Just Good Friends
Photography by Michael Daks

Publication date: Autumn 08/ Spring 09

OVERVIEW BY MICHAEL DAKS
“Since Eve first took a bite from the apple, nudity in art has become a re-occurring theme. What is our fascination?

Is it the beauty of the Human form, or merely titillation? Almost every great artist has at some point put pencil to paper, chisel to stone, or a finger to the button. All in search, perhaps, for the perfect nude.
This project began with a muse. My friend Tara, an actress, model (Ford), and dancer (Chicago ballet), who agreed to work with me on a series of nudes. We called them 'play dates'. Just the two of us, a camera, some lights, and a bottle of scotch. Eventually, it occurred to me that it might be interesting, both visually and psychologically, to photograph all my friends naked.

Some were more easily persuaded than others of course.

Trust is obviously the prime factor, and feeling comfortable, so I built a small studio in my apartment in New York, dyeing canvas drop sheets for the backgrounds. For variety, I took pictures in their apartments, or at a friend’s house in the Hamptons.”

PHOTOGRAPHER MICHAEL DAKS
After studying Fine Art at The Southport College of Art and Design, and Photography at Wolverhampton University, he moved to London in 1982 and established a fashion and portrait studio, clients included Tatler, Harper’s and Queen, Marie Claire, and The Independent.

He photographed Dennis Potter for BLITZ magazine, and after an epic battle of wits with the Blitz journalist Jon Wilde, they were eventually immortalized as characters in Potter’s next novel, the infamous BLACK EYES. In Paris, he began exhibiting his work, most notably in the Europ– Art sans frontiers exposition curated by Cezar to commemorate the formation of the European Union.

In 1993 Michael Daks moved to New York City where he lived and worked until September 2007. His clients included The New York Times magazine, VIBE, The Source, XXL, Blender, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, Sportswear International, The Observer magazine, TV Guide, Maxim, SELF, SONY, BMG, RCA, Velvel Records, and the GAP.
Celebrity sitters have included HRH Princess Diana, Spike Lee, Rosie O’Donnell, Kenneth Branagh, Peta Wilson, Benjamin Bratt, Jerry Orbach, Cary Lowell, KRS1, Eve, Pat DiNizio, Faith Evans, The Neptunes, Angie Harmon, Kate Spade, Geraldine McEwen, and Tyra Banks.

His portraits of Dennis Potter and Kenneth Branagh are in the permanent collection of The National Portrait Gallery, London.