Drew Tal’s fine art photography combines fashion photography with digital art. This photo artist’s work can be viewed at the Emmanuel Fremin Gallery show, New York, where he will be having a solo exhibition from March 19- April 30, 2010, entitled “On Edge.” The opening night for his solo exhibition is Friday, March 19, 6-8 PM.
Drew Tal’s On Edge series is a collection of mostly darker images by this New York photo artist who, more often than not, depicts spiritual art. Primal Scream is a sepia toned profile portrait of a male model facing a wall of long spikes, whose head is bent backward in a primal scream. Since much of Tal’s body of work depicts Buddhism, Hinduism, Asian art, Indian art and spiritual art, a viewer familiar with his work has to be made to think of the Hindu yogi who rests on a bed of nails, especially since the male model’s head is shaven like that of a Buddhist monk or Hindu guru. But this image suggests pain not bliss.
Inferno is the nude torso of the same male model Tal uses in Primal Scream. Using digital art techniques,Tal fills the man’s head and torso with a flame-like image. The glowing inferno lights up one side of the male model’s body, while the other half is burning with a darker, mysterious red-brown flame. The fire blurs out into a smoke-like veil above the figure’s head.
Battlefield is a thought provoking portrait of a male model with a thin layer of gauze wrapped around his head, exposing only his eyes. Three rows of ominous black wire adorn his neck like some type of restraint. The portrait is a three quarter profile positioned in an upward angle against a sky of billowy clouds, giving a sense of inspiration to the male model’s obviously precarious plight.
Tal’s figurative art portrait of an Arab youth posed in a crouching position in a room enhanced with digital art to look like a prison cell, proudly displays his tatooed body art. It is a disturbing image. The Arab model appears vulnerable as an artistic nude. He is trapped like a jackal and radiates an animal-like intensity. Though the male model is nude, there is nothing about this portrait to suggest erotic art. He is nude to suggest exposure and intimidation, like the prisoners tortured at Abu Graib prison.
Submission is perhaps the most disturbing image of Tal’s On Edge series. It is a sepia toned art piece which is divided into three separate parts with the use of digital art techniques. The male model’s body is sequentially displayed on what appears to be three antiqued pages stacked on top of one another. Each of the three sections of his body is treated different technically, which makes him appear psychologically disjointed and physically cut up. His arms are tightly bound behind him and he wears a black blindfold. He is helpless, vulnerable and exposed. This is figurative art at its most edgy.
All the above art pieces are available for purchase through Drew Tal’s website: http://www.drewtal.com
