Digital BW, The Print

Arthur,

I was one of those who posted a negative reaction.

The gist of my remarks was that this was totally artless, indeed amateurish,
pornography, from a photographic perspective.  There have been artists
throughout history who have created ³pornographic² works that are valued
artistically.  Beardsley and Mapplethorpe immediately come to mind.  There
are legions of others, and from many different cultures.  But there is no
way that I can ³stretch my definition of [photographic] Œart¹² to include
the work under discussion.

I should add, as well, that I hold no special brief against pornography
involving freely consenting adults.  I grew up with the expression, ³It¹s a
free country.²  And in spite of present conditions, I still subscribe to
that.

Harry


On 9/27/07 11:31 AM, "Arthur Fink" <af@...> wrote:

> I am, quite frankly, more shocked by the strength and quality of the
> responses on this list than I was by the rather lurid quality of the
> photographs that were presented to us.
> 
> As somebody who has posted very little on this list, I still have
> felt that a single notice of a show involving my black and white work
> would be tolerated or accepted.  (I'd not expect to announce color
> shows, which is most of what I'm doing now.)  It appears that the
> issue is not a lurker trying to post an ad, but something more
> related to the content of the images.
> 
> Yes ... the images in question certainly stretch my definition of
> "art".  But I can easily choose to ignore them, and to look at or
> create other images instead.  I did notice some nudes that were much
> less sexual than the other images.  Had those be presented by
> themselves, without the sexual/erotic photography text, I doubt that
> they would have created any significant stir.
> 
> Back to monitor calibration, step wedges, and Epson's monopolistic
> practices. . .
> 
> Arthur Fink
> 
> A r t h u r  .  F i n k  .  P h o t o g r a p h y
> -------------------------------------------------
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-- 

Harry F. Lockwood




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