Alain Bali

"Photographer Alain Bali's dangerous, evocative and erotic work reflects time spent in Beirut, Paris, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Utilizing both black and white and color, photographic artist Alain Bali captures the anticipation and aftermath of destruction, using classical photographic equipment and formats, enhanced by digital retouching techniques. Many images document the anarchistic impulses of the punk music era, as well as the ruin of war. A sense of danger and surreal dread permeates Bali's work, whether creating portraits of veiled Lebanese women processing local hashish on a concrete floor, a rare glimpse into the secretive world of hash makers of the Bekaa Valley or posing "MADMEN". Welcome to the underbelly of the Hollywood dream, channeling nudies around a supernaturally turquoise swimming pool, where even the sunlight seems subterranean."

Publications: all available on Amazon

"I'm a Cliché": Paris / London, Punk Wave (BJEP)

"Drifting": Street Photography Paris (BJEP)

"Lebanese Red": Growing Hashish in the Bekaa Valley

"Kyoto": Zen Photography

"Tokyo Love": The Concrete Jungle

"Paris Underground": The dark side of the City of Lights

"Made in Lebanon": The Aesthetic of Destruction

"Cheap Dates": Glamour of 1960's Erotic Photography

"Girlfriends": The Hollywood Years

"Miss You": Another kind of beauty pageant

"The Other Fragonard": Human Anatomy as Art

"Les Rencontres d'Arles, 41th Edition": Heavy Duty and Razor Sharp

"Des Jeunes Gens Modernes": Post Punk, Cold Wave et Culture Novo in France

Exhibitions

Gallerie Agathe Gaillard (Paris), Gallery du Jour (Paris), Gallery Agnes B (Hong-Kong), Rencontres Internationales d'Arles, Cité de La Musique (exposition Gainsbourg) (Paris), gallery Espace Art 22 (Brussels) Gallery Hautefeuille (Paris), Gallery Robert Reynolds (Los Angeles)

Recent show; "Europunk" - October 15/2013 to January 19/2014

Paris - Cité de La Musique (Paris)

I started photography at a young age, thanks to my father.

The man was taking so much time to snap our family pictures, that by the time

he got the frame right... everyone was gone, except my old aunt Helen who could barely walk.

One day I grabbed his Kodak Retina, snapped the shot in no time, cheered by everybody, I took over his job.

Soon after, I was directing the shots. I was 11 years old, the camera gave me the power to control adults, to decide where I wanted them stand, how to pose... I was fascinated by the power of this small piece of metal I was holding in my hands. Still am.