TonyWardStudio.com

The Figure

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Post by Corey Armpriester

With art, cigarettes and sex on my mind, I sit down with Philadelphia’s very own agent provocateur, photographer Tony Ward, for a little talk, revealing a man with drive and ambitions fueled by art and costing him his marriage. Art as home wrecker–I’m sure spouses of artists can understand such a thing.

The Philadelphia photographer’s work runs the gamut from high art to low, from gallery exhibits to Bob Guccione and Penthouse Magazine. Sitting across the table from Tony Ward, I get the impression he has the confidence of a man whose ancestors follow him around everywhere he goes, except during moments of silence, his eyes share a melancholy and introspection he tightly controls; I suspect this recipe is a powerful source of seduction (the emotional tease).

If you’re an artist and have ever fantasized about traveling and exhibiting your work in galleries around the world, selling your art for thousands of dollars and having it stored in international museum collections while working on your sixth book in-between, and working on a constant stream of magazine spreads, then Tony Ward is living out your dreams in his life. How did that happen? What does it take to get that far? He talks about art patronage, feminism, space cakes, Thandie Newton and agents re-emerging to assist him in making the right introductions. He gives both the carnage and inspiration of art life, yearning for itself.

Ward will be showing some of his work at The University of Pennsylvania’s Fox Gallery, Feb. 17 to March 5, 2010.

German Penthouse, 1996

Corey Armpriester-Germany has been very good to you, what is your relationship to the German people?
Tony Ward-It’s so true that Germany was a spring board for me. What happened was my agent in New York was Henrietta Brackman; she came out of retirement to represent me. Henrietta introduced me to Ursula Kreis, another well known New York agent who introduced me to the right people at the right time, which resulted in my having shows in Hamburg, Berlin and other German cities.

CA-Are you surprised that your photograph titled, “The Figure” sold for $18,000?
TW-I wasn’t really that surprised, only because I think it’s one of my best works; a gallery in Paris decided to invest in a print that warrants that kind of price, and a collector I met at the opening bought the piece.

The patron

CA-How important was Bob Guccione to your career? (Guccione is founder and once publisher of Penthouse magazine).
TW-Bob Guccione was pivotal because during 1995, I was producing a lot of free work, work for myself, and I was getting into a very creative zone. A friend of mine that had worked along side of Bob in the ’80s suggested I send Bob a portfolio. I sent a set of prints to his house on 16 East 67th Street in NYC; after he saw those prints he decided to feature me in the September 1996 Anniversary Issue, 16 pages that launched my career in the adult print industry. He was my patron of the arts for almost 10 years; I had an open checkbook to produce as much material as he could publish for many years. That’s what enabled me to travel to Europe so much.

CA-Do you think the grain in your photographs distinguishes your work from pornography?
TW-There’s certainly artifice built into the structure of my work to try and avoid the stigma of being labeled a pornographer, because the facts are that I was engaged in these kinds of shoots really looking for a means to express the art of it not the sex of it.

CA-Do you think the grain gets in the way of using the images as a masturbatory aid?
TW-I never considered my images to be masturbatory at all. In fact someone came up to me once and said, “Tony I find your images masturbatory”; I was almost insulted or repulsed, that was the consequence of some of the work.

CA-Why is the strap-on so important?
TW-That was just a visual tool we used; it was one of the protocols, especially when shooting lesbian scenes.

CA-Using one word, describe the vagina.
TW-Flower

CA-Is branding your name a dehumanizing act?
TW-No, I think branding a name is important for survival. It’s a business decision that most artists make at some point in their career. At the end of the day, Art is a form of branding. I’m encouraging young artist to be more self-sufficient and brand themselves via the internet.

Part Two of the interview will be posted tomorrow……

Tony Ward Interview

S.M. Where does your work start?

T.W. With a good cup of coffee at 7:00 AM with friends at a cafe near the studio. First, I stay current with the news by reading the paper front to back. We cajole about current events and after a while I head back to the studio to ponder who I will photograph or write about next for the daily blog which was launched in August of this year.

S.M. What most inspires you?

T.W. Well, over a 30 year career I’ve been fortunate enough to have been inspired by many things and or event’s in my life. Early in my career, I was inspired by the great documentary photographers that produced pictures for the big glossies. Life and Look are a couple that come to mind that included the photograph’s of legends, W. Eugene Smith and Gordon Parks. When I studied photography in college, especially during my two year enrollment in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, I became more interested in commercial, particularly fashion photography and it’s impact on our visual culture. At that time, the late 70′s, I was inspired by the work of Avedon, Newton, Hiro and Bourdon. In the early 80′s, I found inspiration in corporate culture by being employed by one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Smithkline Corporation. After a four year stint at Smithkline, I opened a full service photography studio that produced imagery for many fortune 500 companies. The 90′s inspired me to explore the world of erotica, to travel and photograph women, preferably in the nude at various locations in Amsterdam, Hamburg, London, Paris, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and of course Philadelphia, my home. This decade is still being defined.

Interview

S.M. What do you like most about your work?

T.W. The freedom to express myself and most recently to put my thought’s in to words via the blogosphere.

S.M. What are the worst bits of your career so far?

T.W. The worst has been, at times when I was raising my family, I produced many pictures purely out of the motivation to make money, a means to an end. At that point in my career, although I was making a good living, the freedom that I had always sought in my work, particularly the subject matter was lost. I like many folk’s was ruled by the almighty dollar and was seduced by America’s capitalist culture. The best is when I work with a new subject, like a piece of raw clay….alway’s fascinated to see how I can mold it and to see what evolves from the encounter.

TW Interview

S.M. What are your plans for the future?

T.W. My immediate plans are a full time commitment to the daily blog. There are two new book projects ready to go to press and the development of a new fragrance.

S.M. How do you incorporate the variety of influences in your work?

T.W. The best thing I have found recently is the blog. It allows me to publish a variety of my interests and influences under one communications platform.

S.M. Where are you from, born, living?

T.W. When I am asked this question, which is fairly often, I refer to our current president Barack Obama. I also come from mixed parentage. My father’s root’s were African, although he was born in the south, Savannah, Georgia. He and his mother and younger brother, like many other people of color during that period of American history, migrated north for better opportunity. For a time, they lived in Harlem, then moved to Philadelphia where he met my mother Jean, a white woman of Italian descent. She was born and raised in South Philadelphia. They had three children. I was the last and have been living in Philly ever since. The city of brotherly love.

S.M. What’s your favorite thing right now?

T.W. Publishing the new books, the blog and as always pursuing the next subject!

TONY WARD INTERVIEW

TAKES FIVE QUESTIONS

TW: How did you arrive at the pseudonym Atomic bombshell?

AB: A few years back, I reached out to some of my male friends for ideas on my alter-ego. I was just offered to write a weekly dating advice
column for men so I really needed something that was fitting. It was Kato Kaelin who responded back with just “Atomic Bombshell.” I
loved it! To me, it was a perfect fit.

TW: Describe the difference between the persona of Jennifer Grabel and Atomic Bombshell?

AB: I say this all the time, but Atomic Bombshell is more like a sexy Marvel comic book hero. Writing under AB or doing internet radio, I
think people expect a big personality from the Bombshell. She says and does what she wants. Jennifer is professional, reserved and
contained.

ATOMIC BOMBSHELL

TW: How does a single attractive woman with child in her 30′s manage personal life and career?

AB: I don’t think it’s ever easy. It’s not something you can just manage. You have to live it, and make good choices for you and your child. Being single in this day and age, is far from easy. Especially since the social norm for dating is constantly changing. It seems like we are
moving away from a lot of the “coupling values” that I was taught growing up.”

TW: What do you look for when you consider a date with a single male?

AB: Ahahahaha! I’m sorry this question just makes me laugh! First thing that came to mind was “Is he working?” Honestly, I think it’s a
combination of things. Initially, it’s chemistry and a sense of humor and kindness.

Atomic Bombshell

TW: Since you are in the business of event planning for a variety of client’s, what is the key to your success?

AB: I think that I am a naturally mutable person. I understand many different types of people. Not to mention, I love what I do. I take pride
in it. I’m also very social and I love talking to people. Fundamentally, I feel those things are important in succeeding with my business.