robert flynt – ultrawolvesunderthefullmoon

Photography by Robert Flynt

Beginning in the mid-1980s, New York–based artist and photographer Robert Flynt shot clothed and nude figures, primarily male, underwater. By employing a variety of specialized (then analog) printing techniques, including multiple exposure, his nudes summon feelings of loss or the rapturous movement of sexual encounter. Flynt’s work reconsiders traditional notions of beauty by entering unfamiliar depths that foster sensual immersion in the viewer. His poetic images provide a new context for viewing the human form in relation to other bodies, space, and history.

“We look to (and at) images to find information: practical, aesthetic, erotic, and points between or overlapping. We are often seduced; we believe the photograph’s illusory diorama of a point in time, the diagram or chart’s authoritative organization of fact. My primary concern is to re-imagine the human body – in relation to its own assumed/perceived structure, as well as to “others” (other bodies, spaces, systems). In my montage based work, each image is the intersection of two layers: one a figure photographed with limited control (underwater or in a pitch dark studio), the other a found photograph or textbook illustration. In combining two often contradictory vocabularies, I aim to subvert their ostensible subject while harnessing their respective power(s).”

-Robert Flynt

The “History” Series by Robert Flynt

Robert Flynt is a graduate of the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and its post-graduate program in Rome. He lives and works in upstate New York. His “History” series, reproduced in “Your Numbered Days”, literally combines found images of the past with images of the present and metaphorically transcends the intersections of then and now.

“Fading, distorted, out of focus men seem to be Flynt’s metaphorical reminders of the ephemeral, transitory nature of the physical body and the fragility of the spirit. In some photographs, figures converge with deceased ancestors or ancient art. Floating bodies share space with planetary bodies and celestial heavens. These are poetic meditations on our connections to the past and our place in the infinite cosmos.” -Vance Martin

“We look to (and at) images to find information: practical, aesthetic, erotic, and points between or overlapping. We are often seduced; we believe the photograph’s illusory diorama of a point in time, the diagram or chart’s authoritative organization of fact. My primary concern is to re-imagine the human body – in relation to its own assumed / perceived structure, as well as to “others” (other bodies, spaces, systems). Each image is the intersection of two layers: one a figure photographed with limited control (usually underwater), the other a found photograph or textbook illustration.” – Robert Flynt