Lust Circus [Hardcover]

Discovering a potential in fetish subject matter that appealed to him, he might easily, some five years ago, have followed the by then well-established route of hiring models for studio shoots and producing standard fetish pin-up material – had it not been for his friendship with one particular professional dominatrix. Through this friendship, Naz found himself being afforded access to the professional and play activities of many leading West Coast fetish scene people, and it is this privileged position, this unique insider viewpoint which informs the photography we find in Lust Circus.

Where other photographers seek simply to perpetuate the familiar visual clichés of fetish fantasy – the stern, whip-wielding dominatrix, the bound and quivering slave – Dave Naz seems equally concerned with capturing the humour and humanity of his subjects. And because of his easy interaction with them, there is a disarming and often deceptive casualness about many of the fetish images he produces. In their vivid colours, jaunty angles and bold cropping, Naz’s pictures of pervs at work and leisure bring something of the immediacy of the Polaroid and the playfulness of the holiday snap to a genre which is often accused of taking itself too seriously. It was this unusual vibrancy that first attracted me to publishing his work in my own magazine.

Invited into the dungeons of top West Coast dominas, Dave Naz photographs these women modelling everything from hardcore fetish finery to the wispiest of lingerie, and captures lustful scenes with slaves that range from light flogging to heavy bondage to hot waxing. Like most fetish photographers, he clearly enjoys shooting girl-on-girl action, but in his images of mistresses with their male clients is demonstrated a refreshing willingness to document the kind of sadomasochism that actually pays the rent. Away from the dungeon, he is equally adept capturing another kind of fetish performance – the kind that involves dressing up and strutting your stuff around the streets, parks, gardens and ubiquitous pools of LA.

Everyone working in the fetish genre got involved for different reasons. Dave Naz may have begun his fetish career more by accident than design, but Lust Circus proves he has what it takes to be a fetish high flyer.

Tony Mitchell

Exhibitions:

1998 - "Move 2" curated by Rich Jacobs, New Image Art (Los Angeles, Ca)

1999 - "The Bathroom Show" curated by Marsea Goldberg, New Image Art (Los Angeles, Ca)

2000 - "Move 5" curated by Rich Jacobs, Art Works / Bergamot Station (Los Angeles, Ca)

2000 - "The Portrait Show", curated by Marsea Goldberg, New Image Art (Los Angeles, Ca.)

2001 - "Neu-rotica", curated by Anthony Ausgang, Holly Matters (Los Angeles, Ca)

2001 - "Untitled", Eye Five Gallery (Los Angeles, Ca)

2001 - "Off The Hook" curated by Shana Nys Dambrot, SK Gallery (Los Angeles, Ca)

2001 - "Beyond The Norm", Eclate Gallery (Geneva, Switzerland)