March 22, 2012

Phillip Toledano...

This photographer has some serious skill. Maybe you've heard of his work before, one book in particular titled, "Days with my Father"

To me, there's something equally captivating and creepy about these photos in Toledano's book, "A New Kind of Beauty". I came across a post by Babble on Toledano's work, which "tackles whether plastic surgery is poised to create a new paradigm of what we see as beautiful, and if beauty that never existed previously can be created artificially." Toledano photographed people that have had plastic surgery in a way an artist would paint a portrait, emphasizing beauty.

As I was scrolling through the photos, I thought that visually and conceptually, they had a unique quality to them. I also thought of the Romans, and wondered if plastic surgery would be a common practice for them, if the technology had been around. Maybe it would even be a ritualistic practice the way it is for so many in our culture today.

The subjects in his book have been "dubbed the Botox Botticellis".  

Here is one of Toledano's photos from the book: Michael, 2008.


 And here is one of Botticelli's paintings: St. Sebastian, 1474. 


The photos are not digitally enhanced with photoshop. Just some amazing lighting. 
So what do you think? Is it beautiful? Or does the saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" ring true?

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