FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH: a classic image from Bob Carlos Clarke’s legendary creative collaborations with latex fashion pioneer Daniel James

Bob Carlos Clarke London show

London’s Little Black Gallery commemorates the photography of the legendary Bob Carlos Clarke, who died in 2006, with a new exhibition, Living Dolls, opening this Saturday (May 10).

It’s a fortuitous start date, as the city will be awash with kinksters preparing to attend Torture Garden’s Birthday Ball at the Coronet, after quite possibly targeting Libidex’s one-day latex cellar sale at its Bloomsbury HQ earlier the same day!

Supported by Olympus, Living Dolls marks the tenth anniversary of Clarke’s final exhibition in 2004, Love-Dolls Never Die, before his untimely death in April 2006.

It includes a selection of images from the Love-Dolls series, some special ‘one-off’ photographs from the archives, plus 18 classic B&W images, and runs until June 21.

Bob Carlos Clarke, born in Cork, Ireland in 1950, worked in almost every sphere of photography, winning numerous awards for his high-profile advertising campaigns, recognition for his photo-journalism and portraits of celebrities, and international acclaim from collectors of fine prints.

He produced six books: The Illustrated Delta of Venus (1979), Obsession (1981), The Dark Summer (1985), White Heat (1990), Shooting Sex (2002), and Love-Dolls Never Die (2004).

His work was a major influence on many of today’s fetish photographers. His fetish projects included a noted collaboration with original Skin Two club latex designer Daniel James, featured collectively in the glossy ‘catalogue’ Maid in Londonand individually in the pages of his books.

In summer 2004, he collaborated on a fashion cover story for Skin Two magazine’s 20th birthday issue (No48) which featured Emily Marilyn modelling latex from six top London designers.

I had the pleasure, as Skin Two’s editor, of organising that shoot, and I well remember Bob joking later that no one had ever made him work so hard for so little money. TM

Thursday, 8 May 2014

www.thelittleblackgallery.com