Nigel Parry. Sharp

The high-profile magazines call prestigious portrait photographer Nigel Parry for only the most illustrious assignments: President Bill Clinton for The New York Times Magazine; Martin Scorsese for Vanity Fair; Dennis Quaid for Entertainment Weekly; Susan Sarandon for Premier; Tommy Lee Jones for W; John Cusak for GQ; Jake Lamotta for Esquire; and Liam Neeson for The London Sunday Times; and so on. With such distinguished occasions to encounter the powers that be, Parry has used these opportunities to create his own portfolio of private images of today's top movie stars, film directors, musicians, politicians, and sundry entertainment celebrities. The result is Sharp, a collection the likes of which have never been seen before. Parry's exacting precision, most spectacularly distilled in his disquieting close-ups of the most powerful people in the public eye, places the viewer face-to-face with pop culture movers and shakers on a level unprecedented in contemporary celebrity portraiture: Giorgio Armani's steely-eyed determination; Sir Anthony Hopkin's spine-chilling intensity; Meryl Streep's delicate grace; Placido Domingo's actor-like transparency under opera makeup; Asia Argento's sexy demureness; Nicolas Cage's "will kill you" attitude; Michael Caine's serene distance; Tommy Lee Jones' plaintiveness; and Christopher Walken's evilness, and many, many others. All are framed tightly within Parry's brilliant lenswork, allowing one repeated viewings that never tire or bore.