Melissa Faithful for Art-Sheep
Kissing is one of the purest forms of expressing love and a hot topic amongst art, pop culture and media culture.
Photographer Maggie West captures LA-based artists kissing. for her debut book KISS, and reinvents the context of kissing under bright, neon lights. Shooting friends and friends of friends -musicians, models, artists, dancers, porn stars, West focuses on the beauty of the moment, the gentle touch, the embrace and the attraction between loved ones.
“Sexuality is such a huge part of our lives that it seems natural that so many artists have gravitated towards it as a subject. With ‘KISS,’ I hope that the viewer can appreciate specific aspects of a kiss through the color choices and extreme close-up angles. I tried to do something aesthetically different with a pretty universal subject,” says the artist in an interview with Bullet.
West presents a work that perceives erotic as something mental, an energy that doesn’t focuses on the physical act as much as the powerful notions of desire and tenderness.
