Christer
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Swedish-born photographer Christer, AKA Christer Rosewell, specializes in fine
art and erotic images, exploring the human condition through the medium of photography.
His images evoke the deep-seated and often hidden fears and fantasies of his
subjects, compelling both model and viewer to explore aspects of themselves
of which they may have previously been unaware.
Christer's work has been influenced by his life experiences. Although he began
as a musician and self-taught photographer early in life, he set both aside
following a personal tragedy. While he always had cameras around him and liked
the feel of them, he didn't return to photography until many years later when
asked to do a photo shoot as a favor to the daughter of a friend. He is a prolific
artist, producing a remarkable quantity of high-quality images of great originality
and vision in the few short years since he re-dedicated himself to photography.
He credits his upbringing in Sweden with instilling in him a passionate devotion
to equality, justice, and freedom of expression --an unswerving dedication which
is especially evident in his images of women.
A significant portion of Christer's work consists of black and white images
of women that reveal their beauty, strength, humor, and resilience in the face
of passion, subjugation, inequality and violence. The power of his images provokes
strong reactions, positive and negative, causing his work to be periodically
censored.
Fans of his erotic images note his ability to bring out the elusive, deeply
secret fantasy woman that most women see themselves as but that they rarely
allow anyone else to see, or even acknowledge to themselves.
In other series of images, Christer's early life experience as a musician and
performer enables him to capture the movement and vitality of dancers and musicians,
many of whom hail from New Orleans. These vibrant and colorful images place
the viewer squarely in the center of the event or performance, providing a detailed
glimpse of a special moment in time that would otherwise be lost.
His masterful manipulation of light and shadow lends many of his color images
an ethereal quality reminiscent of the Impressionist painters of the 19th century.
In the black and white photography, shadows take on a life of their own, appearing
almost as distinct characters side-by-side with the human models. The results
are often images that seem to change shape and substance, bringing to mind the
prints of the Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher.
Preferring to let his images speak for themselves, Christer puts himself firmly
in the background, never letting himself be photographed unless there is a camera
in front of his face. Decrying the typical artists' statements as pretentious
attempts to obscure lack of vision or talent, he prefers to state simply that
"The only thing that matters is what YOU - the viewer of my images FEEL
and THINK when you look at my work."
Although his work is highly sought by groups and individuals desiring a unique
view of themselves or their events, he carefully selects his commissions, requiring
there to be a meeting of the minds between himself and the subject before undertaking
the commission.
In addition to private commissions, he also performs photography on behalf of
charitable groups such as the Common Ground Collective. In response to growing
demand, he is currently planning a series of master's classes to be offered
in Europe.
His work has been most recently published side-by-side with photographers such
as Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Mario Testino, and Roy Stuart by the
well-known publishing firm of Carroll and Graf.
In 2002, Christer established a studio in New Orleans. He lost his studio and
thousands of prints when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Although still deeply affected by that tragedy, he has recently expanded his
portfolio to include his first-ever landscape images taken while visiting Saskatchewan,
Canada. These images are forcefully capturing the vastness and beauty of the
immensity of the prairie and the courage and fortitude of the people who conquered
this seemingly never-ending land.
[edit] Bibliography
The Mammoth Book of Illustrated Erotica /edited by Maxim Jakubowski & Marilyn
Jaye Lewis (New York : Carroll & Graf, 2002) 512 pages; ISBN 0786709219
The Art Fix, August 2005, Issue 74.
[edit] External links
Categories: Erotic artists | Swedish photographers | Photographers | Fashion
photographers | Erotica