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

Censor This II, Kickin' it Old School

After much debate and wondering how I am going to pull off an exhibition that was as talked about as Censor This, I have decided to go back to my roots.

All the exhibition prints in this show will be shot on film and I will hand print them myself. Novel concept as I have a medium formant camera and full, yet dusty, darkroom in my basement.

The challenge, I feel is to remember what it was like shooting only 10 images and then reloading as opposed to shooting over a hundred images without stopping. Without making the images look stiff and posed. it shouldn't be hard right? It was only 6 years ago that I was shooting this way so why should I be leery?

The curator of the Art House Lounge is advertising this show as "Censor This II…More erotic than the 1st". What it took to get the images for the first was in part letting my wonderful models do their thing. I set the stage, the lighting and the action I want to shoot and then photograph them moving performing. With film, it is a much slower and thoughtful process and I need to get the images I want and not look stiff or forced.

So that is my thought for today, as I try not to think too much of Friday and my wife's surgery, I am instead trying to focus on my art and the exhibition. Although as the day progresses and we get closer it is hard not to think about it.

I am sure my next post or two will be about my wife and my thoughts on her cancer but for now I am trying to recruit new models for the exhibition and come up with my game plan for the show.

If you read my blog and are interested in modeling and being a part of Censor This ii, please drop me a line.