About the book:
“This collection honours the timeless elegance of the human form, portrayed with artistic intention and reverence, in the tradition of fine art photography.

A series of nudes, all shot at The Darling Mansion, a private residence and location rental in Toronto, over the course of 10 years by Adrian Holmes.

Featuring 15 models, this collection captures Adrian’s artistic eye through the lens. The Darling Mansion’s sinfully indulgent, surreal sense of design provides the perfect backdrop for this epic collaboration.

Cinematic, powerful, erotic, and beautiful — a must-have for any artist, creative, interior designer, rockstar, or collector of fine art nude books.”

Tanya Grossi, Curator of The Darling Mansion.

About the photographer:

Adrian Holmes is a Canadian fine art photographer with a career spanning over 30 years. Since 1992, he has used his camera not just as a tool but as a meansto explore beauty, imtimacy, and the nuanced narratives of the human form. He draws inspiration from classical portraiture, architechtural composition, the raw elegance of nature and the stylized sensuality of 1970’s photography, and the emotive depth of painting music.

My Review:

It goes without saying that we live in strange times. Strange in that song lyrics can be as vile, vulgar and violent as they desire but a nipple on Facebook sends the world into a tizzy and there you go, banished from the site. There’s a strange puritanical overlay to the careful political correctness of being urged to be your own true self, express yourself and act with kindness towards yourself and others but, for the love of God, keep your nudes out of sight and behind closed doors.

So it’s with great delight that I’d like to showcase Darling Nudes, a “celebration of freedom, femininity, and the kind of collaboration that says yes to glam, seduction, and Froot Loops in the bathtub.”

The cover features Tanya Grossi in her grenadine Jacuzzi tub filled with Foot Loops; “part pop-art performance, part lacquered surrealism, the image blurs the lines between glamour and satire, indulgence and irreverence—rightfully titled ‘Breakfast of Champions’.”

I met Tanya Grossi many years ago when documentarian Cat Mills gathered the Mesdames of Mayhem at the Darling Mansion to shoot stills for our documentary Meet the Women who Love Murder: The Mesdames of Mayhem.

We shot our iconic portrait at the Darling Mansion that day and it was wonderful, filled with feather boas and creativity as we roamed and explored and played in the fantastic venue.

And Tanya Grossi. Stunning in her own right, curating her life with cutting edge creativity and living the dream—and translating it into this beautiful book.

Each page of this book is a treat, a delicious, inspiring, life-affirming, joyful treat. Figs to Facebook and its nipple-phobia, figs to quiet, careful tip-toeing through life. Let’s fling our hats to the stars, and be daring and wild and free, beautiful in every shape and form and immortal, even if only for a moment.