I just shot this image today. (This is what I do). I'd usually sit on it for months if not years before sharing (only because I've got so much else already in the queue), but I really liked it and wanted to show it off. Plus, it generated some thoughts in my head. Three thoughts - one for each clone depicted.
1) I feel like creating images like this one should earn me a free pass to walk around naked with immunity. "See - it's worth giving me this freedom. I'm making beautiful art!" Not only would I not have to sneak around - imagine the interesting images I could come up with in the city!
2) I know that asking my fans whether I'm a talented artist is preaching to the choir, but I can't really show off my best works to an impartial audience for evaluation, because the very subject of my art - nudity - is taboo! But I really want to be acknowledged, and told that my skill has improved (compare: my first clone shot from 16 years ago), and that there really is something to what I'm doing here. I mean, I already believe it. But I need the psychological reinforcement, from somebody who doesn't just think I'm hot (because - I'm sorry for the stereotype, but it's statistically true - perverts are known to be indiscriminate towards matters of artistic taste).
3) I feel like the images I create are more interesting (because they're novel) than the dime-a-dozen images of naked women you'll find in artist society. But people won't even give them a chance, because they're conditioned to view men's bodies in a certain, limited way. I started this journey with zero interest in the aesthetics of male nudity, but I've totally turned myself around. People are missing out on a wonderful new kind of beauty, because they're too narrow-minded. Maybe what I do helps in some small way. But change takes too long. I'll be rotting in my grave before I can see the fruits of my labors. What's the point of that? I mean, I'll still do it. But what kind of bumbling fool designed things this way?
"What a colossal, immortal blunderer! When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering."
- from Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
Ugh, I love this piece!! Look I struggle to process all of this ( in a positive way ) because it was all thrown in the blender of my mind's eye a long time ago:
ReplyDeleteTruth is, as stated rarely before I've been following you from you Flickr days. Your techniques have come full circle and are fairly flawless. I don't deny your physical appeal and the dualities ( or more ) you maintain as what appears as a multi-gendered individual and artist that is creating art not to many others are. I don't know if that's the most eloquent or proper way to state that but it's kind of how I see it and why I appreciate the work. It's also slowly helping me process as I get older the blurred lines of sex, art, gender, identity and struggle. It's been a long journey for me with that and a very lone one at that.
I was diagnosed with a condition long ago when younger that includes a multiplicity in visions and things ( hallucinations ) that have made life challenging beyond more than I have energy to explain in my years. The condition has also interfered with my own art and design career and education. I still struggle with that too to this very day.
But again the complex artist and person your work conveys I guess had made me feel less alone as I've struggled from my own barely explainable inner turmoil. The complex emotional tug of wars I have with my own "identities" as an artist , schizophrenic gay man, and as a person with hopefully an empathetic soul living in an incredibly entropic reality. I don't understand everything you try and express in your writing and photos, and "photo skits", but I appreciate it all. I'm repeating a lot of words here.
Again the multiplicity shots remain the ones I appreciate the most as it makes my mind scramble to wrap around the multiple identities you become in the fantasies. Simultaneously, it fucks with my fractured brain and sometimes makes me laugh when you use folklore, costumes and pop culture to tell a fairy tale or horror story. It's surreal and challenges me to up my art to when I see you constantly improving your photography and editing skills.
And I'm sorry I'm a "perv" ,you blur so SO much that thin line between art,sex, and just appreciating the natural beauty of the human body. I'm still learning all these things. And in a way you become the viewers' of your arts guide. And I appreciate that part probably the most.
I'm not a nudist I don't understand a lot of that either - but I respect the and the hell out of you for the need for that important aspect of your identity. And again I am learning as much as I can. Your a fuckin philosopher too, you are hard to keep up with.
I felt so bad all those years I admired your work without speaking up that is why I try to support you a tiny bit like on OF and JFF because you have helped me in these tiny visual ways all these years and really grateful. I'm also exhausted a lot from infinite work, and that's another reason I don't talk a lot. But at least know if people like me leave a like or heart ❤️ or something, you and your work as an artist and person are appreciated. Sorry for the lack of appropriate sentance structure but I wanted to chime in here. Felt I needed to cuz again it's so rare l. I'm also revealing a few things here I don't share with too many people online.
And one last thing : lt's not my fault YOU ARE A GOOD LOOKING SOB okay!!? IM SORRY!! Can you blame me?? We should all be so lucky to live in a world of beautiful Zharths !! Ok, there is my sincere rhetoric I'll turn into a sarcastic diatribe. Or as Seth MacFarlane would call it, "... My moment of shit." Good Night. ~ t
Oh and hang in there, okay?? ~ t
ReplyDeleteI am the Genie in the bottle and I grant you your three wishes. Go and spread happiness around you through your beauty, your Art and your talent. And may it be so until the end of time. Yes, the male body can be beautiful, especially if it is delicate and androgenic like yours. You are worthy of the greatest Masters. Like Michelangelo's David or Rodin's Thinker. Your Art should be recognized in the same way as them.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comments. I hope I didn't make it sound like I don't appreciate my fans' input, too - because really, that's the most important thing. I guess I'm just a glutton when it comes to praise, and I want the whole world to praise me. >.<
ReplyDeleteBut don't ever feel bad for being a pervert. I'm a pervert, too. It's the rest of the world that makes us feel bad for our sexual feelings. Yes, I want to be recognized for my skills as an artist, beyond just having the luck to be born attractive (although let's not discount the work I put into grooming and fitness), but if I wasn't attractive, much of the point of this work would be lost.
I can still think back to the first clone shot I ever tried. It was a technique I saw other photographers playing around with on Flickr. My first attempt was pretty dismal, and I wasn't impressed. I think comparing that to what I produce today is all the evidence anyone could ever need that I've improved astronomically. I'll include a link in the post for comparison.
Saying that you are a glutton for appraisal, it is completely normal because you deserve it for your great art. Sincerely, you should be famous all over the world for your great talent. As for the pervert, I always call myself a pervert and I AM PROUD OF IT. And for your first clone shot, not that bad. How many people could do it? Not much, and surely not myself, so your first clone shot is an amazing accomplishment. 👍👍👍 And you improved your talent gradually to produce the Masterpiece shot you just realize. 💖💖💖
DeleteWhat a lovely body, and beautiful setting.
ReplyDeletePlenty of interesting rocks to play on, revealed at the bottom of the lake by this dry summer we've been having.
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