The Space Between Us

In the preface for his latest photo essay, photographer Ohm Phanphiroj promised to transport the audience to a place "real yet imaginative." In doing so he's taken a simpler approach to his often more enigmatic fashion and editorial work. In "The Space Between Us" the purpose of the photographs is to examine the longing of a lost love, a tantric trick or an elusive lover.

The work delivered in both black and white as well as color images can appear exploitative and somewhat contrived; the artist's models are carefully chosen and although most appear to evoke that dangerously wild abandon of young love, there is still a generous bit of sex and provocative images to keep the viewer engaged. The photographer's eye captures the brilliance of natural light and shadows.

Peering behind closed doors or down between the locker room, Phanphiroj is able to create those moments both lovingly expressed in their ecstasy and electric in their erotic intensity. There isn't anything particularly "highbrow" about the narrative and sometimes, the pictures look like an uneven exchange between two suitors across a social networking platform in the playful allure of the chase.

"The Space Between Us" is simple in its exploration, and yet still greatly engaging. If hanging out in the locker room and cruising the local college night at the local watering hole is your sort of thing, there is bound to be something that will appeal to your sense of the decadent within the light and shadow, the space that separates us and yet is able to bring us closer still.

"The Space Between Us"
by Ohm Phanphiroj
$29.99
www.brunogmuender.com