Tai Sun and Rich: Puna Boys the second book of photographs by David Sprigle, is a clear diversion from his earlier work, having been shot entirely in black and white on the island of Hawaii.
Over twenty years ago, David Aden Sprigle began taking pictures of the youth of the countries and cities he traveled. His photos from the early 1990s were the first artistic black and white portraits and nudes to come from Brazil. Collectors will remember his calendar images a decade ago of Brazil beach boys and young men on the piers of South Philadelphia. His latest photographs in, Tai Sun and Rich: Puna Boys, capture the beauty and innocence of two young men in their Hawaiian surroundings as well as portray the concerns and personal fears that have always been affiliated with modeling naked.
This fascinating and unpredictable publication combines breathtaking portraits and candid words, written by Sprigle, which accompany the photographs. This text, vital to fully understanding the images, appears like a daily journal, documenting the coming of age of two rural boys in their early twenties. With unabashed freedom and a sense of genuine camaraderie, Tai Sun and Rich discover what it means to be truly alive. Without apology, Sprigle exposes the recreational drug use and the exciting erotic sexual play that was part of their photographic sessions. Tai Sun and Rich: Puna Boys, set against the backdrop of the remote Puna district of the Big Island of Hawaii, captures the wild boy spirit and evolution of a rare friendship in a cultural climate that is unique to island life.
Tai Sun and Rich: Puna Boys, is an insight into the raw fears of young guys modeling nude for the first time, and offers a glimpse of rural Hawaiian life from a beachfront rope swing to skinny-dipping and bodysurfing with your best buddy at sunrise. Provocative and unexpected, this book is a roller coaster of images, from surprise to delight. The results are marvelous.
Tai Sun and Rich: Puna Boys is a handsomely presented 8² x 8² hardbound volume with a specially designed dust jacket and contains 81 vibrant two-color (duotone) plates over 98 pages
