Nude Mermaid Painting

Alex Sher is an award-winning American underwater fine art photographer whose admiration of feminine sensuality heralded him to worldwide acclaim.

Sher was born in Ukraine in 1962 and started taking photographs at the age of twelve. He graduated from Kyiv University in 1984. Two years later, he volunteered as medical personnel to support the Chernobyl nuclear disaster recovery. When asked about that time, Sher says "Having no clue how much radiation you are getting makes you appreciate every breath — pretty much what you feel underwater."

Sher started showing his photographs in the early 1990s; however, he considered himself an amateur until his work was stolen from an exhibition in Kyiv.

Sher immigrated to the United States with his family in 1995 and currently resides in Los Angeles. As a former biologist and an ocean diver, Alex is deeply concerned with the decimation of kelp forests along the California Pacific Coast.

Sher’s underwater photographs emerged in 2011. In 2015, after participating in a photo competition, his works were exhibited in Paris at the Louvre Museum and later at museums in London, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other major cities. Sher's first personal photo exhibition was held in 2016 in Los Angeles by the Bruce Lurie Gallery. Since then, he has had six exclusive exhibitions, has been in numerous group exhibitions, and has participated in major US art fairs.

Sher's artistic style is marked by the transition from photographing marine wildlife at the very beginning to figurative nudity, with a majority of monochrome black and white works. His most recent pieces showcase minimalism and abstraction with bright colors through a quiet, eye-catchy, and charming combination of figurative and abstract art.

Sher is an excellent underwater coach who trains his models on how to control their breath and buoyancy, as well as their feelings. He also teaches spiritual blending with the water and modeling techniques for different underwater cameras.

Sher generously shares his artistic and technical innovations. His ideas inspire underwater photographers around the world. His first photo book, Mermaids, was published in 2018. He has been represented by Touchon Gallery since 2019.

Find a collection of Alex Sher art today on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Touchon Gallery)

For centuries, the human figure has held an allure for artists, and those working in photography — a medium celebrated for its documentary properties and its accuracy — have long sought to express humanity in its purest state. Fine nude photography presents an empowering challenge for artists, whether they’re endeavoring to counter traditional ideals of beauty, deeply examine power, sexuality and gender or simply create direct and expressive images of the human form, unguarded and unadorned, simultaneously vulnerable and strong.

While the collection of fine nude photography on 1stDibs includes pioneers of the 20th century — such as Edward Weston, Jack Mitchell and Slim Aarons — many contemporary nude photographers have taken their choice of visual medium in directions that have proven provocative and refreshing.

Self-taught Belgian freelancer Kirsten Thys van den Audenaerde, for example, has ventured into the deserts of Utah with her nude models, working largely with expired Polaroid film to produce wild juxtapositions of pure human forms amid dry and dusty landscapes. Award-winning fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth redefines the female gaze — her bold and erotic images of celebrities and magazine models have left an indelible mark on the visual landscape of the fashion world.

The study of who and what we are is central to art — find a range of fine nude photography on 1stDibs, including work by Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Stefanie Schneider and others.