"Color Explosion" is the culmination of a project Mark Henderson has been thinking about and talking about and creating images for, almost since his photography career began. The pictures in this book are a striking counterpoint to the images in his previous publication, Lap of Luxury, which consists of photographs with an intentionally subtle palette of whites, grays, blacks, beiges, and the like. Here, dazzling color is the primary formal motif. The expressive power of color in art, and in photography especially, has long fascinated Henderson: “Color has an immediacy, a sensory quality that can elicit emotions and instantly draw the viewer into an imageâ€, explains the photographer, a trained art historian himself.
Anyone familiar with the photographs in most of Henderson’s previous books (with the exception of Lap of Luxury) will know that the integration of certain elements of saturated color are a hallmark of his personal style, so this is not necessarily new territory for him. But with "Color Explosion" he has taken the idea a step further. In many images, large swaths of bright, jewel-like color or colored patterns and textures pervade; while in others, carefully placed pops of vivid hues enliven otherwise monochromatic compositions. Basically every photograph is a mini-essay in color harmonies and each has been carefully placed in the flow of the book to coordinate visually with the image across the page. But of course all of this merely serves to lend an air of delectation and excitement and to enhance, but never overshadow, the primary subject of Henderson’s images … stunningly beautiful naked men. In fact, he often consults with the models before the shoot about which colors they believe look best for them. Included in this volume are some of the most sensational-looking men he has had the opportunity to photograph over the last few years, and he’s thrilled to be able to finally share the images of a project that has been years in the making and which prominently features this most exuberantly colorful aspect of his photography.