NSFW: Chuck Samuels frequently photographs or films himself. While his work has been exhibited internationally quite extensively since 1980, this is the artist’s first solo show in New York City. His work often touches upon art history, feminism, and psychoanalysis. For this exhibit, Before The Camera, Samuels recreated twelve astonishingly faithful portraits of nude women from the history of photography by modern masters like Paul Outerbridge, Man Ray, and Richard Avedon, among others. From the press release:

“…in place of the female subjects, Samuels has staged himself 'before the camera.' Samuels caps his deconstructive statement by asking women to click the shutter release on the camera, finalizing his gender inversion. While everyone is aware of the ubiquity and violence of female objectification in Western culture, by parodying these iconic art historical images with his own body, Samuels establishes himself as an erotic object, confusing a typically implicit male gaze. As Deborah Bright writes in her groundbreaking book “The Passionate Camera”:
'Samuels’ photographs expose the consistent heterosexist underpinnings of elite culture and taste as he vamps and camps through official photo history. Even better, he overtly homosexualizes those master photographers whose signature styles remain carefully preserved'.”

Chuck Samuels: Before The Camera opens at Clamp Art tonight in Chelsea and runs through March 28, 2015. For more info and “explicit" works, go here.

Chuck Samuels, After Outerbridge; Paul Outerbridge, "Woman With Claws", 1937