Richard Kern speaks loudly, without saying a word.
His images are something of relics, having photographed within New York City in a certain prime of its existence. He captured up close and oh-so personal the heroin and the chic of the squats and the artists who inhabited them. There is a tender vulnerability captured in these collections. The trust exchanged between subject and photographer is a beautiful thing that not every person with a camera can capture, regardless of how much effort, skill, or training is put into the hobby. For Kern, he and his camera did not infiltrate scenes- they coexisted peacefully within them, granting viewers intimate portraits and candid shots of friends, lovers, and other figureheads & passersby of downtown New York in the 1980s.
Our fascination with Richard Kern has not dwindled. Our sister publication Numero Berlin included an exclusive supplementary zine in its Fall/Winter 2019 edition, entitled 1980. 1980 is a year exposed, filled with rough imagery, tough subjects, girls, guns, drugs, and rock & roll. It looks cool, but certainly not pleasant. For our current issue of Fräulein, Richard Kern agreed to an editorial shoot. What we received were intimate portraits of playing dress up and make up with one model in her NYC apartment, and one stylist armed with a lot of latex and Saint Laurent.
We will soon be releasing news of a brand new collaboration with Richard Kern, but first we decided to share with you some select shots from our Spring/Summer 2020 print issue:
