As a working, also known as commercial, photographer his entire career, Kern never made a photograph to hang in a gallery nor did he consider his work as Art to hang in a gallery.  He photographed assignments, or commissions if you will, from magazines and the advertising industry.

However, beginning in the 1980's Kern began to get requests for interviews from photography, graphic arts and culture magazines, and the subject of his work being Art always came up.  Writers wondered - can commercial work be Art?  At the time, this seemed to be a radical new idea.

Although Kern made photographs for magazines and advertisers, he never worked from someone else's layout.  It became who he was- photographer, but one who thought of the ideas. This was rare given what was at stake, especially in high level advertising.

Most of the time the idea was accepted and Kern proceeded with his sketches as layouts.  The resulting work was more times than not award winning.  It was also broadly influential in the community of designers and photographers.  An art director once told Kern- "A photographer can make an entire career out of just one of your photographs."

In 1991 the famous gallerist David Fahey of Fahey-Klein Gallery approached Kern to have a solo show.  Kern visited Fahey in Hollywood and was shown the gallery. He met Benedikt Taschen (of Taschen Publishing) at his house in the Hollywood Hills, and photographer George Hurrell whose work was at the gallery.  Still, Kern did not get around to having his first exhibit, a solo one, at Fahey-Klein, until 2010.  He claimed he "was too busy."

These events, in 2026, seem anachronistic since the industry has changed completely.  But in the history of photography, as the 20th century came to a close and photography, by many accounts, to its conclusion, Kern's influence is undeniable as one looks at his body of work, interviews, and contemporary photographers who imitated his work in spirit or literally by the numbers.

Geof Kern Photographs

Fahey-Klein Gallery Los Angeles 2010