Ken Schles Bücher

For a decade, Ken Schles watched the passing of time from his Lower East Side neighbourhood. His camera fixed the instances of his observations, and these moments became the foundation of his invisible city. Friends and architecture come under the scrutiny of his lens and, when sorted and viewed in the pages of this book, a remarkable achievement of personal vision emerges. Twenty-five years later, 'Invisible city' still has the ability to transfix the viewer. Documenting his life in New York City's East Village during its heyday in the tumultuous 1980s, Schles captured its look and attitude in delirious and dark verité. Long out of print, this 'missing link' in the history of the photographic book is now once again made available. Using scans from the original negatives and Steidl's five plate technique to bring out nuance and detail never seen before in print, this masterful edition transcends the original, bringing this underground cult classic into the 21st century for a new generation to discover.

Twelve years after the legendary success of his first book of photographs, Invisible City, Ken Schles returns with his long-awaited sophomore effort, The Geometry of Innocence. Schles's focus is on the relentless shifting of social structures and spaces that mark the urban landscape of today. His images form a kind of visual roller coaster, sending the viewer onto city streets and playgrounds, into pubs and bars, putting the viewer inside a police helicopter and taking them to death row, hospital rooms, and police interventions. While there is no "story" per se, this breathless sequence of pictures is condensed into thematic clusters, providing a spellbinding and almost physically palpable experience. The works in The Geometry of Innocence address and play upon the immediacy and relativity of meaning in the photographic image, creating a bold and highly nuanced artistic statement.