| With a history of more than 20 years of having his images published in the Belgium’s most prominent weeklies and monthlies, Jean Van Cleemput has been established as one of the country’s most acclaimed photographers for quite some time. More recently, Van Cleemput has also gained international recognition after publishing his first book Beluga (Goliath, 2005), a sparkling blend of high end-style seafood recipes with nude photography and enriched with a touch of surrealism and humor. The worldwide success of Beluga soon landed Van Cleemput another chance to share his interesting view on erotic images with an international audience… |  |
Jean Van Cleemut – Bart Cop
With a history of more than 20 years of having his images published in the Belgium’s most prominent weeklies and monthlies, Jean Van Cleemput has been established as one of the country’s most acclaimed photographers for quite some time. More recently, Van Cleemput has also gained international recognition after publishing his first book Beluga (Goliath, 2005), a sparkling blend of high end-style seafood recipes with nude photography and enriched with a touch of surrealism and humor. The worldwide success of Beluga soon landed Van Cleemput another chance to share his interesting view on erotic images with an international audience, as he was asked to join a list of the world’s most celebrated nude photographers in the recently published The New Erotic Photography, which came out just this year. Be it his love for art, food or the nude, Van Cleemput is already working on a new project, again involving top-notch art cuisine and erotic pictures. “Diana,” an even more surrealistic approach to erotic photography, will see Van Cleemput combine food and the nude in his unique characteristic way. “My love for surrealism dates back to my days as a photography student,” says the protagonist, who shares his hometown of Antwerp with surrealist Marcel Mariën. He explains also that “Man Ray, Magritte, but even more so Guy Bourdin and Cheyko Leidmann—each one of these figures influenced my approach to photography greatly. I especially like the way the surrealist touch smoothens the whole porno edge that eventually comes through in all nude photography. A little twist of humor on top of that is the icing on the cake for me.”
