Thursday, July 10, 2008

Erotic vs Pornography


Hi everyone, it has been a while since my last post so I thought I'd jump right in with something that is very pertinent to my artwork.
recently I was approached by the website Michelle7 to give them more photographs to use on there online gallery. I was one of their featured artists in the past and I really like their site. During our emails the curator commented that their erotic site was getting much more hits and would I consider posting there. Now I typically do not shot work that is more erotic in nature, not that I am offended by it or anything like that, I just haven't done so. I have thought a lot about it in the past and always wanted to see how far I could push things until it became, well blatant pornography. Thus rises the debate, where is that line,. what is pornography. Forget the Supreme Court, their decision years ago was that we'll know it hen we see it. Thanks for the clarification! And frankly I don't care about their views, but I do not want to loose my base of people who like my work, but I do think that there are a lot of people who like things a bit edgier, me being one of them. So I have searched and the debate still rages on. I found an interesting interview between Ken Taylor, a Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Stanford University and Anne Freire Ashbaugh, a Professor of Philosophy, Colgate University. Interview link You would think that with two Philosophy professors we would get a definitive answer to this question, right? OK I was only kidding about getting an answer. Of course there is no answer it is all perception. We all see things differently, you may see a beautiful nude statue and say that's obscene, where I see a religious symbol in a government building and find that obscene. The point I am making is that there is no substitute for good taste and if I am shooting more erotic images and feel like I am doing them justice, great but as I am shooting, if I feel kind of icky about them, then stop. I crossed a line somewhere along the way.
So I will leave it up to the viewer as I always have. In coming months you will see a link on my website to some more erotic images as well as postings here when the images will be on Michelle7. Please, I urge anyone who reads my blog to give me some feedback as to your thoughts on my new body of work and my attempt at pushing myself toward what I feel will be a liberating artistic experience for myself, my models and hopefully you, the viewer.

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