Biography:
Nadav Kander was born in Israel, grew up in South Africa and moved to London in the 1980s. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine, Dazed& Confused, and The Sunday Times Magazine. Recent commissions include campaigns for Adidas, Reebok, Levis, Rolex, Absolut Vodka and Stella Artois.
He has won numerous awards from D&AD and the John Kobal Foundation in the UK; Epica in Europe and the Art Director’s Club and IPA in the USA. He was elected for the National Portrait Gallery Photographic Portrait Prize Exhibitions in 2005 and 2007.
Nadav’s work forms part of the public
collection at the National Portrait Gallery
and the V&A Museum in London. He
recently exhibited at the Shanghai Art
Museum and his last solo show Keep
Your Distance, appeared at the Palais
de Tokyo in Paris (2005). Publications
of his work include his first monograph,
Beauty’s Nothing and an exhibition
catalogue entitled Night.
Notes
Nadav Kander grew up in South Africa during apartheid and had very limited access to current visual material. Instead, he had to rely upon a limited library of books, whose subjects included photography, Russian Constructivism and painting. He quickly realised that he liked the work of the photographer Edward Weston and artists such as Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko. These influences are clearly seen in his portrait work and creative work.
In his words, he wants to put tension on the page. He uses references from his painters to help compose his subject matter and when considering a sitter for a portrait, needs to have a response to his subject. Nadav cites decay, the "underbelly of his subject", architecture and the world of Art as influences in his work.
He is totally at ease with his photographic gift, to the point of being egotistical. On more than one occasion he said, "once they have seen my work, then they will listen to me."
Key points Nadav made:
Nadav's approach to what he likes is to question why he likes it? He asks himself, "why is it good; what do I like and not like about it?"
Perhaps this focused analysis, which he uses like a familiar tool at every stage of his wor k, explains in some way his talent in photography.
Brian Ashbrooke-Motte
De Montfort University