Review

"Alysha," Photographic Print.

Jeff Olschki

7:30 a.m.-10 p.m

Muddy's Coffee House
318 E. 51st.
Kansas City, MO
816.756.3121

Hours: 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
Runs through: March 31.

Artist's site: http://www.modelmayhem.com/jmstudios
Gallery site: http://www.muddyskc.com

In a way, this is a post about two artists (both of whom work regionally and nationally) ... and one gladly gives credit to the other.

Before Jeff Olschki snaps the shutter on his portraits, makeup artist Beqi Majors uses the models themselves as her canvas ... to striking effect. And while Olschi might describe himself as yet another photographer here in Kansas City that is named Jeff, there's nothing commonplace about his work.

The shot above, of model Alysha Nett, is typical of Olschki's show this month at Muddy's Coffee House near the UMKC campus. This is glamor with a keen, glittering edge.

Some of the photos, such as today's featured image, have a cool, sleek, science-fictionesque feeling. (Take a close look at Nett's portrait, and you'll see that what appears to be a tight-fitting, futuristic red costume is actually body paint.) Other shots convey an almost mystical sensibility, with layers of swirling, sweeping fabric, and still others reflect a tough/soft, no-nonsense sensuality.

Olschki's skill is not only in setting a mood, though, but in capturing images that work on the deeper levels of line and curve, light and shadow, tension and balance. There's a painterly feel to his photography, and not merely because it's makeup-intensive.

While there's obviously very little of the candid portrait in the Muddy's show, there is a sense of real personality in each portrait. That's a neat trick, given the "photo as performance" aspect of glamor photography, but Olschki pulls it off beautifully ... in every sense.

And while he's willing to share the credit for that — with both Majors and the models with whom he works — he deserves to keep a good deal of it for himself.

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