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Readers may recall seeing a couple of Kenny’s sexy beasts in the February issue of 2Bmag, but now he’s back in full force. For his first solo show in Montréal, inkedKenny will be including a few lovely ladies for the first time, as well as showing off a slew of boner-inducing dudes that populate his textured, sexually charged works. Although the show’s vernissage was August 13, it technically opened on Kenny’s 44th birthday, three days before.

“It’s gonna be a nice well-rounded piece of the direction I’m going and what inspires me to photograph men,” inkedKenny says, reached by phone on a break from a roof-top photoshoot in Toronto. It’s only his third year shooting for a living, but this camera-toting bundle of testosterone has the eye and the talent of a seasoned pro. In addition to having works in group shows like Toronto’s 10×10, VisualAIDS in NYC, and Montréal’s ARTsida, Kenny was recently scouted by Bruno Gmünder for their upcoming BRAVE and Turned on Tattoos anthologies. One of the models he recently shot in Montréal will be featured in the German erotic publisher’s 2012 Hair calendar, which has him just one step away from getting his own book. “It’s a process but I’m getting there. You’re always your worst critic,” Kenny confides.

Three years into the erotic photography game, the Vancouver-born man-hunter has made a reputation for himself as a nurturing and exciting artist. Over a coffee and sandwich on Ste. Catherine Street, he talked about the joys of finding inspiration in his second career, and clouds. “I love clouds, I use them a lot in my work,” he mused on our way to the boulangerie. Shooting campaigns for X-gear in NYC, and for clients in San Francisco, has allowed him the freedom to work on his artistic practice, with the next stage involving a recent move to… Montréal(!), where he will be working in his new loft studio to prepare for shows planned for Berlin in the coming year. Right after lunch, he was on his way to discuss a shoot for a certain local fetish-wear emporium, where they would be lucky to have his keen, sophisticated eye. The inkedKenny touch, as you can see from his website and catalogue work as well as in the solo show, is to bring so much texture and attention to his subject that you can almost smell them (or at least, you want to).

For the vernissage, the artist invited a few of his models to appear in the flesh, something he says adds to the feeling of the opening being more of an event. “I know quite a few people in Montréal, like bar tenders, who help me find people. In Montréal it’s a lot easier to find people, whereas Toronto is more conservative and it’s the hardest place to find models,” he says, echoing a long-standing belief in the difference between the two cities. More explanation, if any is ever needed, for his very recent, spontaneous move to slutty, less business-oriented Montréal after over 20 years in the Queen’s City.

But it’s odd that any even moderate exhibitionist would be hesitant to model for him, since inkedKenny is adamant that his works are not as overtly pornographic as one might expect: “I don’t like to shoot guys with rock hard dicks. Better to show some bare ass, butt crack and big bulges. It’s sexier to be more suggestive,” which is part of what’s allowed the rugged photographer’s work to be shown easily in bars like Toronto’s Black Eagle, as well as in galleries like Dentaire and the White House Studio Project for Toronto Pride, which featured Montréal artist (and tattooed Adonis), Gô.

Opening during Montréal’s Pride week was a smart move, but sadly Dentaire’s Jean Fortin was unable to keep the show up until early September for it to be enjoyed over Fetish Weekend by new legions of potential fans. “Everything in the show will be very sexual,” inkedKenny assured us when we spoke by phone in July, and the pieces in the show deliver in spades. He promised to “push the envelope with the fetish content,” as anyone who was lucky enough to catch the show can corroborate. Besides the fabulous banner image chosen for the window, there are two portraits of Toronto-based performance artist Lena Love in the nude, flanked by sturdy-looking bears wearing nothing but their tattoos that we found irresistible for this special Fetish Weekend spread, and are proud to show here. Stopping by Dentaire only a week after the opening, there was a healthy crop of red dots throughout the moderately priced show, showing the thrilling accessibility of his lush, sexy images. We can only hope that inkedKenny continues to exhibit in and inhabit his new home town, and that someday soon, we get to put him on our cover.

Check out more of Inked Kenny at www.inkedkenny.com

On display at Galerie Dentaire
Aug 10-31st  1239 rue Amherst,
514-523-5535
www.galeriedentaire.com