, Paba Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut 2000 Collective, G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington 2000 The Body in Art, Francoise Gallery, Maryland, Virginia 2000 Nudes from Past to Present, Etherton Gallery, Tucson, Arizona 2000 Love, Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, California 1999 Collective Figurative Artists, Mauritz Gallery, Columbus, Ohio 1999 Female Figures, WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1998 Bare Skin, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio 1998 Minimal Skin, Museum of Arts Downtown, Los Angeles, California 1998 Collective Figurative, Museum Of Arts Downtown Los Angeles, California 1997 Contemporary Women Photographers, Scott Nichols Gallery, SF, California 1997 Brazilian Contemporary Art, Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco, California

COLLECTIONS The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California The Hammer Museum Grunwald Center, Los Angeles, California Perez Art Museum, Miami, Florida

George Eastman House Museum, Rochester, New York Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Griffin Museum, Winchester, Massachusetts Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland Musée de la Photographie de Charleroi, Belgium Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Japan Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Japan The Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation, New York di Rosa Foundation, San Francisco, California Buhl Foundation, New York, New York Sir Elton John Collection, United Kingdom Paul Allen Collection, Seattle, Washington Allen Thomas Jr. Collection, North Carolina Schwarz Contemporary Art Collection, Berlin, Germany Nicolaus von Oesterreich Collection, Frankfurt, Germany

MONA KUHN 3 PUBLICATIONS

A Handful of Dust: From the Cosmic to the Domestic. David Campany, Le Bal/Mack, 2015 Staking Claim, Museum of Photographic Arts, Modernbook Editions, 2014 Picasso and the Alien Oil Cloth. Wayne Vesti Andersen, MIT press, 2014 Mona Kuhn Private. Text by David Campani. Steidl, Göttingen, 2014 Traummänner, Exhibition Catalog. Text by Nadine Barth, Dumont Press, Germany, 2011 Images d'une Collection, Musée de la Photographie a Chaleroi, Text by Xavier Canonne, Die Keure, 2011 Mona Kuhn Bordeaux. Steidl, 2011. Mona Kuhn Native, Texts by Shelley Rice and Wayne V. Andersen. Steidl, 2009. Mona Kuhn Evidence. Texts by Gordon Baldwin and Frederic Tuten. Steidl, 2007. Mona Kuhn Photographs. Text by Miranda and Vanessa Beverly-Whittemore. Steidl, 2004. Oceans. Edited by Sue Hostetler. Text by Robert Redford, Vicki Goldberg, and Jean-M. Rizzoli, New York, 2003.

GUEST SPEAKER

2016 Bellas Artes and Museo del Traje, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain 2016 U.S. Art in Embassies Cultural Program, Madrid, Spain 2015 MAK Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria 2015 U.S. Embassy, Cultural Affairs Outreach Program, Madrid, Spain 2015 Portland Arts Museum, Oregon

2014 ParisPhoto VIP Program, Los Angeles, California 2014 Parsons The New School for Design, New York 2013 Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California

2013 Parsons The New School for Design, New York 2011 Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, California

2010 Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California 2007 North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina

2007 International Center of Photography, New York 2007 Cincinnati Museum of Art, Ohio 2007 WPS-1, Radio Interview with Jill Spalding 2007 PhotoLA, Los Angeles, California

2006 Silver Conference, Los Angeles, California 2005 Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California 2005 Santa Fe Center for Photography, Los Angeles 2004 University of Georgia, SPE Conference, Georgia 2004 Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico 2004 FotoForum, SFMOMA, San Francisco, California 2004 Camerawork AG, Hamburg, Germany 2002 Academy of Art, San Francisco, California 2001 Berlin Freies Sender,TV/radio interview, Berlin, Germany 2000 De Young Museum, San Francisco, California 2000 Pasadena Art Center, Los Angeles, California 1999 Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California 1999 Bay TV, interview, San Francisco, California CURATORIAL PROJECTS 2016 I Want To Stop Traffic With Art, The Billboards Creative, Los Angeles 2016 The human Body, Life Framer Ambassador and Prize Judge 2015 33 Art Billboards, The Billboard Creative, Los Angeles 2013 Under My Skin: Nudes in Contemporary Photography, Flowers Gallery, New York ARTICLES & REVIEWS

2016 O’eil de la Photographie. “Mona Kuhn Poems.” Elizabeth Avedon, November 17, 2016.

2016 La Vanguardia. "La fotógrafa Mona Kuhn y su poesia visual" Ana Martinez Sanjurjo, September 4, 2016. 2016 Art in Embassies with fotografa Mona Kuhn. Video by Escuela Tai, Madrid Spain, Sept 16, 2016. 2016 Huffington Post. “33 Art Billboards.” Tricia Tongco, January 4, 2016. 2016 Musee Magazine. “Interview with Mona Kuhn.” Kelly Korzun, January 6, 2016. 2015 O’eil de la Photographie. “Billboard Curator Mona Kuhn talks to Elizabeth Avedon.” December 14, 2015. 2015 National Public Radio/KCRW. Radio interview with Madeleine Brand, December 2, 2015. 2015 The Last Magazine. “Mona Kuhn’s Billboards.” Jennifer Mason, December 8, 2015. 2015 Issue Magazine. “Paul Ruscha Interviews Mona Kuhn.” January 2015. 2014 ArtNews. “When is an Artwork Finished?” Ann Landi, February 2014.

MONA KUHN 4 ARTICLES & REVIEWS (cont.)

2014 Die Presse. “Geformte Welt” Daniel Kalt, December 2014. 2014 LA Canvas. “Artist Feature.” Vija Hodosy, January 2014. 2014 Amarello, Cultura Contemporanea. “Bate Papo.” Tomas Carvalho, February, 2014. 2013 ArtNews. “Under My Skin.” Rebecca Robertson. September 2013. 2013 NY Magazine. “New Body-Focused Art.” Julie Ma. September 2013. 2013 Folha de Sao Paulo. “Ensaio: Mona Kuhn.” Cassiana Der Haroutiounian, November 2013 2013 Vogue Netherlands. “Skins.” Kahmann, Roy. May 2013. 2013 Art in America. “AIPAD Photography Show: Top Ten.” Zwick, Tracy. April, 2013. 2013 W Magazine. “Best of AIPAD.” Consiglio, Ashley. April, 2013. 2013 (Un)Clothed. “Center for Fine Art Photography, Colorado.” Glasgow, Hamida. April, 2013. 2013 Art Center Pasadena. “Mona Kuhn Highlights of Photographic Education.” Sukop, Sylvia. March, 2013. 2013 The Opera. “Behind the Scenes with Mona Kuhn.” Straub, Matthias. January, 2013. 2013 The Art Street Journal. “Mona Kuhn: The Human in Us.” Carmichael, Elisa. January, 2013. 2013 Ceci N’est Pas. Art Between France and Los Angeles. “Serie Bordeaux.” Barbier, Adeleide, January, 2013. 2012 Art Croissance. “Le Nu Comme Essence Naturelle.” Christova, Aglika. October, 2012. 2012 Art Croissance. “Peinture et Photographie.” October, 2012. 2012 Pariscope. “Mona Kuhn Bordeaux.” Grenie, Alexander. July, 2012. 2012 Responses. “Mona Kuhn. Ce Que Nous Sommes.” Bolle, Julien. June, 2012. 2012 The Good Life. “Le Nu – Mona Kuhn.” Zikos, Mikael. June, 2012. 2012 La Lettre de la Photographie. “Le Bordeaux de Mona Kuhn.” Perrine, Bernard. June, 2012. 2012 ArtNews. “Double Exposure.” Landi, Ann. May, 2012. 2012 ArtRelish. “Mona Kuhn, William Christenberry at Jackson Fine Art.” April, 2012. 2012 Photographie. “Back in Bordeaux”. Noll, Ute. April, 2012. 2012 Art + Design. “The 25 Photographers You Should Know.” March, 2012. 2012 ArtNet Magazine. “The New York List.” Nathan, Emily. March, 2012. 2012 NY Art Beat. “Mona Kuhn Bordeaux Series.” March, 2012. 2012 Elle Culture, “Mona Kuhn’s Bordeaux Series Opens Tomorrow.” Laneri, Raquel. February, 2012.

2012 Un-Titled Magazine. “Mona Kuhn.” Golonka, Dennis. February, 2012. 2012 Cameraman Japan. “Overseas: Mona Kuhn.” Konagai, Yuuko. February, 2012. 2012 The Photobook. “Mona Kuhn. Bordeaux Series.” January, 2012.

2011 The Cut – New York Magazine. “Interview with Mona Kuhn.” Lim, James. November, 2011. 2011 La Lettre de la Photographie. “Mona Kuhn talks to Elizabeth Avedon.” Avedon, Elizabeth. November, 2011. 2011 Angeleno Magazine. “Nude Awakening.” Lai, Jennifer. November, 2011. 2011 PhotoAsia. “Bordeaux Intimistic.” Arai, Akuko. November, 2011. 2011 Vogue Italia. “Bottega Veneta and Mona Kuhn.” Casadei, Marta. November, 2011. 2011 Artlyst London. “Around the London Galleries.” Carey-Kent, Paul. October, 2011. 2011 Artista. “Naked or Nude, the Simplicity of Mona Kuhn.” Nelkin, Chloe. October, 2011. 2011 WWD. “Bottega Veneta's Dreamy Cruise Campaign.” Martens, Cynthia. October, 2011. 2011 Leopold Museum. “Magie Des Objekt.” October, 2011. 2011 NBC. “Beauty Culture.” Annenberg Foundation. October, 2011.

2011 The Guardian. “On Photography.” O’Hagan, Sean. October, 2011. 2011 UK Sunday Times. “Back to Basics.” Broomfield, Emma. September, 2011. 2011 Epsilon Magazine. “Eros.” Malandra, A. September, 2011.

2011 Out of Box Magazine. “Mona Kuhn.” Parodi, Fulvio. September, 2011. 2011 ArtSlant. “Mona Kuhn. On Our Los Angeles Watch.” August, 2011. 2011 Zoom Magazine. “Mona Kuhn”. Piatti, Elisabetta. August, 2011. 2011 ArtNet Magazine. “AIPAD Photo Show: Look Smart.” Robinson, Walter. March, 2011. 2011 Deichtorhallen Hamburg. “Traum Männer.” Barth, Nadine. March, 2011. 2011 Bijutsu Techo. “From the Portfolio France.” Toyoko,Ito. January, 2011. 2010 Flavorwire. “Best of ParisPhoto 2010”. Laster, Paul. November, 2010. 2010 La Tribune. “Love Story.” Leport, Isabelle. November, 2010.

2010 La Lettre de la Photographie. “Mona Kuhn by Elizabeth Avedon.” Avedon, Elizabeth. November, 2010. 2010 Corcoran Gallery of Art. “Look Up.” Conte, Linda. November, 2010.

2010 UK Financial Times. “Lost Worlds.” Hodgson, Francis. September, 2010. 2010 Huffington Post.“Top Exhibitions in the West Highlight Opening Weeks of the New Season.” Ross, Alex. Sept, 2010. 2010 Color Magazine. “Mona Kuhn. Angle of Repose.” McCusker, Carol. September, 2010. 2010 Pen Magazine. “Mona Kuhn”. August, 2010. 2010 Cousin Corinne. “A Discussion with Mona Kuhn.” McLaurine, Noah. June, 2010. 2010 Elizabeth Avedon. “Mona Kuhn: Artist Talk.” Avedon, Elizabeth. May, 2010. 2010 PhotoFrance. “Mona Kuhn au Brésil.” Therond, Eve. April, 2010. 2010 Photograph. “PhotoBooks.” Aletti, Vince. April, 2010. 2010 San Diego Social. “A California State of Mind.” Hatfiled, Robin. February, 2010. 2010 Museum of Photographic Art. “State of Mind.” Martin, Aki. February, 2010.

MONA KUHN 5 ARTICLES & REVIEWS (cont.)

2010 Rosebuzz. “Mona Kuhn, Nus, Calme et Volupte’.” De Valence, Vianney. January, 2010. 2009 Eyemazing. “Mona Kuhn: Native.” Snider, Heather. November, 2009. 2009 Angeleno. “Sex Off the Beach.” Finkel, Jori. October, 2009. 2009 Color. “The Digital Age.” McCusker, Carol and Berndt, Mark. September, 2009. 2009 Center Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian. “Au Féminin.” Ulig, Jasmine. June, 2009. 2009 American Photo. “Winner: Personal Work, Mona Kuhn.” January, 2009. 2008 Exibart. “Mona Kuhn: Venezia.” Salerno, Gaetano. June, 2008. 2008 Snoecks. “Mona Kuhn: Beheerst Bloot.” Roosen, Merel. Spring, 2008.

2008 Numero. “Une Bulle Hors du Monde.” Roche, Delphine. February, 2008. 2007 Chronos. “In the Life.” Shiozaki, Hiroko. September, 2007.

2007 New York Post. “Page Six: Hide that Nude.” Johnson, Richard. September, 2007. 2007 Foto Russia. “Mona Kuhn: portfolio.” Pomaknha, Maria. August, 2007.

2007 ArtNews. “Daze at the Beach.” Robertson, Rebecca. June, 2007. 2007 International Center of Photography. “Meet the Artist.” Schwarz, Larry. May, 2007.

2007 Code France. “Jeunesses Dorees.” Nort, Nathalie. May, 2007. 2007 Muse. “ Mona Kuhn. Il Giardino dell’Eden.” Pieroni, Augusto. May, 2007.

2007 ABCNews. “Pictures Worth a Thousand Words.” Herman, Charles. April, 2007. 2007 Vogue, Paris. “Nu Solaire.” Remy, Patrick. April, 2007.

2007 Vogue. “Mona Kuhn: Evidence.” Consgrove, Ben. April, 2007. 2007 Blend. “Mona Kuhn.” Mijnheer, Dennis. April, 2007. 2007 HotShoe. “Mona Kuhn. Comfortable in Their Own Skins.” Kouwenhoven, Bill. April, 2007. 2007 WWD Scoop Magazine. “Grin and Bare It. Getting Naked, Family Style.” Brown, Rachel. March, 2007.

2007 Vogue Italia. “ Senza Sesso.” Mancassola, Marco. March, 2007. 2007 Cincinnati Art Museum. “Mona Kuhn Lecture.” 2007. 2006 Miami Art Museum. “Modern Photographs.” Grundberg, Andy. November, 2006. 2006 7x7Magazine. “Anatomy of Desire.” Goldstein, Melissa and Ryan, Christine. August, 2006.

2006 Vogue Asia. “Draw Portrait.” July, 2006. 2006 Miedzy Nami. “Fotografia: Mona Kuhn.” Krasi, Nova. Spring, 2006.

2006 La Repubblica, D Magazine. “Il Nostro Corpo.” January, 2006. 2005 Museum of Fine Arts. Florida State University. “Heartfelt.” Blakely, George. October, 2005.

2005 Zoom Magazine. “Mona Kuhn.” Checchi, Rosanna. January/February, 2005. 2005 B+W magazine. “Mona Kuhn.” Nolan, Michael. January, 2005. 2005 British Journal of Photography. “Going Solo.” Smyth, Diane. December, 2004.

2004 Art on Paper. “Review: Mona Kuhn.” Rushing, W. Jackson III. November, 2004. 2004 Munich Abendzeitung. “Lichtflecklen.” Müller, Sybille. November, 2004.

2004 Camerawork Journal of Photographic Art. “Books Noted. Mona Kuhn.” Grace, Whitney. October, 2004. 2004 PhotoEye Book Review. “Still Memory.” Katz, Charles. August, 2004. 2004 The New Mexican Weekly Magazine of Arts. “Neutral Forms of Human Beings.” June, 2004. 2004 Hasselblad Forum Magazine. “Mona Kuhn: Profile.” April, 2004. 2004 Forum Magazine. “Mona Kuhn.” Gunnarsson, Soren. April, 2004. 2004 PhotoNews. “Mona Kuhn. Korper—Portraits.” Brudna, Denis. March, 2004. 2004 Eyemazing. “Mona Kuhn.” Snider, Heather. Winter, 2004. 2003 Pozytyw. “Mona Kuhn Presentation.” Kopalak, Eliza. November, 2003. 2003 Photovision. “Understanding of Beauty.” October, 2003. 2003 Monaco Fashion and Style Magazine. August, 2003. 2003 Freeye Magazine. “Munique Review.” Summer, 2003. 2003 Forum Magazine. “Mona Kuhn. “ Gunnarsson, Soren. April, 2003. 2002 Die Welt, Kultur Feuilleton. April, 2002. 2001 Zyzzyva. “Stop That Girl.” Junker, Howard. Winter, 2001. 2001 Gambit New Orleans Newspaper. “The Look and the Gaze.” Bookhardt, Eric. December, 2001. 2001 The Times Picayune. “Photos are More Than Just Naked Abstraction.” MacCash, Doug. November, 2001. 2001 Neue Presse. “Erst Mal Richtig Kennenlernen.” Stodick, Gerd. October, 2001. 2001 French PHOTO Magazine. “Sensualite’ Vaporeuse: Les Photos de Mona Kuhn.” September, 2001. 2001 Die WELT. “Gescheiterter American Dream.” N.I.C. July, 2001. 2001 The SF Chronicle. “Taking the Naughty Out of Nudity.” Knight, Heather. April, 2001. 2000 Photovision Magazine. “Mona Kuhn Porfolio.” Anchnell, Steve. December, 2000. 2000 Black + White Mag. “Mona Kuhn.” Massengill, Reed. April, 2000. 1998 Zyzzyva. “The Lineaments.” Junker, Howard. October, 1998.

ART FAIRS Paris Photo, Photo London, Aipad, Expo Chicago, Art Basel Miami Beach, Photo Shanghai, Art Stage Singapore.

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Esencia Dorada Spring 2016 written by Salvador Nadales (curator at Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid) When I first saw Mona Kuhn’s photographs, in 2006, what seduced me, apart from the sheer natural beauty of the work, was the richly nuanced lighting and the deft perfectionist’s hand in posing, illuminating, and undressing her subjects. I could sense that these images, the calm and beauty of which have become a hallmark of her work, harbored a more transcendental value than their technical experimentation and choice of formal subjects. Her work is capable of subverting the image and imbuing it with new visual and narrative interpretations to create intensely emotional compositions of concentrated energy. Mona Kuhn is a pure photographer. She uses neither darkroom tricks nor digital manipulation to produce her seamless images. There is no subterfuge, no attempt to conceal anything, nor is there any technical artifice save the classical techniques of her craft, such as an expressive use of depth of field or superimposing images with reflective surfaces. From her first images exhibited in the late 1990s to her current work, consistency and discursive coherency have been at the heart of her practice. Influenced by figurative painters such as Lucian Freud or Eric Fischl, one sees in her creative references a flittering between European and North American sensibilities. Kuhn’s work has developed along two principal, parallel lines: an exploration of the nude and predominantly female body, and the unfolding of a poetic visual language. A product of the photographer’s own technical and emotional sensibilities, from these two creative strengths emerge translucent compositions that reveal the direct influence of surrealist photography, primarily that of Man Ray and Josef Sudek, though her distorted images often recall the work of yet another poet of reality, André Kertész. Her work masterly combines experimentation, an investigation of the photographic medium, and an artist’s sensitivity. While in previous series Kuhn has immersed herself in exploring the possibilities of her medium, in her latest project, Acido Dorado, she lures us inside herself, where spirit and sensitivity reside, or better, where we perceive a combination of her personal utopia, an existential urge, and a desire to continue exploring the potential of photography. A recurring theme in her work is the exploration of the nude body as interpreted through a naturist’s lens. It is a body without an erotic charge, however, and Kuhn eradicates any remaining traces of exhibitionism through allusion. Hers are not frivolous reasons for portraying the nude body. She considers it the receptacle that enables her to delve into the essence of who we are. Nakedness, stripping oneself of symbols and status, allows her to connect more directly with the essence of her models who, without discomfort or shame, are completely free. There is indeed sensuality in many of her images, but it is a sensuality unfettered by desire and eroticism, a sensuality overwhelmed by beauty and harmony. And it is this

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purity and honesty in Kuhn’s images that draws us into her pursuit of revealing the nude body as something transcendental. Her work serves up metaphors and conceptual relationships buoyed by a regard for the atemporal, the dream-state, a quest for transcendence. Undoubtedly at the core of her work, these concepts also open a discussion about whether society’s attitudes toward nudity have changed and, if so, how contemporary artists have contributed to this turn. In this regard, highlighting some key elements can perhaps lead us to a new understanding of her work. A latent spirituality permeates Mona Kuhn’s photography, both in the creative process and in the images and her manner of presenting them. The subject we most often find in her work is an unguarded, illuminated nude body. Although the classical genre of the nude is still the subject of diverse and contradictory interpretations, in Kuhn’s work the difference between the naked—huddled, defenseless—and the nude—harmonious, vibrant, confident—is evident: the nude body, standing aloof from the mundane, being the ideal. Hers are illuminated bodies, illuminated not only by the photographic act but also by her ability to bring out one’s inner light. And it is here where we can identify her intention to present the body as a physical territory intimately to the essence of being. It is these non-visual aspects that interest her, and what compel her to reflexively search for the connection between people and their environment, prompting introspection on what we actually are in the universe and our relationship with ourselves. Mona Kuhn has mentioned that the genesis of Acido Dorado lies in a painting at the Tate in London she couldn’t get out of head: surrealist painter Paul Nash’s Landscape from a Dream, a composition with a certain air of melancholy abounding in symbolic elements linking the physical and spiritual worlds. These nuances find an echo in Kuhn’s photographs, in her treatment of the arid California desert landscape, in the oneiric quality transmitted by the portraits of her model Jacinta, and in the sensation of silent contemplation. This new series finds the artist delving deeper into the language of abstraction, exploring the possibilities of photography from a perspective that embraces both the poetics of the sublime and a geometry evoking the inner order of nature. The images are evocative in their sophistication as well as in the apparent simplicity of the elements skillfully arranged in the limitlessness of the desert landscape. The photographer convincingly and honestly transmits the allure and mystery that the desert holds for her. She chanced on this raw landscape with its magical, mystical golden light as an ideal scenario for letting go and creating, for finding balance in the dialogue between female form, landscape, and variations on abstraction. Having managed to commune with the landscape’s subtle beauty, she translated this into the golden surfaces of the final works that inundate body, space, and geometry. Kuhn’s choice of perspective and composition reveals nature as a pure, uncontaminated phenomenon, and it also determines unsuspected forms. In the images of Acido Dorado, reflections, inverted views, and distortions are the perceptive keys. Her proximity to her subjects allows us to embrace the character and essence of

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both model and nature through surface. Together with vast desert landscape and the model’s naturalness, the dwelling, a nearly empty modernist structure that offered Mona Kuhn an ideal setting for her explorations, represents a third key element. The large areas of glazed and mirrored surfaces provide a translucent plane between interior and exterior. This plane permits her to create a lively game of contrasts of light and shadow, an evocative visual superimposition, and a geometric tension that condition our experience of the series. It is an unoccupied space that provides complexity, ambiguity, and extreme simplicity to the composition without diminishing its strength or expressiveness. To this we add her particular laboratory of reflections that generates luminous prisms and—despite an inevitable sense of disorientation—boldly integrates the body into the natural space. These reflections cause one to linger, and they merge to create a dynamic equilibrium of tensions, spaces, and rhythms. Presenting the body as an isolated, autonomous subject not only invites reflection on visual expression but also impels the sharing of deep inner experiences. From different standpoints Kuhn was able to portray the model in a variety of natural gestures that fluctuate from the real to the imaginary, the rational to the poetic, the visible to the symbolic, the obvious to the hidden. Her starkly enigmatic portraits achieve psychological depth and transmit emotional honesty. They bare the soul of the model, whose emotions show through even as her thoughts remain concealed. Between dream and reality, there is a quasi-mystical connection between woman, space, and photographer. The distinguishing power of Acido Dorado can also be found in the interior landscape and in the contemplation of the environment as one searches for personal space. For that the artist turns to experiences of isolation and reverie, photographing atemporal spaces in which light, emptiness, and silence exist as communicative forms. It is at that moment we begin to perceive the continuous and unifying nexus between body, space, and abstraction. Mona Kuhn explores abstraction in this series to a greater extent than she has in her previous work. For this she turns to a highly austere and restrained reductionist geometry and distilled formal purity. It is the inherent duality of geometry that connects the interior to the exterior, the visible to the hidden. These elements express one of the fundamental aspects of her work: the essential nature of the image. Mona Kuhn’s creative path evolves through the interaction of body, space, and abstraction, enabling her to imagine and construct non-classical photographic works that play with subverting the real and with recreation as the very essence of the medium. One can identify in her process various conceptual levels, from the reproduction of reality to intended distortion, from a constant overlaying of reflections to the simplest, purest of compositions. These images possess qualities suggesting a moment extracted from time and evince a flawless balance of light, line, and form, lending structure to the perfect idea, one that is pure, whole, to be admired. They are primordial archetypes suggesting a renewed inner synthesis and they become symbols

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of a personal inner world. These images reveal Mona Kuhn’s patience and thoughtfulness and invite us into her inner self. They are photographs that, quite consciously, simultaneously explore both a physical and symbolic encounter. Acido Dorado forces the gaze to wander from one image to another, to imagine a story so that we may comprehend them. The work’s personal universe gives rise to situations in which the body in all its integrity, the raw landscape, and the most essential abstraction convey absolute truths. But this truth flirts with the imagination and asks the viewer to supply the narrative. We could characterize this as a space of germination where enigmatic signs take seed and the harmonic hybridization of the elements give rise to an evocative tale. The essence of Mona Kuhn’s work reveals her concerns as an artist working in the transcendental dimension, the atemporal plane, and from a knowledge of human nature and how people relate to themselves, to others, and to the outside world. She achieves all this in a way that is consistent with her approach to photography, which, more than telling stories allows you to imagine them. Salvador Nadales April 2016

The following 3 images were takenout of the current v10 version