Plus More Van Pin-ups

The Lighter Side of Fetish + Darker Overtones, October 10, 2010

By 

R. Rosener “Photomatic” (St. Louis, MO United States) –

  

  

Viva Van Story follows in the great tradition of female pin up photographers: Bunny Yeager, and Paula Klaw. Most of the racier and more memorable photographs of Betty Page are wrongly attributed to Photographer Irving Klaw. Few know that the studio was run with his sister Paula, and that she took many of the bondage shots of Betty, as well as did her hair, make up, and poses.

So now we have Viva following in Paula’s fishet footsteps with a bevy of gorgeous models in fetishistic poses. To be honest, many of the latter Fetish photographers leave me cold. Their work is too polished and commercialized; I cut my teeth on the Betty Page photos as a boy. Back in the late ’60s and early ’70’s my father kept a stash of old magazines and photos…late some nights he would get these out and “read” the articles. One night as a 6 or 7 year old boy I woke up and there was Dad, looking at photos of a Gorgeous Brunette in some distress. I stood staring for a while in the doorway. He knew I was there, and should be asleep. “Come in here”. He said. “You should be asleep now” He scolded. “But I’ll let you look at these if you promise not to tell your mother.” I agreed, and have been hooked on Fetishistic photos of lovely women ever since….

Later in college I discovered Helmut Newton, and then Eric Kroll. They were and are interesting photographers in that the Fetish was only part of the image. They somehow hinted at something much deeper and more strange. The strangeness derives from the concept that Sexual Fetishes may not be so uncommon after all! In fact they may be lurking in all sorts of nooks and crannies in images seen on Television, Advertising, Home Magazines etc. Viva follows in this mold and adds her own style to it. Look for the black and white images on Televsion in her photographs. Often the women seem to be in reaction not to some unseen Paramour, but to the fantasies brought to life on motel TV screens.

Viva’s models are beautiful without being barbie dolls. They have more curves than the Photoshopped Victoria’s Secret women. I’d like to think she does very minimal if any retouching on them. Her sets are amazing! I don’t know where she gets all these props. They exquisitely recreate the glossy “Crime” and “Adventure” pulp magazines of the 50’s and early 60’s. She creates an entire movie set in a single frame. This is no easy feat! Yet some of my favorite photographs in the book are done outside the studio or with minimal sets; The Blurry Bondage chair shot in Black and White on Page 150, The bathtub closeups on pages 156 and 157 as well as the final color plate on P.171 seem to hint at a night of role playing which took a bad turn….

But I equally enjoyed the minimal, surrealistic black and white compositions on pages 163, 164, and 165. These are worthy of Helmut Newton’s Hasselblad! But don’t worry about this book being too polluted with high art aspirations. Viva’s girls are solidly in the delicious Low Brow Motel of Outsider Art. There is plenty of Nekkid Alabaster Female Flesh, squeezed, stretched, corseted and cleaved any way you can imagine. If you’re a female derriere fan this is a fun ride for sure! If you were disappointed by recent Fetish photography books like “Studio 666” Viva’s Girls will delight and sustain your scopophilia without leaving you empty. The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars is that I would like to have read a bit more about the Mysterious Viva Van Story in her own words…whether it was truthful or apocryphal.

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