London photographer Julie Cook Releases New Book SOME LAS VEGAS STRIP CLUBS

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Julie cook some las vegas strip clubs, with writing by paul davies

London, UK, May 05, 2009 (PressReleasePoint) -- SOME LAS VEGAS STRIP CLUBS is a book by London photographer JULIE COOK. With the lights up and empty of people the photographs allow you to engage with a varied and often surprising architecture. The exteriors landscapes are all photographed in daylight and the interiors with the lights up. Some of the interiors are fantastic in their use of ‘luxury’ materials and design, some are not, but they are all public fantasy spaces. They invite fantasies of what might take place when the lights are down but at the same time reveal the illusion that construct them. Not unlike photography and its relationship to desire. The work represents over five years of work on this subject.

The work continues Julie Cook’s interest in sexuality and voyeurism and our desire for fantasy and escape in western culture. It also questions the position of the female gaze within it. The work began in London with the award-winning book, ‘Baby Oil and Ice, Striptease in East London’, that looked at London Pub striptease and gave a voice to those who worked in that world. Some Las Vegas Strip Clubs is about the clubs themselves, photographed using medium format film and saturated colour that both elevate and highlight the components and symbols of desire in the 21st century. The environments encourage sexual freedom for many men, but also for women as the clubs open up specific areas for male striptease.

Architecturally, there is much of a promenade, from car park, through threshold, into the lobby, into the club, then, usually rather cautiously, into the dance areas and maybe the more intimate private or VIP lap dancing areas. Without the dancers and the customers Julie Cook’s photographs look at the different levels of influence and control that these environments assert. They consider the representation of desire as a physical commodity.

The cover is a nod to Ed Ruscha’s small publications (Thirty Four Parking Lots in Los Angeles). Julie Cook’s also include admires the work of Stephen Shore and William Eggleston, Philip Lorcia DiCorcia, Nan Goldin.

‘As Iraqi men squabble over a sledgehammer to bash away at a statue of Saddam Hussein, and coalition tanks swarm into the central districts of Baghdad, we are preparing to photograph a $15 million lap dancing club, based if my dreams are anything to go by, on the plan of St Maggiore in Rome’ Paul Davies

JULIE COOK is a senior lecturer on Photography at University of East London. Other publications include ‘Baby Oil and Ice, Striptease in East London’ (Do-Not Press 2002), ‘Zeropolis, The Experience of Las Vegas (Reaktion 2003), the Las Vegas Diaries (Back in Black Publishing 2005). The work continues Julie Cook’s interest in sexuality and voyeurism and our desire for fantasy and escape in western culture.

PAUL DAVIES lectures on architecture at The Architectural Association and London Southbank University. He is widely published including the Las Vegas Diaries (Back in Black Publishing 2005). Some Las Vegas Strip Clubs includes an essay is from the Las Vegas Diaries, 2006, a limited edition book that documents the collaborative experience of visiting Las Vegas with Julie Cook.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: julie.cook@virgin.net +44(0)7966284085

BOOK ORDERS AND PREVIEW: www.juliecookphotography.com
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