CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

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.

………..When adult film actresses Bobbi Starr and Amy Brooke arrived on set in Los Angeles, to shoot their scene’s for TW’s latest adult film production for Private Media Group, he thought they were site manager’s for the large mansion that was rented to shoot the scene. They were totally unassuming, polite, down to earth and very girl next door. When they performed their scene’s however, with porn studs “Mr. Pete” and Chicago native LT, it was almost as if they transformed in to another person. They definitely transformed LT and Mr. Pete.

TW Shoot's Adult Actress Amy Brooke

…….More to follow shortly……………

After The Shoot: TW And Alejandra Guerrero

……….Behind the scenes photos by Alejandra Guerrero.

Tony Ward

Tony Ward’s photographic imagery unites his primal love, erotic art with his perennial passions for fashion, art and current events. Ward began his professional career as a corporate photographer for pharmaceutical giant Smithkline Corporation. In 1980, Ward opened the Tony Ward Studio that services a variety of Fortune 500 companies. He achieved global notoriety for his first published book on erotic photography, the controversial and highly praised OBSESSIONS. The monograph was followed by four more challenging, innovative and critically acclaimed volumes on eroticism and photography. Critical thinkers on photography and aesthetics such as A.D. Coleman, Rick Wester and Reinhold Misselbeck have written illuminating essays that accompany Mr. Ward’s published works.
Ward’s fine art prints are widely collected, exhibited and syndicated around the world. His search for new subjects for this daily blog necessitates worldwide travel. He makes his home and studio in the historic heart of Philadelphia, but his unending quest for inspiring subjects and newsworthy events compels him to divide his time between diverse cosmopolitan centers from Los Angeles, Miami, New York, London and Paris with extensive layovers in Hamburg and his beloved Amsterdam.
Ward’s graphic mediations on his favorite themes; fashion, portraiture, popular culture and newsworthy events compelled him to start a blog in August of 2009 with publishing partner Dan Brouse.

Editorials about Tony Ward and his work have been published in numerous international popular culture magazines, books and television such as STERN, MAX, PLAYBOY TV, PENTHOUSE, RTL TV GERMANY, TVA TELEVISION AMSTERDAM, GQ, PARK AVENUE, LOADED, VIBE, MEN’S HEALTH as well as avant-garde Dutch magazines BLEND, BLVD and LINK.
The Tony Ward Studio daily blog welcomes your suggestions and comments. Photo of Tony Ward by Ted Adams, copyright 2009

A Tribute To A Father

….. He was seated in his living room when I visited one day with his son, my confidant and good friend Tony Colagreco. Tony had been asking me for some time to meet his father and to see the drawing’s that he was creating in his living room over the years. As Lou-Pop (as he was affectionately called) got older, he wasn’t as mobile as he used to be, so he often occupied his time by making whimsical drawings of things from his fantasies or from found objects around his home. A variety of subject’s and a substantial body of work evolved from time well spent at his living room chair. Lou-Pop proudly displayed his works on the walls of his home and had a story to tell, for any one that would listen, about each and every drawing he created with the passing of time.

An Art Filled Living Room

The first thing I did when I arrived, was to photograph Tony in the living room where his father found his inspiration. This was the place where his best friend spent many days drawing.

Objects Of Inspiration

There were lot’s of figurines around the home, many of which were representative of the embodiment of women. Lou-Pop loved women, in all age’s, shapes and sizes.

Busty Figurine

He also surrounded himself with classical reproduction’s of women as subject’s in paintings and then surrounded those framed works with his own art. The room was transformed in to a multi-dimensional art installation, serving as an altar for the remaining desires of his life.

Woman Painting

Betty Boop was one of Lou-Pop’s favorite subjects…….

Lou-Pops Version Of Betty Boop

R.I.P. Lou-Pop

Photographed On Her 18th Birthday

….I was getting to know the booker’s at the Elite Modeling agency in Beverly Hills at the time. It was a beautiful day in Los Angeles on September 15th, 1995. I had some time to contact the agency after my morning shoot to see if there were any new models to test in the afternoon as my schedule would allow. They checked back after about an hour to tell me they had a young model to send for that afternoon. She was already on her way over to my hotel for hair and makeup. That was perfect, because I knew by the time my makeup artist got her ready, the sun would be setting over the Pacific, where I liked to shoot at Venice Beach. They also informed that it was the model’s birthday and that she just turned 18, her name was Guinevere van Seenus. I waited with excitement and anticipation as I always do when I am working with a new talent for the first time. Little did I know the person who was about to arrive would soon become an international super model.

I opened the door to my room to greet Guinevere, the first thing that I noticed was her size. She was unlike the really skinny girls that regularly appear on the catwalk, this girl had meat on her bones and a nice full bosom.

The next thing that I noticed were the cheek bones and the eyes, realizing instantly that she was photogenic. Then it was time to see if she could model.

Venice Beach With Guinevere

Guinevere could model all right. Confident in her body, easy to work with and a face that has natural expression, a rare find. A couple of month’s later, the agency informed me that she was flown over to Paris where she took the city by storm. The rest is fashion modeling history.
Confident, determined and ready to make a small fortune….

Stay tuned… coming soon!