Nadav Kander Bücher

Regardless of his sitter—whether family member or influential celebrity—Nadav Kander’s portraiture shows what makes that particular individual human. His aim is to move beyond capturing an accurate likeness—to access the emotions within, the uncertainty, the shadow as much as the light, the complex sense of self that otherwise lays hidden. “Revealed and concealed, beauty and destruction, ease and disease, shame and shameless,” explains Kander, “These paradoxes are essential to all my work and represent what is common to all my varied subject matter…” This collection, the first book dedicated his portraiture, shows the range and nuance of Kander’s work. With his minimal and intuitive approach, Kander shows his interest in universal experience, which transcends the specificity of public persona or status. His enigmatic depictions of actors, artists, musicians, authors, sports icons and political leaders—from Barack Obama, John le Carré, Alexander McQueen, to Tracey Emin, Robert Plant and Prince Charles—are layered and penetrating, revealing unexpected moments of reverie and vulnerability.

Rooted in an interest in the 'aesthetics of destruction', Nadav Kander's most recent project Dust explores the vestiges of the Cold War through the radioactive ruins of secret cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia.

Nadav Kander's work is a varied interplay of influences. His restrained and articulate compositions have a clarity and calm that draw the viewer into zen-like states. His unique skill is especially manifest in his spare and muted landscapes and his straight portraits. This book deals with his work.

The Yangtze river flows 4,100 miles across China, traveling from its furthest westerly point in the Qinghai province to Shanghai in the east. The river is embedded in the consciousness of the Chinese, and plays a significant role in both the spiritual and physical life of the people. Using the river as a metaphor for constant change, Nadav Kander (born 1961) has photographed the landscape and people along its banks from mouth to source. "After several trips to different parts of the river, it became clear that what I was responding to and how I felt whilst being in China was permeating into my pictures," he records; "a formalness and unease, a country that feels both at the beginning of a new era and at odds with itself."