CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

Resurrection Day

………..According to Wikipedia, Easter is the central religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. Some Christians celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday.

Pere Lachaise

The chronology of his death and resurrection is variously interpreted to be between AD26 and AD36. Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of fasting, prayer, and penance.

Paris

The Studio wishes everyone a Happy Easter.

Pascal Vanhoecke Gallery

……….The Studio is pleased to announce a group exhibition to take place at Pascal Vanhoecke Gallery, Paris from April 22 to May 29th, 2010. Artist’s included in the exhibition include; Robert Gligorov, Cheyco Leidmann, Thomas Ruff, Tony Ward, Natasha Merritt, Laurence Demaison, Lea Le Bricomte, France Cadet, Lydie Jean-dit-Pannel, Claude Menet, Richard Kern, Aurelie Dubois, Jerry Tartaglia, Jean-Jacques Guionnet, Michael Burges, and Liuba.

TW will be attending the reception…..

Posted by Gunsmoke

The night before the event we sat on the balcony of Café Marley at the Louvre overlooking I.M. Pei’s great Pyramid. Every hour on the hour the Eiffel Tower lighted up with a gadzillion tiny white bulbs that shone brightly in the distance. This was a superb way to begin the week of the Paris Art Fair exhibition.

The next day, the mile long line snaked around the Grand Palais just off the Champs Ellyse until 10 PM opening night. Parisian’s and guest’s from afar had come to see the best of the best of the art world from March 16th to March 22nd, 2010. Gallery owners had paid upwards of $50,000 per exhibition space to introduce the world to their stable of artist’s. Paris is the city of Art as well as the city of lights. Opening day, the works of Tony Ward would be reintroduced to that world after a prolonged hiatus.

TW’s gallery owner, Pascal Vanhoecke made sure that his four monumental sized pieces had places of honor in his space. His was the first space that you saw upon walking up to the main exhibit area, and the gallery occupied a place of honor as the first exhibit space inside the main entryway to the enormous exhibit hall.

Crowds swarmed in and out of the gallery proclaiming in French, English and Italian; “shocking!” “stunning!” “incredible!” And it was. Vanhoecke’s gallery featured works from the who’s who of Erotica. Entering the space, one passed a life sized hermaphrodite Barbie doll sculpture, with both breasts and a penis. She only began the adventure into the both humorous and erotic display of fine art painting, drawing and photography. TW’s highlighted piece included a digital montage entitled “L’Aphrodisiaque”, images of black and white erotica from a most recent series and commission. The eye jumps from image to image seeking and finding titillation at every stop. The mammoth piece snarled traffic as buyers stood in amazement, while onlooker’s snapped cell phone pictures and video clips.

Also highlighted was a grainy male torso and female face entitled, “Mark and Laura”, London 2005. The woman’s hand strategically placed on the swollen anatomy of her companion. This piece would later be auctioned off for charity. All charities should have such incredible donations; it should bring thousands.

Two film crews and representatives of three newspapers came to meet and interview the “American.” Tony Ward was the foreigner who made sexy chic. A true tribute to the former and future King of Erotica.

TW met with his long term publisher Claude Bard and his assistant Anne Hautecoeur yesterday in Paris to review printers proofs from his forthcoming book entitled, “WASTELAND”. Mr. Bard is the owner and publisher of La Musardine, one of the most highly respected imprints of erotica in the world. TW and his publisher first teamed up in the year 2000, when his renowned book of erotica was published entitled, ORGASM, under Mr. Bard’s oversight. It was to be followed two years later by the sequel ORGASM XL.In the year 2000, TW embarked on a new project, to photograph over a period of time the largest fetish party in the world, held twice yearly in Amsterdam, thus the title of the new book and and also the name of the famous fetish extravaganza. The WASTELAND project has been the most prolonged project of the artist’s career.

The Faces Of Wasteland

Mr. Bard assured Wasteland producer Rene Meuessen during a telephone conference, that the first printing of the monograph will be made available to the public at a book signing to take place at the next Wasteland event on April 17th, 2010 in Amsterdam. TW is looking forward to attending the event.

Claude Bard

The book is dedicated to TW’s best friend and assistant Frans Verlinden. Mr. Verlinden was the former art patron, Winston Hotel owner and founder based in Amsterdam, who was at TW’s side over the many years of documentation of the event. Mr. Verlinden passed away in 2006. He is sorely missed.

Frans Verlinden: Former Owner And Founder, Winston Hotel, Amsterdam

……….Throngs of people descended upon the Grand Palais in Paris yesterday to attend the opening reception of Art Paris, the largest exposition of Art held yearly in France. TW’s most recent large new work, measuring 125cm X 225cm, entitled “L’Aphrodisiaque”, a commissioned piece by sponsor Marc Dorcel was introduced to the public for the first time by art dealer and gallery owner, Pascal Vanhoecke. Capa Presse TV and several other media outlets interviewed TW about his latest creation’s and new series that he refers to as “digital montage”.The exposition dates are March 18th to the 22nd, 2010. If you are in or near Paris, the Studio highly recommends that you attend this remarkable exposition.

TW: Art Paris 3-18-10

Natascha & Olga At The Royal Monceau, Paris

……….Natascha and Olga agreed to meet me in the lobby of the Royal Monceau where we would check in for the shoot of the day. I arrived at the check in desk only to find that the models got there earlier than me, and were waiting at the lobby bar/lounge to have a drink. Those two girls new how to get around. As soon as I noticed them seated in the lounge with drinks in hand, there were several Arab sheiks hovering around them, curious I’m sure as to who they were. Sting was having a drink at the bar just a few feet away.

Our room wasn’t ready so I joined the girls at the lounge to soak in the sights and sounds. Suddenly I heard a loud voice coming from the check in desk of a man screaming at the top of his lungs, “Where is my baggage, Where is my baggage” repeatedly. I noticed a man yelling at the concierge, it was Helmut Newton and his wife June close behind.

I immediately felt like a little boy watching a cartoon character of one of his idols in real time. at that moment, I didn’t know quite what to say or do. I was speechless. I always wanted to meet Helmut Newton and I had learned through some German contacts that he was becoming familiar with my work as well. I told the girls who he was, and they suggested that I introduce myself if the opportunity presented itself.

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Well it did. Helmut got everything straightened out with the concierge about the missing baggage. I’m sure like any photographer he was afraid that perhaps his equipment was lost. No doubt he was probably there to do some shooting. He and June walked over to the elevator to check in to their room. That was my chance as they were just in front of me. I finally mustered the hutzpah to approach him. As I rose to my feet, the elevator door opened and Helmut and June proceeded to enter the lift. I got to the door just as it was about to close. Helmut pushed the open door button for me. That was it!

To see the entire sitting of Natascha and Olga and more Erotica from the Tony Ward archives, log on to tonyward.com

Natascha & Olga

……….I was in a meeting with my former magazine editor Dian Hanson at her Leg Show office in New York, when she casually mentioned that she was going to be photographed by Helmut Newton for this Sumo sized book that he was publishing with Benedict Taschen. It sounded like an interesting project and I was delighted to hear that Ms. Hanson was invited to Paris to have her portrait taken by the grand master.

She mentioned that Helmut was staying at The Royal Monceau on a regular basis and doing some shooting there. I also enjoy shooting in great hotels myself so Dian suggested I check it out the next time I visited Paris. It just so happened that I had already made arrangements to photograph two Russian models from St. Petersburg, on location in Paris for Penthouse a week earlier, so I decided to book a suite at the Monceau instead of my usual place, The Hotel Regina just a short cab drive away.

To be continued…………….

Alexandra

……….We agreed to meet for dinner at a tiny quaint restaurant just off the Rue de Rivoli. A charming enough place with fine French cuisine to discuss the shoot we were about to embark upon the following day at my hotel suite in Paris. Alexandra was born and raised in France and lived just outside the ring, so I knew she would pick a good place to dine.

She completely embodied my idea of a beautiful French woman, and possessed the confidence in front of the camera to portray the role I wished for her to play. If there is any hotel that sets the mood for a classic erotic sitting, its Hotel Regina, a place that I frequent when I stay in Paris. If your looking to travel and want good old fashioned French charm, this is the place.

The grand old hotel is uniquely located at the corner of Rue de Rivoli and Place des Pyramides, facing the Louvre and the famous Tuileries Gardens. All of the bedrooms are furnished in Louis XV and Louis XVI decorative styles, contemporary it is not.

Alexandra easily felt at home and we quickly moved through a series of poses that she planned. Her experience as a well known nude model for some of France’s finest photographers made my work for the day, quite easy and relaxing.

Just remember, Alexandra does not come with the room. The hotel is a BYOB, bring your own babe………………..