Richard Kern

I keep coming back to Kern’s photographs because of how little they pretend. Women in rooms under bad light, often naked, rarely smiling. There’s sexuality in the frame but it’s not soft—it’s frank and uncomfortable and risky. The title references drugs, which fits the whole feeling of his work, that edge that says something is at stake here, that this isn’t safe. He’s been making these photographs and films for decades, pushing what people will look at, and whether you think he’s documenting something true about desire or just exploiting it probably depends on what you need to believe. I tend to think it’s both.