Some of my work will be featured this weekend at the Seattle Erotic Arts Festival.
Here’s the info.
“The installation builds momentum and explodes at its conclusion…”
This installation is wide, and through photographs, paintings, and a monitor displaying hundreds of digital images, it will demonstrate the revolutionary change which took place across this 60 year period.
Many people are unfamiliar with the severe restrictions imposed upon photographers in the mid-century. These artists were often threatened, sometimes jailed, and all were forced to share their work in the most limited manner.
Beginning with George Quaintance’s photography and paintings, through the “posing strap” era of Bob Mizer/AMG and others such as the Western Photography Guild, the images morph into what is available today.
The installation begins with some early black and white images (many from a private collection), which are stunning in their simplicity.
Significant moments are noted, such as the late 1960s when the U.S. Postal Service dropped its restrictions on frontal nudity being sent in the mail. This moment alone was a game-changer: the posing straps (shown in the image above) came off once and for all, and gay erotic photography changed forever.
But it wasn’t just the dropping of the posing straps: technology changed. The forbidden images became available to all. Images which were once only imagined or viewed in private are now accessed by and available to nearly everyone.
The installation builds momentum and explodes at its conclusion as it flashes hundreds of images of the men Jim has known and photographed over the last ten years, representing the current stage of proliferation and freedom in gay erotic art and images.