New Blog Site

Since this site has been inactive for so long I am moving it over to a new domain.
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Intolerance in the US

First off, I want to apologize to those readers who are expecting a blog about photography and art and have noticed that it's been some time since I posted anything on my blog.

In the last few years I have become complacent and comfortable and haven't felt like I had a voice or an opinion. But, now that the extreme right has taken control of the country I feel that I might be getting back on my soap box.

One of the things that really bothers me about the Right and especially Trump is the growing intolerance in this country about anything "different" or that is contrary to the right wing's own beliefs.


Let's start with the definition of intolerance:

lack of toleration; unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect contrary opinions or beliefs, persons of different races or backgrounds, etc.

The way I see the Right Wing's train of thought is this:

• Keep the poor impoverished because it must be their fault they are the way they are.  
• Let's keep out all the Muslims because they are all radical and want to harm the US
• Build that wall because those Mexicans want to steal our jobs.
• Women's rights? They have rights what are they complaining about.
• Race discrimination? That doesn't happen in the good ol' USA
• Climate change, the planet is fine let's keep pushing fossil fuels.
• Protect the upper 1% because they are generous and will help the middle class.

I could go on but you get the picture.

With the new administration only being in power for a few days we have already seen executive orders and "alternate realities" that have put this country on a course backwards.

All of their ideology whether it's race equality, reproductive rights or freedom of and from religion, stems from one central theme, intolerance.

So here it starts. I will hopefully be talking about the art world and new exhibitions and ideas in photography but I feel this blog is going to be my place for the next 3 years and 11 and a half months to hopefully get a dialog and a movement going to put the breaks on this intolerance, bigotry, and misogynistic practices.

Life really Does get in the Way

OK, yes, it has been a while since I have posted to this blog. For the couple of you who read it I am sorry.
I would like to start looking around me again and post my thoughts, critiques, and photographic ideas that this crazy world inspires.

In some way I hope that by doing so it will help me cope with my life and also raise a few questions or two with you.

So much has happened in the last 18 months that it will take me a while to catch up.
The one thing photographically I do want to mention first and foremost is that the Red Chair Project will continue!

I need about 40 more volunteers to pose for this project. For more information please click on the link and drop me a line. I am looking for adults over the age of 30 of ALL races and both men and women. Please check it out and volunteer!

Thanks all for now, and I will be back!

An Atheist's Christmas

As I write this blog, my wife is down backing, Christmas carols are playing and I am thinking that Christmas is a wonderful time of year, even for someone who doesn't believe in god.

People seem a bit more friendly and tolerant.

Buying gifts for friends and relatives.

Helping out charities who they normally forget the rest of the year. It seems this season brings out the best in everyone, well almost everyone.

We need to remember that the season is about people being good to one another. Being thankful for what we have and the people in our lives that bring it joy and meaning.

In the spirit of charity and giving, you would hope that tolerance would be among the virtues that people would practice this time of year. But unfortunately, this is also the recruiting season for a lot of churches. It does take a lot of money to keep the lights lit in those large houses of worship.

What if instead of filling those collection plates for the church, it all gets donated to the poor in this country? Just a thought, in the spirit of giving.

Being a good person is not a religious attribute, it is a human one. One that we all should try to be.

So whether you believe in god, are Jewish, Christian, Agnostic or Atheist, the important think to remember is to be good to one another, not just at the end of December, but the entire year.

Pink October

So, first off let me apologize for it being so long since I have posted anything.

My new corporate job has really zapped the creativity out of me but every day driving to work I see and hear more and more things that just really bother me.

Being October, the country seems to focus some of it's attention on breast cancer. Yes, it's Breast Cancer Awareness month.
What does that really mean?
It means retailer, who for 11 months out of the year, don't really care about being aware that the estimate for 2011 was that there will be 230,480 (female); 2,140 (male) new cases of breast cancer and 39,520 (female); 450 (male) deaths.

But all around us we see pink. Home Depot and Lowes have pink tools and pink vacuums.
Car dealerships have pink blow up ribbon balloons in their windows and even grocery stores are saying "fill your cart for a cure."

How can they commercialize such an awful disease?

Giant food stores are saying they are donating to "breast cancer research" for certain items you buy. How much are the donating? Who are they donating to?

Brighton jewelry is doing the same thing, buy this and we'll donate. But none of them are saying to whom they are donating.
At least Subway says they are donating to the local chapters of the American Cancer Society.

But come on, car dealers? They are just trying to tug at some heart string so they can move cars before the new year model comes in.

I think this is disgusting and am actually avoiding companies who have no history of caring about the cause except for the month of October.

There are many companies, New Balance shoes, Energizer, and Bank of America, just to name a few. Have committed to support the fight against breast cancer 12 months out of the year, not just one.

So before you buy the bag of potato chips with the pink ribbon on it, do a little research and find out more about who the are and how thy plan on donating.

You want to donate to the cause, don't buy a product, send a check to the Susan G. Komen foundation, or your local chapter to the American Cancer Society.

Unsettle, not really

I have been wanting to write this blog post for a few weeks now but have been a tad busy with life. But I am glad I waited. Sometimes I'll read or see something and react so quickly that I'll review what I wrote and not always think I got it right.
Now, being a few weeks from the exhibition my thoughts haven't changed.

Unsettled: Photography and Politics in Contemporary Art is now showing at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I was very exhcited to actually be able to see this exhibition and that it was being sown in Philadelphia.
This is what got me excited:

Unsettled: Photography and Politics in Contemporary Art presents work by nine artists who used photography to address some of the most controversial political and social issues of the late 1970s through the early 1990s, including feminism, racism, the AIDS crisis, and gay activism. Looking at a diverse range of pictorial strategies, and at works that are by turns confrontational and contemplative, Unsettled examines the historical reasons why many artists made provocative photo-based works in the 1980s, and invites viewers to consider why some of this art still causes controversy, twenty or thirty years after it was made.

So with that, you know I had to go. A few weeks ago my wife and I eagerly went to view this exhibition. The only high point to this exhibition was I had the opportunity again, to see a Robert Mapplethorpe photograph up close and personal. As for the rest of the exhibition it was, safe.

They had a advisory before you walked in warning you of images that might elicit strong reaction from the viewers... yawn.

Don't get me wrong, the work was interesting. With work by Nan Goldin, Peter Hujar, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andres Serrano, Lorna Simpson, and Carrie Mae Weems, they had the opportunity to really show the pulse of the country and the art world during the time period.
But, alas, it was safe. They chose images from these artists that were not shocking or thought provoking. They did what the Philadelphia Museum always does, they coped out.

The art circles in Philadelphia are so conservative that even the museum is afraid to really show what they want. At least I want to think they want to. This exhibition could not have been what they actually wanted to show. At least I hope not.

Wit all that said, you show view trhe exhibition which is at the Perelman Building across the street from the main museum. I would be very interested to hear your views on this subject.

Anyone of you who has seem my work knows I do not shy away from controversy and maybe this has made me skew my views.

So visit and support the museum and let me know your thoughts.

Image above:
Untitled (We are your circumstantial evidence)
Barbara Kruger, American
1983
Gelatin silver prints

Working for the man

First off, let me apologize to anyone who reads my blog about my long absence.  Since my exhibition last fall things got a bit quiet and not many pieces of artwork have been selling. So what is an artist to do? Sell himself out for a pay check and benefits!

Yes, that is right, I am now a full time, in-house photographer for a catalog company. I should items for the company website and monthly catalog. The work keeps me busy and shooting but not artistically fulfilled.

I am looking forward to finally getting in a groove at work so I can shoot on the weekends and create more images that I hope will entice, inspire and make the view think.

It is interesting how things have changed since I have actually been in the corporate world.

• Business Casual has nothing to do with business attire.
• People don't ask questions face to face, it's all by email. Even if the sender is sitting right behind you and you can hear them type the email
• The massive amounts of approvals just to get a $25 cord ordered
• Yards and Yards of red tape
• Cubical workers all with their individual iPods
• 40 hour work week, yea if I only work till Thursday!

At least I get to hide in a photo studio for most of the day.

Besides that and the age gap with me and the rest of the creative team, I like the company and don't mind the work. It's the creative stifling that I am still trying to find an outlet for.

Any suggestions?

Politics after the Midterm elections

I was going to write this blog entry yesterday but I wanted to sit on it a bit and think about what really happened on Tuesday.

Two years ago, the country made an historic vote and elected Barack Obama president of the United States.

With his election came sweeping changes in both the House and the Senate.

Promises of reforms, new health care initiatives, ending the war and a better way of life was the platform the Democrats campaigned on and were elected becasue of.

Two years later, we see that the Democrats got soft and weak.
We are still in this god awful war, health care reform was watered down so much that it really doesn't mean anything, and the bail outs, which I felt were necessary, weren't being regulated enough so the companies who received them just put more cash in their pockets.

So of course, this midterm election saw great changes. It saw a Republican party so fired up that they were like a steam roller and it also saw the birth of many grass roots groups that picked up the conservative mantel.

The Democratic party was unjustly vilified for all the problems our country now faces, but they broke their promises just like every politician does. And they payed the price.

For the next two years our government will basically be in a stalemate with nothing moving forward and getting accomplished. Worse, yet, my fear is that this impotent Democratic party might just cave to the conservative right. They seem to have no passion about being in elective office.

As an artist, my concern is always how conservative our country is becoming and the effect it has on any artist that is the least bit edgy. Also, there is always the desperate funding needed to keep the arts alive in the United States.

The NEA had a $175 million budget in 1991. But during the recent Bush administration there was a major budget reductions with the annual funding dipped below $100 million. The one good thing President Obama did was to sign into law a bill increasing the budget of National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities by $12.5 million each, to $167.5 million each.

The NEA still isn't were it was with funding back in 1991 and with the new conservatives in office I doubt that it will get any higher than it is right now.

Cuts in museums, music and dance companies are sure to follow.

My gripe with the conservative right has always been that they do not see how vitally important the arts are to a society.

They will continue with their tax cuts to the riches 1% of Americans, continue promoting a conservative "Christian" agenda and they will leave the majority of American's struggling to find work, struggling to pay our inflated share of taxes and will destroy the progress the Obama administration has made in backing the one thing that in tough times people turn to, the arts.

I shot this photograph during the last term of George W. Bush as I read the news about more censorship to artists. The title is "Liberties revoked" and it seems that it is unfortunately relevant again.

Intolerance in the US

First let me start of by saying to those readers who are expecting more posts about art and photography that I will be getting back on that track soon, but there are a few things I really need to get off my chest.

In recent months I have seen a growing intolerance in this country about anything that people feel is different or not what they would do.


The definition of intolerance is:

lack of toleration
unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect contrary opinions or beliefs persons of different races or backgrounds,etc.

Synonyms include prejudice and bigotry.

Our US Constitution states:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Our country was founded on our refusal to be persecuted unjustly by the British, yet now, in 2010, our country has gotten more intolerant of different cultures, sexual preferences and of anything that puts us out or is different.

The recent news is full of intolerance. The Islamic Mosque that is being ridiculed for being too close to ground zero. Or the suicide of a young college student because his roommate thought it would be funny to expose his sexuality to the world.

In fact even last weekend while I was a crew member of the 3-Day walk for a cure, a few people were verbally abusive while they had to wait for the walkers to cross a street. What they had to do was so much more important than these walkers and their conviction to finding a cure for breast cancer.

What has happened to the compassion in this country?

All Muslims are being grouped and hated becasue of a small radical faction. They should be free to worship wherever they want. Do we start protesting all the Catholic churches because of Timothy McVeigh's bombing in Oklahoma city?

An 18 year old Rutgers University student, Tyler Clement commits suicide because he was ridiculed by his roommate and secretly filmed and then that film was posted on the internet for the world to see. If he had been with another woman there would not have been an issue but becasue his roommate was intolerant to his sexual preference he thought it fun to film him, invading his privacy and causing Tyler to take his own life.

This is the United States of America, a country that says we all have the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Well, as long as everyone around you agrees with your pursuits.

But then again, look at who we having running for office. For example, look at the current senate race in Delaware, we have Christine O'Donnell, a evangelical activist, who has characterized homosexuality as a psychological disorder and campaigned against masturbation calling it equivalent to cheating on your spouse.

She has the right to her opinion and to run for office. This is a "free" country. Let's just hope the voters in Delaware are smart enough to NOT vote her in. But be ware Delaware, she is a witch you know.

John Lennon said it right in 1968, all we need is love.

For those who know me, you know that I can be extremely cynical and not the touchy feely type, but with the current trend of this country I think we all need a little bit of love and compassion for those around us.

So lets all try to be a bit more tolerant. To hold the door for an elderly person who happens to be moving a little slower than you are. To let that car merge in the lane in front of you. To respect the sexual and religious conviction of others even if it is contrary to our own.

In the words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"

Unexpected feelings

Last weekend my wife and I participated in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. This is a 3 day, 60 mile walk for breast cancer. My wife signed up as a walker and I as a crew member on the route safety crew. Terri raised over $3000 for the cause a was also chosen to be a flag bearer on stage of the opening and closing ceremonies. The flag she carried was "Hope". A fitting flag as we hope for a better future and hope for a cure. There is always Hope.

My wife bravely walked through Washington DC into Maryland and back into our nations capitol just 7 days after her last radiation treatment. Her strength, courage and wonderful spirit through these 3 days encouraged me and those around us to really push through the aches and pains for this cause.

As for me, the cynic, I had a life altering experience.
I knew I was going to be a bit emotional seeing my wife up on stage, proudly showing her newly growing hair, but I never expected to meet a group of loving, caring and wonderful people as the people I met these four days.

When I originally signed up for crew, I signed up for route safety because I enjoy riding my bicycle and route safety sounded interesting and a bit challenging. What I didn't expect was to meet this DC moto crew that took me in and made me feel like I had a new family.

Our job was basically to help the walkers navigate the 60 mile trek and to get across the more dangerous intersections. I found myself dancing and joking with the walkers to help keep their spirits up as they navigate DC and the Maryland suburbs. I laughed, hugged and occasionally teared up when the walkers came by and every single one of the over 2000 walkers left something with me on my street corners. They all walked for personal reasons but the collective reason was to hopeful put an end to this disease that effects 1 in 8 women and men.

Not only did I get the inspiration from the walkers but this crew was incredible. The route safety crew is made up of of motorcyclists and bicyclists. All volunteer for this crew because they truly believe that with their efforts they will find a cure for breast cancer.

Not only if their dedication to the cause wasn't inspiring enough they also kept tabs on Terri the entire 60 miles and let her know how well she was doing every step of the way with words of encouragement and hugs. All this without me asking or saying a word.

During the closing ceremony the walkers come in through toward the stage through a gauntlet of volunteers giving high fives and hugs. The the crew walks in and the ovation we received from the walkers was something I could not have imagined. The appreciation of what we did, not only route safety but all the crews was heart warming.

Then the survivors came in and Terri walked on stage carrying her "Hope" banner and I started to loose it. Tears were free flowing and I felt my legs weaken. But then, just when I needed it most, one of my crew leaders came up behind me and hugged me tight telling me she would never stop doing this until they find a cure. Her hug and the well wishes from the rest of this amazing crew has given me hope for the future.

Terri and I have already agreed that we will be crewing the DC walk again next year and I will definitely be a part of the MOTO crew. I think we will also crew together for another walk next year.

I came hope feeling different about this disease, the cause, the Susan G. Komen organization and myself. I feel that I am truly lucky to have met such wonderful people who have quickly become friends and warriors in the fight against breast cancer.

Ongoing censorship struggle

Monday, I was going through a my website looking up some information to make sure what I was about to tell a client was correct as written on the site, when I discovered my site was not accessible.


It seemed the company with who I had designed and hosted te site through decided to shut me down. After three days of emails I found out that I was shut down due to "adult" content.

I was told, "Weebly doesn't allow adult sites on our network. So your sites were taken down and your account turned off. This isn't a "moral" issue for us, we simply have the same policy regarding adult content as a social network like Facebook."

Not a moral issue; what kind of an issue is it then?

They came back to me and apologized for taking it down so abruptly and even refunded fees I had paid but that still doesn't explain why artwork that deals with the nude is immediately considered "adult."

My frustrations on this subject keep growing as I am running out of options to post my artwork. The hosting companies that allow adult oriented content are where the more pornographic sites are hosted and becasue they are a niche the costs are totally out of my league.

There is a need on the internet for web hosting for the arts. One that will not censor the artist's work, one who will provide a decent site at a reasonable rate.

I even tried posting my images that are for sale on an art website who showed a few oil painted nudes, but when I approached them the reply was that we do not sell "that" kind of work.

I didn't even present them with the images from my most recent exhibition. These were images of a more suggestive and classic nature.

So the saga continues. If anyone out there knows of a reasonable hosting company who can see the art from the porn, let me know!

The Media & Censor This 2

So it has been just over two full weeks since my exhibition, Censor This 2 opened at the ArtHouse Lounge in Harrisburg, PA, and a few local media outlets have picked up the story.
The Patriot-News newspaper and the ABC affiliate channel 27 in Harrisburg.

Both did a story on the exhibition, in the case of the Patriot-News, they did multiple stories before it even opened, plus had a reporter at the opening reception.

In both cases the stories were about erotic art in general and the gallery owner used them as publicity to promote the gallery saying how open he is to all different sorts of artwork. The articles were straight forward, focused on the nudity aspect and the sexual content.

The ABC news story ran with the reporter walking around talking about how they can't show the art, how the gallery owner does not censor art, but actually nothing about the quality of the work. The reporter actually never showed his face in the piece. He mentioned that he looked at the images...twice. He went on to talk about how there was no protest, he seemed disappointed, and then talked about the provocative poses and my use of what he called props. At which time the camera zooms into a pair of leather hand cuffs. Then he made a tongue-in-cheek comment that it seemed, "no one was harmed during the making of the exhibit and that some enjoyed it very much."

So I am not sure whether to be happy that my name got on the news or upset that they honestly did not take it seriously. They never talked about my artist statement, or why I chose to do this exhibition. In fact they never spoke to me at all. They only interviewed the gallery curator.

The funny part about all of this is that the gallery curator never saw the work until I actually hung it. But he did give me cart-blanch to show whatever I wanted. So you have to give credit where credit is due.

My concern is that is was publicized in a very distasteful manner and that the news media tried to sensationalize it or worse yet, joke about it.

So is it possible, in the United States, to get accepted as a "real" artist and shoot erotic images?

The market for art photography is a small portion of the art market as a whole, then divide out the people who like nudes and then divide out further those who like erotica, you end up with an extremely small population of erotic nude art enthusiasts. So the handling of the media has to be very carefully crafted. In this case, the gallery just took the publicity and ran with it. With no regard to my artistic integrity.

I guess I should be grateful, the images have gotten out of my brain and onto a gallery walls.

But I keep asking myself, at what cost?

What do you think? Let me know.

"Censor This 2" Opens Tomorrow

Well, tomorrow is the day. Six months of work is now all boxed up and ready to get hung on the gallery walls in Harrisburg.

The publicity has been out for just over a week and already the gallery is getting hate mail and I am getting disparaging emails and nasty blog posts and no one has seen any of the work yet. I really love how people criticize things before they even see them or give them a chance. Why is it that the narrow minded Americans seem to have the biggest mouths?

I have received phone calls by the  local Harrisburg newspaper  to interview me and the local CBS TV affiliate will be at the gallery Saturday as we hang the show for a story. Again, all this buzz for images that no one has even seen!

Normally, before an exhibition I am pumped up and a bit nervous. My photos are my babies and at the opening they are exposed to the world and on their own. With this show, and all the pre-game hype I really feel ambivalent.

Does the work warrant all this hype? I mean it's just my artwork, my way of expressing my feelings. Yes, this show is more raw and erotic than past shows but really, hate mail?

I am proud of these images and am looking forward to the opening but I really am not as excited as I think I should be. But I'm not nervous either, I kind of just want it to happen and be done.

Maybe my focus has changed since my wife's cancer. Let's face it none of this shit means anything without her. And the thought that I could have lost her to cancer if she wasn't on top of things and didn't have wonderful doctors has made me realize what really matters in this world.

Like Rick said to Ilsa in that famous scene in Casablanca:

I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

So let's see if the opening validates my months of work, at least I am proud of the work I am hanging.
I really hope that I get to meet some new people. So please come out and say hello.


If you are in the Harrisburg, PA area check out the exhibition at the ArtHouse Lounge, 217 N. 2nd St. It runs from August 14th through September 11th.
A percentage of any sales from this exhibit are being donated to the Susan G. Komen, 3-Day Walk for a Cure, to find a cure for breast cancer.

For more information visit ArtHouse Lounge website - http://arthouselounge.com

Proposition 8, unconstitutional

Normally, my blogs are about photography, art and censorship. I have sometimes touched on reality TV and other issues I just find ludicrous.  But after the events of this past Wednesday I feel I need to write about something a bit more substantial.
Now as a married, heterosexual male, you might not automatically think I have any interest in the subject of gay marriage. But for many years I have been a staunch supporter. Having many gay friends, who have been in relationships a lot longer than my three marriages combined, I see what true love in the face of a discriminating country can due..

On Wednesday, August 4th, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled  that the California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative denying marriage rights to same-sex couples was unconstitutional.  Judge Walker said, it is "unconstitutional under both the due process and equal protection clauses."


California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger applauded the ruling, saying it "affirms the full legal protections and safeguards I believe everyone deserves."

First off, what I find interesting is that the Governor is Republican, albeit a moderate Republican and that Judge Walker was a Republican appointee.

This 136 page ruling was crafted very very carefully. The judge knows that it will be appealed and the appeal will probably go all the way up to the Supreme Court. He made quite a few statements in his closing directed to Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Kennedy has been the swing vote on a number of cases brought before the court which is very divided. it will be very interesting to see how the court handles this case.

In speaking about the case brought before him, Judge Walker stated that the defense, in favor of the ban, brought only one expert witness in front of the Court and that this witness was no expert at all. He stated their case was weak and the reason that California voters narrowly voted for Prop 8 was out of fear and ignorance.

Previous court decisions have established that the ability to marry is a fundamental right that cannot be denied to people without a compelling rationale, Walker said. Proposition 8 violated that right and discriminated on the basis of both sex and sexual orientation in violation of the equal protection clause.

But of course, there are the ultra conservatives, the Rush Limbaughs of this country, who see this as nothing more as a pawn to destroy the American Constitution. Limbaugh said, " gay political activists... are being used by the overall leadership of the American left." he continued to say that," the left uses issues such as gay marriage as battering rams to wreck the US Constitution."

Did he NOT read the part about equal protections and due process?

The chairman of the National Organization of Marriage, (didn't know there was such a thing) stated:

Here we have an openly gay (according to the San Francisco Chronicle) federal judge substituting his views for those of the American people and of our Founding Fathers who I promise you would be shocked by courts that imagine they have the right to put gay marriage in our Constitution.

Personally I think the founding fathers would be shocked by the internet or women wearing pants!

Then of course we have Newt Gingrich who said:

Today's notorious decision also underscores the importance of the Senate vote tomorrow on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court because judges who oppose the American people are a growing threat to our society.

So now, becasue Judge Walker is trying to protect all American's right to due process and equality he and any other liberal judge is a threat to our society. Hey Newt, remember, all American's not just your favorites.

And then we have the general, scared,  America public who have made comments like, "I'm very upset. I feel like I don't live in America."
Well maybe that is a good thing. Most other countries feel we are backwards in our thinking about sexuality and marriage anyway.


Oh, and the Pope weighed in too. The Pope stated: Gay Marriage is one of ‘the Most Insidious and Dangerous Threats to the Common Good Today’

Hey Bennie, did you forget the hundreds or maybe thousands of children molested by Catholic priests over the years? Maybe THAT is a dangerous threat to the common good?

Another thing written by Judge Walker in his ruling was, "The evidence shows that the movement of marriage away from a gendered institution and toward an institution free from state-mandated gender roles reflects an evolution in the understanding of gender rather than a change in marriage." I have to agree, the days of the man being the hunter and the obedient wife staying home to raise the kids has been over for a long time. It is just now that the courts are catching up with what is already taking shape in this nation


Equal treatment and government benefits for gay and lesbian couples should not be based on whether couples is a "traditional" male/female couple. The Proposition 8 ruling is a victory for family diversity of all types of orientations, not just gay.

This battle is far from over and will make the news until it finally gets decided on my the Supreme Court.
I for one hope that this tide of unity and equality continues through the country and that it rolls into the Supreme Court and comes out victorious.

Bravo's Work of Art 2

In this latest episode of Bravo's new , art inspired reality show, Work of Art, the photographer Mark Velasquez was eliminated.  Being the only photographer of this show I was hoping his work would be better and he would last. Photography has always been the step child of the fine art world and unfortunately, Mark didn't help the cause.

With a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts focusing on drawing, sculpture and performance art, I expected his work to be more "artistic" and less commercial and obvious. He taught himself photography and by looking at his portfolio on Bravo's site his work is good but not inspired.
He is the perfect example of what I said about this show from the start, there is  no heart in the artwork.

Ross Bleckner fromInfo  the website The Daily Beast said the show "Brought back many memories.
Unfortunately, they were all memories of my junior and senior year in high school."
 I have to agree, it is so contrived and formulated that it really gives the art world a black eye. Most artists create to express some inner desire or demon they need to expose to the world. Well at least that is true in my case. But, art is passion, it is desire, it is showing the world something it has never seen or in a way that it has never seen. Not this, "here is your assignment for today, take $100 and do to it" approach.

Bleckner puts it like this, "The show doesn't make you want to be an artist because "making it," according to this formula, requires competitiveness and pandering to a small cabal of teacher-judges, the so-called experts, who bark "time's up!"

Just in case you are thinking that he is just some critic busting on the show, Ross Bleckner is a well-known artist whose works have been shown in several institutions throughout the world, including MoMA, MoCA, Astrup Fearnley, Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is also recognized as the youngest artist ever to have a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.


I think this show will actually hurt museum patronage becasue of all the art bullshit.
Listen to how the artists explain their work, or how the judges talk about it. It's all bullshit to make normal people afraid to try and express themselves artistically or try and view art in museums. This is the reason so many people don't go to art galleries. They feel they are not "getting" the work so why bother. But if people would go and experience the works in our galleries and museums they will find that they will appreciate them on their own level, whatever that may be.

Don't let shows like this stop you from going to your local art museum or gallery. Here, in Philadelphia, we are lucky to have one of the countries foremost museums and a few areas loaded with smaller art galleries.

So where does the show go from here? The final challenge is coming up and I am curious to see what art speak will come out of Mile's mouth and if Jaclyn will take her clothes off again. But of course she is really shy about her body.  And what about Peregrine, I wonder what bizarre outfit she'll wear to show she is an artist.

I know I am slamming this show as I feel it really doesn't help bring art to the masses. It's one thing to do a competition about making a dress, it's another to create a real work of art. 

Only a few episodes left in season 1, I wonder if there will be a season 2?

Press Release

For Immediate Release: July 20, 2010

Encore Exhibition Just Announced

ArtHouse Lounge curator Jason Piper has just announced the encore exhibition of last year’s critically and publicly acclaimed exhibition Censor This!


Piper has invited back photographic artist, Michael Barone of Perkasie, Bucks County, for another solo exhibition to open on the anniversary of his previously successful exhibition. "Censor This II, fetish and fantasy" is scheduled to open on August 14, 2010 at the ArtHouse lounge in Harrisburg, PA.


According to Piper, “Michael received an overwhelming response right here in Harrisburg, that's why we're hosting Censor This II, Fetish & Fantasy! Most nude photographers and artists use filters and props to blur, hide, color or distort areas to make the works more appealing and less controversial, but Barone does not. He is a true artist which is what drew me to the idea of working with him.”According to Barone’s artist statement, “With these works, I have deliberately pushed the boundaries, forcing the viewer to the position of voyeur, glimpsing into the private, intimate fetishes and fantasies of others. By doing so, the viewer is forced to confront his or her own raw feelings about sex. Whether these feelings leave the viewer moved by the beauty of the images or revolted by their own prejudices against human sexuality does not matter to me. I am simply interested in evoking strong emotional responses.”


Piper said. “I am an artist myself and I strive to uphold the First Amendment. There is no reason for me to have a gallery if it is going to be censored.”


Barone holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Delaware and over the last 25 years has been shown in numerous galleries and websites both national and internationally.


The opening artist’s reception of Censor This II is August 14, 2010 from 6 to 10 pm featuring live models serving champagne and hors d'oeuvres. The exhibition runs through September 11, 2010.


For information about this exhibition visit  ArtHouse Lounge  or Barone PhotoArt
 
The gallery is located at 217 N. 2nd St., Harrisburg, PA

Moscow Curators Fined.

Almost three years ago an exhibition opened in Moscow called “Forbidden Art” at the Sakharov Museum.  And this month the museum curators were convicted Monday of inciting religious hatred and fined. The 2007 exhibit was part of an effort to fight censorship of the arts, but the Russian Orthodox Church was horrified and brought the lawsuit against the curators. 

The exhibit featured several paintings with images of Jesus Christ. In one, Christ appeared to his disciples as Mickey Mouse. In another, of the crucifixion, the head of Christ was replaced by the Order of Lenin medal, the highest award of the Soviet Union.

The Russian Orthodox Church is very conservative and politically powerful in Russia and pushed prosecutors to bring charges in 2008 and then kept up their pressure on the two curators throughout the trial.

Artists and human rights activists have appealed to the Kremlin to put a stop to the prosecution of Yury Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev, warning of censorship that was very prevalent during the days of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Union. The prosecutors refused to back down under pressure from the church and last week the curators were ordered only to pay fines of up to 200,000 rubles, (about $6500) but they could have been sentenced to up to three years in prison. 

Yerofeyev said the aim of the “Forbidden Art” exhibit, which showed works that had been banned from shows at major museums and galleries in 2006, was to show the reality of censorship. Religion was not the intended theme, he said. The Mickey Mouse as Jesus painting was intended to show the mixing up of facts in a child’s mind. A child hears about the Bible from his parents while watching Mickey Mouse cartoons and gets confused. 

The Russian orthodox Church is a very powerful presence in Russia today. “The church has become an instrument of censorship like it was during czarist times,” said Gleb Yakunin, 76, a priest and Soviet-era dissident who has broken with the church. “It wants to control culture.”

Like the US court case in Cincinnati 20 years ago, when Dennis Barrie and the Contemporary Arts Center were indicted for pandering obscenity just hours after the opening of the photography exhibit, Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment, this case can have a serious ripple effect on not only the art world in Russia but throughout the world.  

How many curators and artist with now take a risk and show work that could land them in jail and be forced to endure a trial and public scorn and ridicule? 
 Leonid Bazhanov, director of the National Contemporary Art Center, said a guilty verdict would make Russia less competitive in the world art market. Foreign artists would be wary of bringing their works to Russia, while more Russian artists would leave the country, he said. Maybe this is what the church wants.

This censorship battle maybe taking place in Russia, but as an artist I feel the heat right here in our country. What is happening in Russia is actually happening in the US today. The right-winged Christian conservatives are pushing their morality on the judicial system. They are using their voice and power to dictate their small minded agenda on the art world, persecuting artists who show work that in their eye is obscene.

In all the advertising hype over us being in a war they always talk about the soldiers are fighting for our freedoms,but this type of censorship slaps the face of those freedoms. We have soldiers dying every day to protect our way of life but the conservative cancer is eating it away from the inside.

Sometimes when I write this blog I feel like I am waging an unwinnable war with very few people supporting this cause. Show your support, visit an art gallery or chime in on a social networking site or my blog.

 
(Photo credit and comment - Yury Samodurov gestures as he and other human rights activists gather outside a Moscow courthouse during a court hearing of Samodurov's case. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, file)

Reality TV hits art world

I have recently started to watch the newest reality TV show from Bravo, "Work of Art; The Next Great Artist". Bravo brought together the production company of Sarah Jessica Parker, Pretty Matches, together with the Emmy-nominated Magical Elves who produces "Top Chef" and "Project Runway" This hour long contest pits artists against each other to produce artwork alla Project Runway. The format is almost exactly the same but instead of clothing these artists are supposed to be making works of art. The winner of the competition gets a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn  Museum and a cash award. The casting of course was picked to get some variety so you have the older fine artist, the whacked performance artist and everything in between.

I think I am enjoying  the show, but as an artist myself I find most of these artists missing the mark on the assignments.  What I see lacking in the work so far is heart. To me an artist is someone who visualizes what is in their heart and soul. There is no heart or soul in the artwork shown so far.

This last episode was really bad as the artist were to make "shocking art" but then Bravo censored the images on the broadcast, Huh? Why even have the episode if you are going to censor it. And besides, not a single piece was shocking. The winner of the competition was according to the judges,  the most shocking but really missed. His concept was wonderful but execution failed. It really felt as if  this episode was a promotion for photographer Andres Serrano. If you don't know his name you'll know one of his pieces. His most famous is "Piss Christ", a photograph of a plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of his own urine. This caused great controversy when first exhibited. The work was sold for $162,000 in December 1999 in London.
(An aside here, Andres Serrano needs to come to my exhibit in August and see where the cucifix is submerged!)

Anyway, I digress. The show is supposed to push the artist to create works of art on a budget and on a time schedule. The budget part shouldn't be a problem for most artists becasue, lets face it, artwork isn't selling like it used to. The time crunch is interesting but for an artist with an idea and who can work smart, it shouldn't be a problem.

My problem with the show is not only the censorship by Bravo TV, but the lack of any real substance in the artwork so far produced and also the serious, TV attitude of the judges. There comments are rehearsed and practiced and really are meant only to keep the TV audience watching not to be a constructive critique of the artwork. From Bravo's website, the judges are as follow:

Hosting this new series is art enthusiast China Chow. She will serve on the judging panel alongside art luminaries Bill Powers, a New York Gallery owner and literary art contributor, Jerry Saltz, current art critic for New York Magazine, and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, esteemed curator and owner of Salon94 gallery. World-renowned art auctioneer Simon de Pury adds his voice of experience as a mentor to the contestants.

So I am very curious to see how this reality show progresses and to see the impact, if any on the art world.

I am checking out Work of Art's website waiting for the application for the next season if there is one.
It might be time I put my camera where my mouth is, oh wait, I already do that.
August 14th, Censor This II, fetish and fantasy" opens at the ArtHouse Lounge in Harrisburg!

Looking to see you there!

Photograph above ©Bravo TV

Andy Warhol - Pro or Con

Recently the show,  History Detectives, launched its new show. They are investigating the claim that a ceramic chip, smaller than a postage stamp and bearing drawings by Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, David Novros, Forrest Myers, and John Chamberlain was secretly attached to the craft used for the 1969 Apollo 12 moon landing by an Grumman aerospace engineer. It is a cute story and should make for some possibly interesting TV since there really isn't anything else on.
But reading about this made me think a bit more about Andy Warhol himself and my thoughts on him as an artist.


We all have seen his Campbell's Soup cans from 1961 and all the hype over his pop art explosion but was he this great ground breaking artist or just a fantastic salesman?

Andy Warhol began as a commercial illustrator. His first exhibit was in 1962 when he showed his 32 Campbell's Soup cans in a museum in Los Angeles. And in fact the bulk of his work was produced in a six year span until 1968 when he was shot.

His view on the his art was that we are bombarded with advertising images so much and we experience things through this to the point where the image is lost and becomes banal. He wanted to show the condition of mass advertising and it's effect on human perception. At least that is what he said.

 He shifted from objects to portraits of famous people; Marylin Monroe, Liz Taylor and Jackie Kennedy just to mention a few. he even tried his hand at photography, and films, all with his eclectic visual bent.

He died in 1987 and was more of a "personality" in the New York art scene than an actual artist. People would flock to see him siting in "Max's Kansas City" and were deeply moved if he made eye contact with them. He was the personification of celebrity, he wanted his "15 minutes of fame", which he coined, to last a lifetime.

He was born of an immigrant family in the blue collar town of Pittsburgh and moved to New York after studying illustration at Carnegie Institute of Technology. His drawings of shoes for advertisements in the 1950's got him the attention needed to spawn his art career. His attention stayed with advertising but took a slanted view of mass marking. 

Warhol once said, "What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.

 A  1964 exhibit The American Supermarket, a show held in an Upper East Side gallery, was presented as a typical U.S. small supermarket environment, except that everything in it – from the produce, canned goods, meat, posters on the wall, etc. were created by six prominent pop artists of the time, among them Billy Apple, Mary Inman, Robert Watts and Any Warhol.

Warhol's painting of a can of Campbell's soup cost $1,500 while each autographed can sold for $6.
By the way, in 2009 His painting, "Eight Elvises" sold for $100 million, yes, $100,000,000. That is a lot of zeros.
The exhibit was one of the first that directly confronted the general public with both pop art and the question of what is art.

The more I research and read about Warhol the more I feel he just capitalized on what would sell. I agree that his original vision was something a bit unique, even though Monet had similar views in some of his work. But I think he was a product of his time and environment. The New York art scene in the 1960's was ripe for change and someone as eccentric and with the marketing savvy as Andy Warhol definitely was able to take a bite out of the Big Apple and the art world.

All of this was actually escalated in on June 3, 1968 with the assassination attempt by Valerie Solanas who was a member of The Factory art scene and founded a movement called Society for Cutting Up Men (S.C.U.M) Do you think she had issues? Supposedly, she gave a script she wrote to Warhol to look at in the hopes of making it into  film with him, somehow the script was "misplaced".

With the assassination attempt, his sexuality and his knack for self promotion, Warhol was destined to be famous.

My question is this, was he a genius artist or just in the right place at the right time and mearly a decent illustrator with a bit of PT Barnum in him?

What are your thoughts?

Art Photography Auction

As readers of my blog know there are many photographers who have influence the way I see and shoot. Ansel Adams, Minor White, Paul Strand, Helmut Newton just to name a few. But, none of these has influence me more than Robert Mapplethorpe.

Mapplethorpe was always an artist, creating beautiful and thought provoking collages, but did not pick up a camera until he was in his early twenties, starting with Polaroid images and making decorative and interesting frames out of the actual film casings. 

He is best know for his frank portrayal of the homosexual leather scene but he also had a wonderful way of lighting a subject, which sometimes got lost due to the frankness of his subject. But it wasn't only male nudes he photographer, some of his most beautiful images are of statues and flowers. Whether it be a male nude, or a flower, this sense of lighting and stark focus on the erotic around us has greatly influence my work and especially the current exhibition I am working on. So, it was wonderful to see that one of Mapplethorpe's  flower images, Calla Lilly, 1984 is going up for auction at the Heritage Auction, on June 9th in Dallas, Texas. The images is expected to sell for between $30,000 and $40,000. and to be the highlight of the auction.
As a photographer whose life was cut short at 42 at the hand of AIDS and who has been maligned after death due to his subject matter in showing a lifestyle that many don't even know exist, it is wonderful to see that their are still people out there who respect him for the photographer, the artist he was.

Mapplethorpe's image along with images by Irving Penn, Yousuf Karsh, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Annie Leibovitz and Richard Avedon represent some of the most famous and influential photographers ever.

I really wish I could be there and see these images and watch the gavel fall being envious of anyone who can afford such wonderful works of art.

Photography, for a long time during it's early years, was not consider a true fine art. But, photographers like these are the ones who helped make it a legitimate art form and have paved the way for me to do what I do.

Lately, with the digital mass marketing camera revolution, photography has become watered down and common place but it is my hope that this auction can spark the flame to those creative and innovative photographic artists to produce work that is inspiring, emotional, controversial and beautiful.

I know I will never stop shooting and my wife will probably find me dead either in my dark room or with a camera in my hand. My hope is that she will be right there beside me when I go and I am sure we will be well into our 80s by then. And I will still be photographing naked, beautiful people!

Thank you Robert.