Censor This II

Just when you thought it was safe to go to an art gallery comes Censor This II.
Yes that's right, the curator of the Art House Lounge in Harrisburg Pa has offered me another solo exhibition on the anniversary of my previous exhibit, Censor This!

The only caveat being to kick it up a notch. Now, those of you who know me know it is NOT a good thing to ask me to ratchet up my work for an exhibition. Not that I am complaining, Jason at the gallery has been a wonderful supporter of my erotic work and the feeling was that the last exhibit, well received as it was, didn't quite get to that place I wanted it to go. Meaning that I self censored and I knew I did. So this time the gloves are off, sort to speak.

I am searching for sexy, erotic people with very little inhibitions to model for this show. The images will more provocative, sensual and will definitely leave the gallery patrons with images they will never forget.

The only stumbling block in this whole grand scheme is that last year I had an issue finding a quality printer to print my images and with the show being even more explicit this year I am hoping I can figure out how to get this printed by July!

Any suggestions?

The exhibition is slated to open on August 14th and run through September 11th.

More information will be posted as the details come in.

Harrisburg has no idea what they are in for this year!

Successful Exhibition Opening

The debut of Censor This!, seems to have been a success. The opening reception saw over 170 patrons viewing the images and no one ran out screaming! I do kid, but I was concerned that this body of work might be too much for the average gallery patron. It was played up as an erotic exhibition. It received some wonderful press that also eluded to it's content, and the gallery owner played it up beautifully before the patrons walked trough the door as they were greeted by a waiver to sign by a topless Chippendale style doorman. So if they didn't know what they were walking into before, they sure did them.
For those of you who have read the many postings I have written about for this show often. I was a bit apprehensive on it's acceptance. I am now more relaxed now that the show has opened and with the comments I overheard and those said to me directly. People were extremely gracious and accepting of the work and for the most part, got it. Comments ranged form applauding me for being brave enough to show erotic art in Harrisburg, to the photographer must be a gay gentleman because his male models are too attractive!

This show was a success but might not have ever come to light if it wasn't for my family and friends who have supported me in my artistic ventures.

I have to thank a few people who without their help this wouldn't have happened. First of my wife, whose love, support, patients, understanding and a steady brush helped me not only create this body of work but also helped me paint our latex clad hostesses.
I'd also have to thank Jason and the entire staff at the ArtHouse Lounge for putting on a first rate event complete with it's own soundtrack.
I can't forget our lovely hostesses, Lucy and Chast and our handsome doorman, Robert.
I also need to thank a very good friend, Charles, who helped me frame my images and also took the photographs posted on my Facebook profile of the opening reception.
And finally all my friends who wished me well and some of those who actually trekked to Harrisburg to be there, including my wonderful daughter and her boyfriend. I really hope he wasn't too shocked!

The exhibition is on display through August 29th and if you can make to the ArtHouse Lounge in Harrisburg, I would love to know your thoughts on the show.

Censorship vs. Artistic Integrity

It seems that my exhibition keeps hitting stumbling blocks the more I try to keep true to my vision, the more our puritanical culture gets in the way.
As many of you who have read these blogs know, this exhibition, "Censor This!" is a group of my more erotic work. I was given the freedom to show this body of work by a very opened minded gallery owner. Jason Pipper, owner of the ArtHouse Lounge in Harrisburg, PA approached me with the idea of this show. The one thing he said to me was "I will not censor an artist, show what you want to show". Now how often does an artist hear that! So I took the ball and ran with it, producing 38 new pieces of work to compliment some of my more erotic existing images. Now since I went digital I really cannot print them myself. My computer is my 21st century enlarger and the lab I use, Miller's Professional Imaging is one of the best in the country and the lab I have been using for over a decade. I am calibrated with Miller so that I get exactly what I see on my monitor. The quality is superb and up until now I have had no issue with them printing my images. When I sent this batch of 38 images to the lab, only 32 came back, that along with the note I have posted above. It seems that someone on the lab floor was offended by my images and refused to print them. It went to their supervisor and then to the CEO of the company who said if you are uncomfortable printing them, then don't do it. He never even saw the images. In fact, the supervisor who called me to explain, never saw the images. He kept repeating the same line, "Miller's will not print those images." My work was censored by a lab tech - from Kansas, no less. It's not like they have to worry about model releases and the great debate about pornography and art that is raging on. All they had to do was print the entire batch. But no, this tech had the power to question the artistic integrity of the images and almost damage my show.
Almost because I was saved. Saved by McKenna Professional Labs. I called the lab and talked to a wonderful receptionist that said as long as there is nothing illegal there shouldn't be a problem with us printing the images. But I was still worried and actually lost sleep over it. Then today I received a phone call today for one of the top guys at the lab. Once he said his name and where he was calling from he laughed and said, "I bet you were expecting this call", I was. He explained to me that due to sexual harassment laws there was a potential for someone to claim that the printing of these 6 images could constitute a hostile environment. I understood, but my problem still was not solved, I still need these images printed. Then he added that since this could be an issue, he would print these images himself to make sure that I had them for the exhibition.
He saved the show and understood the artistic statement I was trying to make. He took it upon himself to make sure that I was satisfied and that I received the best customer service and quality of images that McKenna Labs gives all of their clients. Needless to say I am now a McKenna client for life and will no longer be using Miller's Imaging.
No flat out censorship, just an understanding conversation and a solution to a problem.
If anyone is in need of a professional photography lab I highly recommend McKenna Pro
I want to thank them so very much for saving my sanity and this exhibition.

The evolution of an exhibition

With my solo exhibition being 2 months away I thought I post an update on it's progress. When this offer was first presented to me by the owner of the ArtHouse Lounge gallery, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to show the work that I have been very interested in shooting and pushing. The gallery has given me complete control to show the work I want, no censoring what so ever. How often does that happen! So with the exhibition being an erotic show, I now had the opportunity to shoot and actually exhibit the type of photography that I really feel is lacking. Honest, truthful and beautiful erotic images.
The first thing I did was go through my existing catalog of work and pull out the images that I felt would work for this exhibition. Once I figured that out I began shooting new work with the idea that they would be in the show. I never realized that as the new work took shape the show would evolve as much as it did.
This evolution has really opened my eyes to how much the censorship issues has stifled my creativity. I have the models who will pose anyway I ask them but sometimes the shoots have stopped short of what I wanted to achieve. So now with basically 2 to 3 weeks left to shoot then another 4 to print and frame, I have to let it all hang out, sort to speak and make sure that these next sessions I do not self censor during the actual photo session.
Currently the show has a nice mix of male and female nudes from mild to what some might call wild.
I know as these next few photo session occur the show may evolve once again.
This has been a soul searching journey into my artwork that I hope many of you have a chance to see.
I will be posting more info as it gets closer but mark August 15th on your calendars!