Bling Bling Baby!

Flaming flowers and lollipop hipsters, glittery façades and wallpaper Alps? In recent years a new canon of images has been developing in fine arts photography in which the art of exaggeration meets the glorification of the superficial. From glam fashion to the poetry of nature, from the pop portrait to the ironic mise-en-scène, new stances in photography display a preference for anything that's opulent, sugary sweet, and trivial. This elaborately designed volume comes with an embossed hard cover and silver edging that's as gaudy as its photographs. It's inspired by the 'bling' of hip-hop, meaning things such as rhinestones or a desire to show off one's wealth. The publication, edited by the curator and journalist Nadine Barth, presents the most prominent approaches to this fascinating direction, which explore the boundaries of the medium with wit and overwhelming color.