In 40 years, Beachwood shutterbug Herb Ascherman has snapped enough photos of tattooed, toned, and wrinkled physiques to wallpaper Northeast Ohio. He's singled out 100 pics of his "grown-up children at play" for his retrospective exhibit,
Bodies: 1967-2007. "I'm a paid voyeur, and this pulls together one of the long-standing themes of my career," says Ascherman. "This show is about people and what they do with their bodies."Introverts, take note: (Prudes? Moralists?) The steamy collection of images depicts nude dancers in motion and fetishists slinging whips and paddles. "With the dancers, I had to keep up with what they created. With the amateurs, I preferred an environmental setting outside of the studio," says Ascherman. "You'd be surprised how you don't have to go very far for the unusual."Ascherman caught all the images on film through the soft-focus lens of an 80-year-old Verito camera to replicate the quality of the first-known nude shots taken in the 1870s. But don't call them porn. "As a photographer, you're so concerned with the technical aspects that there is absolutely no emotion involved. It's not a sexual experience; these aren't made to titillate," says Ascherman. "If you look at it and can't walk away, I'm satisfied." Bodies: 1967-2007 is on display from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, noon to 3 p.m. Sundays, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays through Friday, February 15, at Corcoran Fine Arts Gallery, 13210 Shaker Square. Admission is free. Call 216-397-0777 or visit
www.corcoranfinearts.com.
Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, 12-6 p.m.; Wednesdays, Fridays, 12-8 p.m. Starts: Nov. 29. Continues through Feb. 15, 2007
