Weimar artists such as George Grosz, Otto Dix and Max Beckman denounced the decadence of that period in critical, politically tinged paintings. In a contemporary variant, Larry Fink ridicules the political leaders of America. The photographs in FORBIDDEN PICTURES (2001), originally intended for The New York Times Magazine, were made shortly before 9/11. After the attack on the Twin Towers, no magazine was willing to publish them any more. Only in 2004 could they be shown for the first time in America, which immediately led to a storm of protest. Particularly the hand of a George Bush lookalike on the breast of a model caused outrage. 'The woman should be seen as a metaphor for our foreign policy,' responded Fink, 'which consists of putting our hands where they don't belong and the imperious abuse of our power.'

Larry Fink (United States, b. 1941) is a social commentator and adherent of the snapshot aesthetic in the tradition of Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand. He photographs for magazines like Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, and firms such as Adidas and Bacardi.

Courtesy Lichtblick Galerie, Germany