Richard Kern

Richard Kern
Richard Kern was born in North Carolina and has lived and worked in New York City for more than 30 years. Although currently most known as a portrait photographer, in the ‘80s Kern directed short death-punk films that are now recognized as central works of the Cinema of Transgression movement.

Kern’s photographs have been published in magazines like Purple, Barely Legal and Vice. He seeks to bring light to the complex, darker sides of human nature with his dry and matter-of-fact approach.

For the past 13 years, Kern has devoted himself primarily to gallery shows and his VBS series “Shot By Kern,” that began in 2005. He’s published 11 books. His films and photographs have been exhibited at over 30 solo shows around the world, the MOMA, the Whitney museum and now as part of his Altamont tee collection.

Richard Kern: Cut from a Different Cloth