Chelsea Arts Club is embarking on another of our memorable Charity Funding events, under the banner of "Heroes & Villains", a silent auction of unique, specially commissioned works from our stable of Artist Members amongst whom will be works by Peter Blake, Patrick Hughes, Albert Irvin, Gavin Turk, Gerald Scarfe to name a few.
Usually, as you know, we are very, very strict about non- members attending, but have agreed on this occasion to allow a number of guest to attend the Auction's Private View on June 4th and more importantly the Grand Finale Heroes & Villains Party on Thursday June 27th. There will be music, fizz, entertainment, guest appearances, and frantic last minute bidding as the "angels" dance cheek to cheek with their "devils" till late into the night. Fancy dress is optional for the shy. The dining room will be providing appropriate satanic and angelic fare and for the first time guests will be able to book tables, a percentage of the proceeds donated to the Charities. A table of 10 at £1K.
The Charities are the Chelsea Arts Club Trust, which support young struggling artistic talent with bursaries, studio space in conjunction with the Borough of Kensington &Chelsea) and also funds an out- reach program to schools in deprived areas. At the other end of the scale, the Artist General Benevolent Institution (AGBI) helps artists and their families who have fallen on hard times. Do encourage your friends to dig deep into their pockets for 2 such worthy causes.
Please let me know who may want to attend and they can book (entrance fee £20 per person) directly with the Club on 0207 376 3311, or e mail roxy@chelseaartsclub.com We have a limited amount of space so admission will be on a first come first served basis.
Thank you for all your help in anticipation.
Evelyn Cantacuzene-Speransky Deputy Secretary
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25/03/2013 - MADE IN LIVERPOOL - Call for Entries
Were you born in Liverpool? Have you moved here? What does the city mean to you? What does it mean to be Made in Liverpool?
LOOK/13, Liverpool's International Photography Festival, opens on the 17th of May. To kick off the launch party at Camp and Furnace we're presenting a giant slideshow, featuring the best photographic work submitted in response to the title 'Made in Liverpool'. The event is designed to showcase the cream of Liverpool's photographic talent and to explore local perspectives on the wider theme of LOOK/13: 'who do you think you are?'
If you are a photographer based in Liverpool or Merseyside and you're making work about the city and its inhabitants, LOOK/13 would love to hear from you.
The selection of images will be made by LOOK/13 with the help of invited guest judges Laura Davis, Arts Editor of the Liverpool Post and John Stoddart, photographer to the stars.
John Stoddart said of Liverpool "I began my career in photography in Liverpool 25 years ago. Back then Liverpool had a fantastic rock scene, there was war on the streets and huge political change happening across the city. All of these factors have set me up with a vision that is still with me today".
We are asking each entrant to submit one series of up to six photographs. The winning entries will be presented at the LOOK/13 launch event, on the festival's website and by selected media partners.
LOOK/13 is one of the UKʼs leading international photography festivals. Bringing together influential and established photographers, presented alongside international emerging talent, LOOK/13 will invite its dynamic line- up of artists to explore ideas of identity, subjectivity and selfhood, summed up in the question, ʻwho do you think you are?ʼ
LOOK/13 begins with an event-packed launch weekend and is proud to be collaborating with Liverpoolʼs most prestigious museums and galleries.
Entry details
Images must be in jpeg format Images must be 3000x2000 pixels and 72dpi All images must include meta data including photographer details, copyright status, caption and location details. Images must be received no later than midnight on the 17th of April.
By submitting photographs to this competition you grant LOOK/13 a non- exclusive license to use your images for the promotion of Made in Liverpool and the festival as whole. The photographer retains copyright of their images in all instances.
Editorʼs Notes
For further press information, please contact Stephanie Knox at Margaret on 020 7923 2861 or steph@margaretlondon.com
Facebook: Look: Liverpool International Photography Festival Twitter: @LookPhotoFest
Funding The festival is being supported using public funding by Arts Council England' and from Liverpool City Council's Arts and Culture Investment Programme.
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13/02/2013 - Watch my interview with the legendary William Klein in Paris last December...
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12/02/2013 - Room 10 - Chelsea Arts Club. February 12, 2013, 6:30 pm, The Corridor.
John Stoddart will exhibit in the corridor throughout February. There will be a private view on Tuesday the 12th from 6.30pm, all members welcome.
Ten photographs, inspired by two special nights in L'Hotel, Paris in the spring of 2012. You could easily walk past L'Hotel, in it's small side street in the heart of Saint Germain. Over the door, a little plaque tells you Oscar Wilde died there. Once inside, you just know it has secrets from long ago... And last night. If ever you stay, ask for Room 10. "All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface, do at their peril. Those who read the symbol,do so at their peril."
Oscar Wilde.
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28/12/2012 - Room 10
"ROOM 10" - an exhibition of ten photographs to be shown at the Chelsea Arts Club in Feb 2013...
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01/11/2012 - Polaroid Alchemy Vol. 1
Here's a sneak preview of my brand new book Polaroid Alchemy Vol. 1 and a chance to buy it!: http://bit.ly/TXNACe
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26/09/2012 - Redeye Talk in Liverpool
Don't miss my talk for Redeye Photography Network in Liverpool - 16 October 2012, 18:30 - 20:30 Liverpool...
Do you realise this May 2012 marks 50 years of one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever... The Rolling Stones. As part of a fascinating exhibition of this celebration, my photographs are part of a revealing exhibition taking place in Paris, in La Galerie de l'Instant, "A Parisian Chic" venue for sure!
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20/04/2012 - Read the latest article about John Stoddart in The Weekender Magazine: www.the-weekender.net
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08/02/2012 - John Stoddart's latest worldwide advertising campaign. Will be launched on Monday 13th February 2012 - HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
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28/01/2012 -
New year, new events for me and my style spy Stephen Mahoney. Here is what we were up to yesterday evening. The exhibition will run until the 3rd of March.
"A host of London's wise and creative came, dressed to the nines, to feast their eye's on John's tongue in cheek spin of 1940 Black Dahlia murder. A show created using Mr Stoddart archive images of A lister Catherine Zeta Jones and a host of glamours seductive women, in various positions, giving a less gruesome tale on the event.
Guest's, actress Sasha Pick played a low key card in her black streamline puffy coat, with a cream cashmere scarf and sweater, arm in arm, with her pal Stephen Mahoney, Fashion Editor, in grey cap, Missoni glasses, Drakes scarf and Ted Baker coat.
Not to there to be over looked, was Anne Pigalle fellow photographer, who donned her striking fake fur coat, with pretty cats faces printed into the pattern, bought Anna told me "at London vintage store for £5".
Next, was, never a shrinking violet, Wendy Tiger. Wendy was a former nightclub dancer, tonight she wore a fitted spandex & chiffon dress that showed her curves are still in all the right places, plus a sequinned, single buttoned knitted top, and her mate Vanessa Baldwin, wore a butter soft, black leather coat, "that I bought in North country boutique", said Vanessa.
Clocking the lady in a veil pix, was Jacqueline Roffe, the society butterfly and business women, who'd plumed for a Ralph Lauren mans jacket, (one of her ex's) and to retain her feminine side, a dazzling shirt collar necklace, yet another gift from former boyfriend. Lucky lady.
A sartorial air was introduced when Mark Powell London tailor, came sailing through the door, in one of his daytime chalk stripe, bespoke suits, a snip at £2,500.
Keeping the eye candy count soaring, were two girlfriends Anna Carolina and Antalya. Anna sporting a tan collar and ankle boots, teamed with fab shocking pink Celine bag, thus lifting her black ensemble and her chum Antalya defused her silver heels and evening skirt, with a loose t-shirt.
Queen of the cabaret scene Eve Ferret was on hand to sing a little naughty ditty, if the Society Club 's founder Robert Perino got up to any of his old shenanigans.
Finally, at the close of the PV, Mr John Stoddart had weathered the storm and retained his playboy demeanour, in his razor sharp, black evening suit, crisp white shirt and bow tie, that were all still intact. Thus allowing John to stroll out into city, with the stunningly elegant Alex Naylor for well deserved cocktail or two. As befitting a gentleman."
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Exploring the essential question of how the quest for money and fame can lead to a dark place, John Stoddart has curated a new exhibit encompassing both new and classic shots that capture the sexiness and seediness of stardom. A show both shocking in its stillness and tantalizing in its sinfulness, ‘The Black Dahlia Avenger: Homage to a Murder' shines a spotlight on the flip-side of notoriety.
Inspired by the Black Dahlia murder that shook Hollywood to its core in 1947, Stoddart became absorbed by not only the gruesome fate of the raven-haired would-be starlet but also fascinated by recent theories that the murder itself may have been directly linked to the Surrealist movement: death imitates art.
Stoddart has curated his photographs in such a way that a cautionary tale is told. From the innocent beautify of a young Catherine Zeta Jones to the powerful imagery of an unnamed woman, lying soullessly on the Hollywood floor, the photos themselves narrate a story; the story of a glamorous town, where the search for the silver screen can come to a screeching halt, all in the quest for celebrity.
Stoddart explains: "I first became aware of the Black Dahlia after reading James Ellroy's novel. After looking further into this bizarre and horrific crime, particularly the school of thought that associates it with the Surrealist Movement of that period (Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst etc.), I started to look more deeply at my own work, reappraising influences on me over the years; movies, crime-scene photographs, particularly the LAPD archive. I saw a continuous link in the visual depiction of the 'victim'. As a photographer for over 25 years working in the fame business, I have been amazed to what lengths people will go for their "15 minutes of fame". I have always felt there is at least a psychological danger in the pursuit of fame."
Critic James Mullinger in GQ magazine has described Stoddart's work as ‘titillating, provocative, controversial and, most importantly, sexy. Stoddart is a legend.'
This exciting exhibition will take place at London's new The Society Club, Soho, from Friday January 27th 2012.
John Stoddart has been a sought out photographer for more than twenty-five years and has published two photography books, It's Nothing Personal andPeep World, both of which explored the elusive world of fame. His work has been exhibited in several galleries and museums, world-wide, including The Vault Gallery in Hollywood and La Galleria Pall Mall in London. He has had numerous solo-exhibitions including Punks, Poets and Other Stars (1997), It's Nothing Personal (2004), Peep World (2006), Society (2008), and Dirty Little Pictures (2009). He has worked for nearly every magazine in the UK and internationally, including Vanity Fair and The New York Times.
The Society Club is located in beautifully eccentric Soho, London. Established with the intention of bringing "the best of all possible things" to the forefront, The Society Club aims to promote culture, style and literature all over tea and toast. ‘There's a whiff of danger but also lashings of plum jam. And not many establishments will play Guns N' Roses on the iPod over afternoon tea. (Evening Standard). The Society Club has been honoured to host exhibits by photographers Leee Black Childers, Graham Smith and Edward Edwards.
23/11/2011 - Exhibition of photographs by John Stoddart - 'Photographer to the stars'.
Thursday 1st December 2011 6:30-9pm - Canvas Gallery, 38 High Street, Wimbledon Village. www.canvascontemporary.com
John Stoddart has been a photographer for over 25 years and has become highly respected in his field. He has worked for nearly every magazine in the UK and internationally (Vanity Fair, The New York Times etc) To date John has had two books published; "Its Nothing Personal" 1997 and "Peep World" 2004, both of which explored the ellusive world of fame.
He has had numerous exhibitions, the major ones being; 1995 - Punks, Poets and Other Stars. 1997 - Its Nothing Personal. 2004 - Peep World. 2006 - Society.
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21/07/2011 - Video of John Stoddart at Cavallino's Restaurant - London 2011.
John Stoddart's iconic photos are used in the new restaurant opened by Frankie Dettori in London. John talks about the shoot with Pierce Brosnan when he first played James Bond 007 in Golden Eye. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRmU1jkgCx0
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03/02/2011 - Review of the Exhibition Erotica, 28th Jan - Feb 11th 2011, The Gallery, Liverpool
03/02/2011 - Professional Photographer magazine interview with John Stoddart
There's a common misconception that being a photographer is almost like being a rock star. An exciting lifestyle full of cocktail parties and beautiful people. Except that when you talk to John Stoddart you realise that this is not necessarily a misconception at all. The stereotype has its routes firmly in reality. Sipping wine outside a restaurant in Chelsea, London. Stoddart speaks about his career photographing glamorous celebrities and big name bands, and a time when photography was an altogether more refined and sophisticated occupation.
John Stoddart: No, it was a fluke really. I was in the army originally and during that time I just developed an interest in photography and good pictures. I was very young and stationed in Hong Kong. That was good because you could buy Japanese cameras much more cheaply in the Far East than you could in Europe. I started taking pictures and just really got into it.
Then in the late 1970s I was posted to Northern Ireland, and there were loads of photographic opportunities there. I learned how to print pictures myself - the developing and printing the army guys provided was pretty poor - and by the time I left the army when I was 21, photography was a serious hobby for me.
I got really involved in the music scene in Liverpool. It was an exciting time - bands like Echo and the Bunnymen and Pete Wylie's Wah! were about and I used to go and photograph them when they played live. I started to make a bit of money out of that, but held down a job at the post office in the day to give me some financial security. I'd start work there at 6am, finish by 1pm and meet up with my rock ‘n' roll mates in the afternoon and become a photographer.
Was that the beginning of your portraiture career? Yes, I guess so. As well as local bands I was also shooting fashion for hairdressers. That was good work. You need to light hair carefully to record all the detail in it. I really enjoyed doing that actually.
Also central to my education was the Open Eye gallery in Liverpool. I'd go and see work by major world photographers, people like Richard Avedon and Weegee, and that was really inspiring to me.
I grew into photography thinking that standard was normal, and so that's whatI aimed at - work that was as good as Richard Avedon's. It wasn't arrogance, I just thought that if you worked hard and practised then that's what your images should look like. They never have, mind you, but that's what I thought at the time.
How did the move to London come about? Eventually I set up a little studio in Liverpool with a partner, but it was at the wrong time. Thatcher came into power and the great northern cities were just decimated. We closed down and I scurried off to London with my then-wife and started again down there. I was still very naïve though: I set up a studio in Mayfair just because I'd heard it was a nice area. I didn't know anything about working as a photographer in London really, but they were some of the happiest times of my life. I was naïve, but I was as bold as brass!
I continued with the music photography and started to make a really good living from it. In the 1980s I shot just about every band that was around and worked for all the major record labels. That made me enough money to let me get established. I really settled into London and never looked back.
Who were your clients in those early days? Almost everyone. Vogue, Harper's. All the record companies: EMI, Virgin. I'd do a lot of work - five shoots a week.The volume was amazing. You ask a photographer now if they are doing five shoots a week. I bet you they aren't. I think I picked up the tail of the heyday of the 1970s.
I personally think that the 1960s-70s was the true climax of photography. People will debate the precise time, but it all happened then. The 70s was a huge influence on me then; I was a teenager. Music was, and always will be, a huge inspiration for me.
It sounds like luck that you got all this work. Did you market yourself? Well no, not really. It was just word of mouth. The old saying that a photographer is only as good as his last job is very true - or certainly was then. The other side of that is that nowadays my status is actually more than the reality. People think I'm supping cocktails with Kate Moss, but I'm not!
We all talk about it being a more simple, naïve time back then, and I think it was. Clients were more trusting then; they'd commission you and leave you to get on with it. Now you have an army of people to get through - art directors, etc. - before you can get on with doing what you want to do.
Do you have a particular way of working? I'm a notoriously fast photographer. Some people take half a dozen Polaroids before they take a real shot, but I don't generally bother. Maybe just a couple. Otherwise you lose the energy and your subjects get bored.
Generally I start on the biggest shot first, and not build up to it or do it at the end. I want the most important shot to be taken when everyone is still fresh. The shiniest dress is the one I shoot straight away. But then I also have a tendency to get a bit bored halfway through the shoot. People are saying ‘Come on John. You've got to step it up a bit'. I guess I just don't have a very long attention span.
Do you get bored easily? Yes. I really don't mean to sound arrogant, but I'm kind of overqualified for most of the work I get these days. I don't get bored on the shoot - even a little one. I love the process of actually taking pictures, but I get bored with the kind of commissions I get these days.
Really well-known magazines aren't commissioning any new work these days. Even the Sunday Times Magazine buys in images that have been commissioned by other people. There's lots of syndicated work in there that's been in the New York Times too. Except for Vanity Fair, or Harper's, it's rare for magazines to be commissioning unique stuff at the moment.
Are you still shooting most of your commercial work on film? When I'm working professionally I use a mixture of digital and film. I do the main shot on film - usually with a Mamiya 7 - and then back it up with digital sometimes just on a little compact or a consumer-level DSLR.
I did a job for a very high-end magazine recently shooting a tailor at work in his shop in Saville Row. I shot the main portrait on a Rolleiflex, but then photographed the guy working close up using a Leica compact. It's got great close-up facilities. The results were brilliant actually.
I've got so many cameras - a box of beautiful Rolleiflexes, Mamiyas, Hasselblads, a Leica... I did a job recently on 1974 Nikkormats. Just for fun really. No one can tell the difference between pictures shot on that and something you'd buy today. I like the noise they make, and the funny ‘hardness' of winding it on.
It's important to me that I enjoy using my gear. People keep saying that digital is easier, and yes, it might be, but there's an analogy with cars here: do you want to drive somewhere in a Nissan Micra or an Aston Martin? The Nissan is more comfortable, easier to drive, more efficient, etc, but you know when you get in a classic Aston and smell the leather and hear the sound of the solid doors shutting... well, I know which one I'd pick. Cameras are the same; you must enjoy what you are working with.
I find digital a bit boring. If I haven't used my Hasselblad for a while I have to fire a roll of film off for the sake of it.
Digital may be a revolution now, but there have been others, such as the trend for working with colour neg. film You're right actually - colour neg was a revolution and I can remember saying that I'd have absolutely nothing to do with it. But then looking back through my archive I can virtually pinpoint the month where I started shooting on neg and that's what I do all the time now. It's so superior to transparency film for the latitude you get with it.
Shooting on location when you are mixing flash and natural light is a nightmare with tranny film. The ratio is tiny. Neg is much better. It makes a hotel room look like a hotel room, not a studio.
If you were starting again, would you like to be a photographer? I don't know if I would actually. When I started out, being a photographer was like being in a rock band. I'm not sure it feels like that now. Today, photographers are in danger of becoming a service industry. There has been a general dumbing down of popular culture, which I hate, and photography has been right in the middle of that. You can theorise about who is to blame, but I think that the big magazine publishing houses have to shoulder most of it. They simply don't pay enough for good images these days. Would you believe that one magazine pays me the same page rate today as they paid me 10 years ago?
I was speaking to someone at IPC recently who was telling me that they don't use film there at all now. That's all fine, but what they want then is for a photographer to spend hours after the shoot doing all the retouching, and they don't pay extra for it. And I'm thinking ‘I'm not doing that for you!'
Art directors are different these days too. When I started out art directors had actually studied art and became art directors later in their career. They were weird looking blokes with dicky bows and red glasses. They were older, more respected men. Now they are all youngsters who share flats with each other because there's no money in the job.
I said to one recently: "I remember when your job was really cool." I probably won't work for them again.What does the future hold?
I'm working on my archive a lot right now. I've got a body of work stretching back 25 years and I have to think of things I can do with that.
I've kept a lot of my Polaroids from over the years and I'd like to do something with these too - an exhibition or maybe a book. They are interesting because they aren't perfect; they are a little bit seedy.
There might be camera straps or fingers in the way or the model might not be paying attention and is looking off into the distance. They're really fascinating.
As far as new work goes though, my main project at the moment is Dirty Little Pictures. I've spent a while going to the sets of some real porn movies and shooting portraits of the people working there. There are 68 pictures in all, it'll be a great exhibition.
15/12/2010 - See John's images at Exhibition Erotica, 28th Jan - Feb 11th 2011, at The Gallery Liverpool, Baltic Triangle District, First Floor, 41 Stanhope Street, Liverpool L8 5RE. Tel: 0151 709 2442.
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20/10/2010 - "Shaken, not stirred" at Bistro K
Don't miss "Shaken, not stirred", a fantastic showcase of selected images by iconic photographer John Stoddart at Bistro K Restaurant and Lounge Bar, 117-119 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington, London SW7 3RN. Tel: 020 7373 7774. Launching 8th November 2010.
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08/07/2010 - A Celebration of Style: Cool London Through the Photographer's Lens
See John Stoddart's latest exhibition: A Celebration of Style: Cool London Through the Photographer's Lens, in Mark Powell's New Shop, 2 Marshall Street, Soho, London W1F 9BA. Curated by Art Advisor, Sandra Higgins. Exhibition runs until the 17th of July 2010
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14/05/2009 - Love and Lust
Coco de Mer is pleased to announce Love and Lust, an exhibition of images by photographer John Stoddart. The exhibition opens at Coco de Mer 108 Draycott Avenue, South Kensington, London SW3 3AE on Thursday 10th September 2009.
Love and Lust is based on the two most powerful human emotions. The first part of the exhibition focuses on the power of female seduction, dressing to please herself and her lover. All the women in Stoddart's images have a confident and alluring quality, especially his photographs of pregnant women.
The second part of the exhibition, ‘Dirty Little Pictures', is a series of 68 black and white portraits of porn actors and the technicians behind the camera working on the sets of different British movies over a two-year period. Stoddart's interest in pornography began on seeing ancient frescoes in a whorehouses in Pompeii, followed by a discovery that Britain was the last country in Europe to make professional adult movies.
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02/02/2009 - John Stoddart in Professional Photographer Magazine:
09/12/2008 - John Stoddart exhibits: Flowers in a Dark Room at La Galleria, Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall. 3rd - 17th February 2009
An ambitious and unusual project has been undertaken by the photographer, John Stoddart, in a multi-layered, dual exhibition of his work, accompanied by words from the reknowned poet John Armstrong.
The Gallery is separated into two distinct and different bodies of work. The first is a body of work of a number of images echoing a central triptych, the foundation theme, based on Caravaggio's painting of ‘Salome'. Each panel of the triptych is accompanied by a poem by John Armstrong, the strength of the words colouring and referencing the imagery. The Exhibition then moves on, showing many more of John's portraits both old and new. Examples being a beautiful Tilda Swinton in the days when she was Derek Jarman's muse, to a modern study of Marco Pierre White that would easily pass as a Bond villain. The overall theme of the exhibition has a melancholic thread running through each individual portrait, which reflects the some time fickle face of fame.
Dirty Little Pictures
The second exhibition, separated by a staircase, which opens on the same night two hours later, is a revealing collection of photographic portraits taken of porn stars and the technicians working in the adult film business. These small, black and white images were taken of a period of two years on the sets of different movies and represent a definite documentary of the growing British porn industry. Sexier and darker than celluloid, John allows the viewer a voyeuristic view of a world of titillation, the stillness of the image actually penetrating the essence of the characters with far more revelation than a moving image. This extraordinary collection of 68 photographs offers a unique insight which captures the essence of the ‘Talent' who inhabit the world of adult entertainment.
John Stoddart has been a pioneering photographer in `London for 25 years and many of his portraits have become the iconic images of his ‘sitters.' He cites Hitchcock and Polanski as inspirations. John's interest in pornography began on seeing ancient frescoes in a whore house in Pompeii followed by a discovery that Britain was the last country in Europe to make professional adult movies.
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01/08/2008 - Elistano Restaurant, 25-27 Elystan Street, Chelsea SW3 3NT have a number of John Stoddart's prints on display and "are very proud of our association with John and to be displaying his fantastic photographic portraits of modern day icons' - phone 020 7584 5248 for reservations..
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PHOTOICON MAGAZINE - 1/3/07 - 'GLAMOUR AND CELEBRITY' - Don't miss the fantastic interview with John Stoddart in the brand new PHOTOICON MAGAZINE - out now! - www.photoicon.com
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Forthcoming Exhibition 2006 - John Stoddart's latest exhibition will be at the Charing X Gallery Ltd, 121-125, Charing Cross Rd, London, WC2H 0EW - call 020 7287 1779 - April 2006
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7/11/06 - 'A QUIET AFFAIR' - a selection of photographs by John Stoddart in association with the Cheyne Walk Brasserie, Chelsea - starts 7th November 2006 - call +44 207 532 0033 for reservations...
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Stoddart is a Legend
"Stoddart's photography is unique in its portrayal of sex and fame in the twentieth century. The fact that he has photographed everyone from street prostitutes to Tony Blair speaks for tiself. Titillating, provocative, contoversial and, most importantly, sexy - Stoddart is a legend."
James Mullinger - GQ Magazine 2003
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John Stoddart quote - Peep World 2003
"I'm convinced that a lot of photography is almost a sexual act...In my pictures there is a story in every frame but they don't have a beginning, middle or end. It's up to the person looking at them. That's what Peep World is all about. You are peeping into your own fantasy..."
Where lesser photographers simply linger over the lingerie, Stoddart's teasing images toy with the inherent contradictions of surface beauty and sexual abandon when contrived for the camera. For all the silk sheets, daring dildos and slipped decolletage there's a soulfulness beneath Peep World's tantalizing gloss.
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Sunday Telegraph Magazine - quote
"In my favourite of John's portraits there is a poignancy to the sexual posturing of celebrity that makes his pictures so great."
