This blog is a toddler. It is starting to walk on its own and speak simple thoughts. Since December 15, 2008, this blog has:
been reborn not once, but twice and been renamed three or four times.
371 published posts still accessible
60 published posts deleted due to self censorship, poor writing, culling, and other issues
123 draft posts that were never published
15,070 visits
50,558 pages visited
an average reader spending 2 minutes and 33 seconds per visit.
visitors from 114 countries
one evil offspring/brother blog, Hear Me Roar. - A stuttering attempt at validating, defending, and defining masculinity.
are you bored yet with the "greatness"stats??? I am.
I read last years post, One year onand got bored in the first few paragraphs. I wrote last year about all the changes in substance, style, yada yada yada. I am not as sentimental about this blog now as I was a year ago.
Moi, but I've changed since then
My art has changed in the past year. I've given up the notion that I want to be another Edward Weston, Ruth Bernhard, or Imogen Cunningham. You can read more about that here. I am more interested in mixing it up with a sprinkle of those giants, a bit of Robert Frank, a dash of Bob Guccione (RIP) and lots of my own psyche. I am less into celebrating the aesthetic art of the form and more into what the context of the moment means.
My two highlights for the year were trips to Rome and New York City. In Rome I found my spirit. In New York I found my soul. Both changed me forever.
Over the years I've made friends along the way, interviewed a few of them, and savored the comments they shared. Thanks to Carla, Joe, Terrell, Valya, Alex, Z, and many others.
So, enough rambles. Here are my favorite photos of 2010. You may disagree, but all of these are personal, beautiful, and somehow changed me. Some more than others, but they were important. Thanks to locations for being open to me. Thanks to the models for opening themselves to me.
We must have reasons for speech but we need none for silence - Proverb
The recent rain and regional cold snap make me silent and a listener of the quasi-rhythmic cadence of rain on the roof, windows, car, and my mind. It is good to just listen.
I've also been writing when I should be silent and reading. Some things should be left unsaid.
Back in May I posted my first video, Piernas Bonitas. My best results came from putting on a private Youtube account and keeping as private since it has nudity (which is a bit youtube no-no). I never had a complaint.
I recently discovered vimeo.com. They have many fine short movies with artistic nudity. Set up was easy and I could set creative commons options. Below is the same movie, but now available at Vimeo. I am going to remove my youtube version tonight.
I've been blathering a bit too much and producing too little. One of my former bosses, Nancy, gave me some great advice on public speaking.
Be brilliant.
Be brief.
Be gone.
Follow those three simple rules in public speaking and the audience will love you. In honor of Nancy, here are a few pics. I am not sure this post hits the first goal, but the last two can be checked off.
As for this blog, I am working on the fall (for me) of a photographic god, building a new art community, and my continued studies in photography. They should be spilling out pretty soon.
It's weird that photographers spend years or even a whole lifetime, trying to capture moments that added together, don't even amount to a couple of hours. ~James Lalropui Keivom
Doesn't that pretty much sum up life as well? When I am on my deathbed, I won't remember the decades of detritus, I will remember the those bits of life that made it mean something. Why should photography be any different?
When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in B&W, you photograph their souls! ~Ted Grant
I disagree. I could say that when you photograph a person in B&W, you photograph their shape, texture and contours. When you photograph someone in color, you photograph the life they put into their shape texture and contours. Someone I know thinks black and white nudes can be art, but color ones can't. I think these people have their preferences and can live with them. Their preferences shouldn't be the only preferences for all.
It is time to start a new thing. It is time for a new blog.
A few weeks ago I almost burned down this blog, the Photo Fermata. I was very frustrated with it and where it was going. I wrote a great big good bye post. I even set it up that after that, the blog would be all black with just photos and text. I wanted to burn down my tree in the pixel forest and leave its burned out hulk as all that was left of it. I also started planning a new blog that would explore things that I didn't feel fit into this one. From that inspiration, I created my new blog, Hear Me Roar.
Through out history the role of man in terms of gender, identity, roles, entitlements, crime, power, survival, sexuality, and many other areas continues to evolve and change to meet the standards and culture of the day. Overall, I am a much different man than my great grandfather due to cultural changes and personal choices. Even though I am my own modern man and am not completely the same as men in the past, I believe there are core rules, beliefs, and wired-in truths for men.
What is a real man? I can be full of bullshit, but it is impossible to answer that question in one post. That is the purpose of this new blog, Hear Me Roar. It is my exploration of masculinity, musculism, the male role in gender, male sexuality and male stereotypes and generalizations. This blog will be a sounding board and experimental forum for my future work during my MFA program.
As you can see, that is a topic I've mentioned here and there in this blog, but have not really gone too deep into. It will not be a pretty blog. I plan to look at the the beauty and the ugly of men, masculinity and what we are. It will be graphic and crude at times through exploration, exposition and even exploitation of various things. It will not always be a shock ride, because that would be a disservice to men.
I encourage you to give it a read. Not all things I put there reflect my belief unless I state otherwise. I put those things there to expose all thoughts on the modern man and let you think about what is true and false, right or wrong. I encourage comment, debate, and argument. Tell me if what I put is bullshit or truth or something in between.
I don't expect anyone who reads the Photo Fermata to become followers. You were attracted to this blog for a reason and Hear Me Roar is not this blog.
What is the future of the Photo Fermata?
I enthusiastically plan to continue this blog. This blog focuses on art and life and how I see things through my camera. I still love this blog and appreciate all the followers and commentators.I need this blog as an outlet and inspiration for my photography. This blog is not going away until I feel it has lived its life and needs to be shut down. Today is not that day.
I need to tip-toe around this topic since some of the parties involved may read this. I recently heard of a photo project that some acquaintances completed. A few of the key people in it knew I had a strong history with very similar projects, especially with this subject, material and theme. I know they've seen my work and it is as good as the stuff I've seen from the project. For some reason though no one thought to tell me about it or ask me to join.
At first I was furious. How dare they do something they know I have done in the past and have very strong work to contribute. Are they running a good old boys/girls club on this? Did I alienate myself from their group? How could they forget me?
After stewing on this perceived slight, I went to the final meeting of my NYC travel group to choose the final photos for our book and exhibition/gallery showing. We each put up our top two or three dozen images and had to narrow it down to six for the book and three for the exhibit (the book and exhibit could overlap). I had four themes for my photos, Sex in the City, On the Sidewalks, In the Museums, and The Usual Suspects (The usual sights of the city.) Our instructor, Ron, facilitated the redaction exercise. We went as a group and chose the final six and three for each person. The individual photographer had a major say concerning his/her own choices, but we had to look at it as a complete book of 16 photographers and how all the photos would work together.
We came to my images second and they were ruthless. Ron and others were saying things like:
"This one doesn't interest me. "
"Cliche."
"No point to this photo"
"This doesn't say anything about NYC."
I got quiet and softly said, "Ouch." Ron then said, "Look, we want the best book we can make. The critique and selection process is hard, but that is how it is. If you ever hear art and photo directors for magazines and books during their selection process, it is ruthless. If you are looking at getting an MFA, you had better get used to this type of moment, because it will be 100 times tougher and happen all the time."
We got down to my final six images. I was hurt that a few others were not selected, but see how these six work together and were actually some of my favorites from the beginning. It hurt, but it worked. From that moment on though, I chose to be ruthless in my opinions of the others' work if I felt it did not live up to what should be their six best. It's strictly business getting the best book. It isn't personal.
In that instant, I learned two things that lead to a tie-in to the original issue.
Redaction is crucial. Only the best should be shown.
If I am going to go into this for a new career, I need to get a thicker skin and be able to defend my work better when presenting it.
Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com
After thinking about those two lessons, I looked at our group photo from the trip taken with the great photographer Duane Michals and I remembered his wise words.
Nobody really gives a fuck about you, it is up to you to make your art important.
This quote truly applies to the art world and business. No one gives a fuck about me, my work, and how I feel about it. We wanted the best book. The images chosen from my group may not be all my best, but they work best for the book.
The same goes true for the acquaintance who did not bother to ask me to participate in her project. In all likelihood, she forgot about me or if she had thought of me, I didn't have the cache, history, portfolio, and prior body of work to part of her project. It probably was business on that decision, and personal friendships should not have any part of business. She and her peers are not in business to do me a favor unless I can offer them something back of value as well. In other words, they really don't give a fuck about me.
Now what I have to figure out is how I can be included in the next project and find out why I wasn't considered for this one. From that I will learn and be ready for future opportunities. It may not be with them, and it may be a better one.
Don't go against your intuition.
I had obviously chosen the final 6 photos as part of the larger group I presented. Some part of me told me to include them and the rational part of me knew that any 6 could have been chosen. The final 6 are good and I am proud of them. My intuition was right.
My intuition about my work that is very similar, and probably in the same league or better than the stuff I've seen in the project I was not included in tells me they missed an opportunity for some great stuff of mine. That is my fault for not putting myself out their more, not theirs. In a way, it is their loss, but not really. My work is probably meant to be somewhere else and they got what they wanted.
I know what is good of my work. Nobody else gives a fuck about it or me, unless I get out there with it and force them to look at it. Most will say no. A few will say yes. The important thing to remember is: It's not personal, [Karl]. It's strictly business. That is how I will view your role with my work as well. You are just business when it comes to my art.
Two choices in life - doing it or becoming bullshit.
That pretty much sums up the other two quotes. I just have to do it. Everything else is bullshit.
SPECIAL NOTE: Thanks to Ron and crew for the great trip, experiences and for the creative project. We created some good stuff. By the way, I do give a fuck about your stuff.
Interesting quotes on sex, religion and "American" values.
Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love. ~Butch Hancock
To hear many religious people talk, one would think God created the torso, head, legs and arms, but the devil slapped on the genitals. ~Don Schrader
Why should we take advice on sex from the pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't! ~George Bernard Shaw
I thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty. ~John Waters
Conservatives say teaching sex education in the public schools will promote promiscuity. With our education system? If we promote promiscuity the same way we promote math or science, they've got nothing to worry about. ~Beverly Mickins
Chastity: The most unnatural of the sexual perversions. ~Aldous Huxley, Eyeless in Gaza, 1936
The only thing wrong with being an atheist is that there's nobody to talk to during an orgasm. ~Author Unknown
Virginity can be lost by a thought. ~St. Jerome
The reproduction of mankind is a great marvel and mystery. Had God consulted me in the matter, I should have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them out of clay. ~Martin Luther
Those who have prophesied dreadful consequences as a result of the greater sexual freedom which the young assert - unwanted babies, venereal disease and so on - are usually the very same people who seek the fulfillment of their prophecies by opposing the free availability to the young of contraception and the removal of the stigma and mystification that surround venereal disease . ~Colin Ward, Anarchy in Action
When authorities warn you of the sinfulness of sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities. ~Matt Groening
Now, if groups like Moral Majority have their way, there won't be any sex education at school, and our kids will be the dumbest in the world when it comes to sex.... But our parents are sexually retarded too.... Fear and primitive morals are creating a sexual pressure-cooker in this country and soon the top will blow.... Only in the U.S. do we find children drawing a picture of a baby coming from the clouds or from under a cabbage leaf. ~Floyd Martinson
This last quote says it all about how messed up our country is with body/nudity/sexuality issues in relation to religion and "American" values. As Marlene Dietrich said:
Sex. In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact.
Sail on Silver Girl,
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way - Paul Simon
When I think of the original photography masters of the fine art nude I can come up with a list of the iconic legends. I know I am missing a few big ones, but here are the ones I thought of first.
Edward Weston
Brett Weston
Ruth Bernhard
Imogen Cunningham
Likewise, it is not hard to list a few contemporary fine art nude photographers.
Stephen Haynes
Kim Weston
David Swanson
Carrie Leigh
Most of the names listed in the first group were key artists in the modern art movement of the first two thirds of the 20th century. The modern art photographers' work emphasized the following key elements:
The technically perfect print
Aesthetic beauty
Accenting texture, curve, line, shadow and contrast.
Or as Wikipedia says, ...Modern artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art. A tendency toward abstraction is characteristic of much modern art."
There are many other key elements and I am undervaluing their work by not mentioning them. Their work, combined with non-nude photographers like Ansel Adams, defined the look of the artistic black and white print. This value and aesthetic still grips art today and can be seen in the works of the second group I mentioned, even if their outputs are in color.
Starting in the late 1950's, some say with Robert Frank either ending it, bridging the divide, or starting the postmodern movement, the modern art movement began to be pushed aside. According to Wikipedia:
Postmodern art is a term used to describe an art movement which was thought to be in contradiction to some aspect of modernism, or to have emerged or developed in its aftermath. In general, movements such as Intermedia, Installation art, Conceptual Art and Multimedia, particularly involving video are described as postmodern. The traits associated with the use of the term postmodern in art include bricolage, use of words prominently as the central artistic element, collage, simplification, appropriation, depiction of consumer or popular culture and Performance art.
A part of this movement I am finding important in my continued artistic growth is the growing away from the absolute aesthetic perfection of the fine print and moving toward works that have deeper conceptual meaning and purpose for me. Maybe I am starting to grow up into my art, and not another artist's.
Over the years I went through my photography phases where I tried to take photos like those I admired. Some of these phases were the National Geographic phase, the Ansel Adams phase (I have a photo of a sunrise on the Grand Tetons over looking the Snake River that I took in the same spot as Adams did hanging in my bathroom), and the Edward Weston phase. I took a few private classes with Kim Weston and learned so much about the aesthetic of the fine art print and the hard work to create it. I photographed my first nude model during the first session. One of those prints is hanging in my home office right behind me. I truly appreciate what I learned during those phases. It is now time to move on.
When I photographed Leila, I unknowingly wanted to go beyond the classic fine art nude. I created a few fine art nudes with her, but also some images that had a deeper meaning to me. Those early attempts were crude, at best.
I really felt the change when I worked with Candace. I shot many images that fit the classic fine art nude and were beautiful, but I also experimented with projected imagery. I found some of them were very good and believe that was the moment I wanted to get away from creating images of pure aesthetic beauty celebrating the lines, curves, shapes and shadows of the feminine form. I wanted more from my photos.
Since then I've been trying to avoid creating my versions of the modern movements classics. I love and respect those styles, but they are not my cup of tea to create anymore (although one or two on the side are fun). While I still find beauty in them, I feel my art needs more to it than that style offers me.
Much of the work I created in New York is getting closer to what I want. Both Moon and Valya blessed me with their artistic beauty to help me with it. The city itself blessed me with sharing its little and large treasures. I am excited about this push away from my prior "pretty pictures" to making things that have a bit more narrative and personal purpose in them. Not all my stuff is good, but is better for me.
Some days I feel young. Other days I feel old. Today is the latter. Yesterday was the former. As I get older I realize that I can still do things I did when I was younger, but the recuperation time takes a bit longer. It all reminds me of a couple of lines from the Toby Keith song, As Good As I Once Was.
I ain't as good as I once was
But I'm as good once as I ever was
I don't have the physical prowess I had back a few decades ago, but I can still move and do pretty well. I think the difference now is that I am smarter and know when I need to make those youthful moves to my advantage instead of just using them all the time for no reason. I am not better for reserving my strength and ability than a young person. They should be enjoying their bodies every day. It is a celebration of life and it also teaches them when they should zig or zag at the right moments.
I think this knowledge of when to zig, zag, or stand to the side applies to art as well. Even though I continue learning new tricks, techniques and trying new things, I have a pretty good sense what works for me and is part of my art aesthetic.
Most artists start off trying everything, doing everything and exploring. We push limits, break rules, and have lots of failures. All this need for experimentation may even go back to when we were babies and we had to stick everything in our mouth. Over time, we learned what was good to have in our mouth and what wasn't.
My photography continues to evolve... or maybe refine. I like to use natural light or one or two light sources. I took a few portrait/lighting classes and experimented with up to six light sources. That was fun, but I found I work best with only a few and really focus on composition and subject. That is what works for me. I've received a few critiques where the critic looked at my photos and could tell they were mine. The images had a certain level of detail, angles, exposure, mood, lighting, composition, message, etc. that this person could tell that was a Karl photo.
I still feel that youthful spark for my photography. Put a camera in my hand and I still get a rush to start snapping. I will even step outside of my normal photographic ways and push boundaries, but I know now that I may "feel" a bit worn out the next day from it. That is OK, it is usually worth it.
Song note - I really like Toby Keith's song and tried to find video of it. Sadly, the official video is not too good and would not work well with this post. His lyrics still do though.
One of the hardest parts of photography for me is the reduction process. I've heard it called "culling the herd"," redaction", "thinning the forest", or "deductive selection." I think of it starting out feeling like a hair cut and ending with it stinging like dozens of little skin biopsies.
In A.D. Coleman's essay, "On Redaction - Heaps and Wholes, or, Who Empties the Circular File?" from his book Depth of Field -Essays on Photography, Mass Media, and Lens Culture. He argues for the absolute necessity of this discipline in photography and art.
For most workers, the ratio of potential images (negatives) to actualized images (prints) is low, as is the ratio of images actualized minimally (as contact and/or work prints) to images approved by the maker for public presentation via exhibition, publication, or other vehicle.
The question of redaction - of "putting in shape for publication"- is therefore a crucial one. To use a distinction from general systems theory, redaction is what transforms a quantity of images from a heap to a whole. The ability to redact is a hallmark of artistic maturity. As the photographer Lonny Shavelson has said, "Photography is about editing. If you don't edit your own work, you're not a photographer." (Emphasis by original author)
All photographers must go through their images and throw out the ones that don't work. The first 60% are usually pretty easy for me. I may feel a little sadness that the image failed and I missed something special, but my heart knows it has to go.
The next 25% feel a bit more personal and painful, kind of like plucking my eyebrows. I tell myself those are the images I can come back to some day and make something else with even though I almost never do.
The final 10-14% eliminated are very painful. By that time I've spent hours working on them and trying to either print (if from a negative) or edit (digital) them into something magic. At some point though I realize there are not enough tricks up my sleeve to save the image. It has some fatal flaw I recognize that keeps it from making the final selection. Each discarded image feels like a chunk of my flesh was ripped off and leaves me raw for a while.
Why must I put myself through this artistic pain? Why not just put them all out there and let the viewer decide? The answer is simple, dilution. If I put out too many similar images from the same series, they become diluted and the overall punch of the series is diminishes. The photos taken before and after the prime shot may be very good, but as a set, they can reduce the beauty of the prime one and bring the set down.
Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop. - Ansel Adams
Robert Frank had to do this. He took over 28,000 photos for his The Americans book. In the end, Frank chose just 84 images to show his vision. That means he discarded 99.7% of his photos to get to his finished product. At a retrospective of his work last year at the SF MoMA, I saw some of his contact sheets from the series. I could tell which ones were instantly tossed, which were ok, but should be tossed, which had potential, and which one was the "it" photo. It would have been painful to make those decisions though because so many could have been "it." As painful as that may have been for Frank, I doubt he could have done any better than the ones he selected. He gave us a gift of his sacrifice. He reduced down to a perfect set of photos that will always represent a perfect set.
As I've mentioned many times before, I don't like the photos taken by Diane Arbus. Someday I will elaborate on why in a formal criticism of her work. For now though, let it be simply stated I don't like her photos. With that said though, there are some aspects of her artistic discipline I deeply respect. I envy her ability to "cull the heard" down to about 80 or so photos that represent her body of work. She may have had more if she had not taken her life at the young age of 48, but to have kept her total count that low is true dedication to ensuring only her best work got out there. Each photo is an iconic representation of her work and is recognizable to the photographic arts community as hers. I respect her passion to controlling which photos were good enough to share her name.
During the photo shoot I build a pile of images. During the first review, I begin the reduction of the pile to find the right ones. Sometimes I get a few true gems. Other times I get no gems. Either way, I must make sure that my work meets my standards of my artistic vision. It isn't easy. If it was, everyone would be an artist. This leads into my next post...
Part II - Thinning the "Pixel Forest"*
Why artistic/photographic redaction is more important now than ever before.
I had an experience in the last week that feels like the burning pain of bleach going through my veins(hyperbole practice). Somebody took something of mine manipulated it, and grew it into something more. Usually I am happy about that as it is part of creating for the world and the evolution of thought. We want our creations to grow beyond what we initially planned, with one caveat - citation or credit.
In my life as a scientist/teacher/student, I've written the most boring, dry articles about important stuff. One key point my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Romaine, taught us during book reports was writing the bibliography of my sources. In college, Dr. Haddad drilled into our heads (appropriate for a behaviorist professor) the APA Style for citing sources. Twenty-two years later, I still know where to place every period and comma. It came in handy when I wrote my master's thesis.
It is crucial to cite sources and material in art and criticism as well. If I am writing a critique on Diane Arbus and read an article on how her depression affected her subject matter, I had better cite that source. I believe the same is true when art is appropriated for new purposes.
I am a big fan of appropriating art and growing it past the original piece. In 2004, my friend Scott Tellington over at photosig.com took the image of Leila and Hana above and a few others and told me he wanted to play with them. As long he didn't do anything to malign the image and gave me credit, I was happy to let him do it. He made the combined image below. Even though he went in a direction I would not have gone, I am happy with his work and the credit for the source image.
The Petals of the Passion Flower
In yesterday's post, I uploaded a video featuring a song I appropriated by Lucinda Williams, Just in Time. This song has a very sensual erotic sound and lyrics that I felt matched the photos I paired with it. At the end of the song, I cited her as the source of the music. Since I do not plan to make money from that video I feel it is fair to use it in that way. If Ms. Williams, or her representatives, don't like it, I will work with them to a mutually satisfactory conclusion. That is just being respectful to another artist.
I admit to not always citing my sources in this blog, especially for images I posted in the beginning of it. I tried to put "source unknown" if I could not find the photographer/artist/author/creator's information. In hindsight, I am going to review this policy to see if I should err on the side of caution and remove them until I can find the source.Dali and Nirvana 4
Now, back to why am I feeling like a victim of theft. To the artist who appropriated something of mine, knowing it was mine, and evolved/refined it much further, I am not upset by your appropriation and use. It is actually a very good piece of work. Just give me credit for the seed that bloomed for you.
I went through all my digital or scanned photos and chose some that I believe the legs are the key ingredient to the image. After some editing and post production work in Lightroom, I was ready to make a movie.
At first I used the online movie-making service at animoto.com. While this service is free for 30 second videos, longer videos cost a little bit. I opted to get the one year membership and made a few movies. It is a very easy tool. You upload the photos, choose background music from their free library, set a few parameters and then their program does all the work. In the end you get a slick video with little work. The downsides are the music selection is limited, you can not put in custom text/credit screens, and their is very little customization. The video at the very bottom was my first attempt.
After playing in that, I used iMovie on my Mac. It allows for much more customization and editing. I could also choose any song from my iTunes library, which I did. After a good bit of time of editing and putting in transitions and text screens, I made the movie you see here.
I thought loading it would be the easy part. First I tried blogger's video upload. While convenient, the output player was way too small. I then created a youtube account and uploaded it there with very tight privacy settings (unsearchable and not published publicly). I have a few concerns about posting this video there, but I doubt I will keep it there for long.
This is my second attempt at making this type of video. I see room for improvement, but I am happy with it as a beginner's effort. Any feedback is welcome. So, without further ado, here it is - Piernas Bonitas (Nice Legs).
Photo note - never get tired of finding more gems from my work with Candace. This is a simple one, maybe even cliche, but I am happy with it. The focus could be a little better though.
My body is a stiff wreck after helping a friend and her partner move ten blocks in SF yesterday. So much for the yard work I will need to do. I may be lucky to get a few flowers planted though.
During my Sunday morning ritual at a coffee shop, I did some reading at Slate titled Bring Back Boobquake by Hanna Rosin and the backlash against it by some feminists. That article linked to another titled Generation Scold* by Jessica Grose In it, the author presented the notion that the generation known as the "millennials" heap scorn upon those who are bit too sexually promiscuous for their tastes. This open scorn of anyone is a shift in gender definition that may help equalize the perceptions of sex, but also take the adventure out of it.
Candace - 050210 - BW
In many cultures, the man who gets the most girls is seen as a stud by his peers and playboy, at worst, by everyone else. Hooking up with as many women was lauded as a alpha male virtue. The opposite was true about the perception of women. If a woman had many sexual partners, she was a "slut" or worse. Being sexually promiscious held negative attributes for women. This was the big double standard of sexuality, men became heroes, women became tramps.
With the maturing of the millenials, this is changing. Both the male and female with multiple partners are seen as sluts and are looked down upon as part of the hyper-sexuality running through our culture. As the story states, this generation grew up and were disgusted by the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal as well as other influences that formed these beliefs. This shift may lead the end of the double standard, but at what cost?
This makes me wonder if the taboo of sexuality and openness of enjoying the sensual gifts we have is going to shrivel. Will both genders suffer for this? I do not hold anyone who is sexually open up higher or down lower in my perception of them. They are who they are. I may judge how they treat the people they are with and admonish them for hurting people with sex, but just having multiple lovers is not a plus or minus for me. My hope is that they are happy with who they are, what they are doing and are careful.
Photo note - experimentation with a close up crop of big image of Candace. I like her eyes in these and I like how she looks like she is laying down in the cropped versions. The original is below.
As I've mentioned in past articles, I had a business. It was half high-end hair salon and half art gallery. I was in charge of the art gallery, one of my partners who was a stylist managed the salon, and her boyfriend/other partner managed the business end.
Every month we would switch out the art and have an artist's reception. In February, we decided to have a mixed media show (paintings, sculptures, glass work and photos) of nudes to coincide with Valentine's day. None were explicit, some were erotic and all were good art.
I posted three of my nudes and sold one and traded one. A number of the other artists sold pieces as well. It was the second best money making exhibit for our little gallery. The customers liked it, the stylists liked it and I never heard a complaint. We decided we would do the same thing next year.
A few months later, the local artists community organization sponsored their annual event called "open studios." Every participating artist put one piece up at the organization's gallery as a token of their work and then held a show at their own studio. My business offered to host three artists plus myself since we did not have studios to exhibit in. Two of us had nude works along with non-nudes to show. I was in charge of hanging all the work which took seven hours.
Lines to Her Heart
The next day I came in and all the nude works were down and a few pieces were haphazardly shifted so that the whole flow of the exhibit was ruined. I was fucking furious. I went to my partners and asked,"What the fuck did you do?"
The stylist partner said a couple of the other stylists complained about the nudes and she felt they were not appropriate pieces. I countered with the fact that the nudes were less risque than the ones we had at the Valentine's exhibit and they had no problems with them. She then said, "Yeah, but that was a special Valentine's show. This show is supposed to be about the local art community. We don't want to offend our staff and customers." I asked who complained and she would not tell me.
I was so mad at her for undoing my area of ownership and responsibility at her whim. I never told her how to run the salon, how dare she change my work without consulting with me first. I told her all that. She said she had to work there all day and did not want to have to deal with comments. What comments? At that moment, I knew the partnership was mortally wounded. I told her that I relinquished all artistic choice for future shows and would only hang work and sell art. She said that wasn't fair.
Just typing all this makes me mad about it again. This time though it makes me mad that the belief by her and others was nude art is only acceptable around a holiday that celebrates erotic love. Once again, nudity equals sex.
With all that bitching out now, I have to share a glimmer of hope. I've talked about the photography classes I took at the local public community college. In the studio course, a number of photographers experimented working with nude models. I had the honor of having the photo of Candace below titled Dali and Nirvana 4 hung in the department's gallery and then in the college library's gallery, where it is currently exhibited. I am proud to have my name and the title on a little card stuck under it. I am proud of that little college and its acceptance of nudity and art.
Photo note - I feel this photo from the Dali and Nirvana series is erotic and is art. I doubt my former partner would have wanted that one hanging in our business either. The nude photos I wanted to exhibit, but were removed, are the two above - Lines to Her Heart, and The Quiet Times.
