Fetish Foto by Peter Felix Kurtz

Last night D. and I were invited to the opening night of an exhibition of fetish photography by Peter Felix Kurtz. We got all dressed up (and believe me, he looks absolutely fantastic in a black pinstripe suit and trilby) and made our way down to the Foundry, a venue D. knows well, but which he hadn't taken me to before.

I have to say, in my eyes it outstripped the photography in coolness: the place is a pub so bohemian it's almost trendy, with new and intricate graffiti appearing on the walls each week, random acts of sculpture hanging from the ceiling, overflowing ashtrays and dribbly candles stuck in wine bottles on all the scratched tables (one of which appeared to have been made out of an old grand piano) ancient sofas covered in threadbare leopard print throws. Downstairs in the vaults (it used to be a bank) are art exhibitions by locals; a large poster entitled "I could fucking do better than that" exhorts you to have a go if you think you're 'ard enough (I might, actually); the venue doesn't take a cut on sales, but it does ask to keep one of your exhibition pieces, in the hope that in future years it will have a collection worth billions. Which would all be painfully try-hard, were it not for the fact that their beers are all brewed locally and the bar prices would have you believe you weren't in London at all.

And last night there were a lot of pretty people in pretty clothes upon which to feast the eyes, all of which interested me rather more than the photography, I'm sorry to confess. Nonetheless there were a few images we liked. We both settled on this one as a favourite; the rest we found a little predictable in terms of imagery and style, although this appealed for obvious reasons.

Still, his website is definitely worth a look: there are a lot of shots there which aren't in the exhibition, and several of them are designed to appeal to perverts like us...