Is it ART or is it PORN?

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I received this rejection letter in the mail yesterday, and have been thinking quite a bit on this point. My art obviously aims at pushing boundaries here, and if anything i am surprised it has taken this long to receive such a letter. So in a sense, i am probably more glad than not that this came; for i think it is overdue.

 

Where are our boundaries for this as a society as a whole?

What is the point of no return where something acceptable as art becomes pornography?

 

What i think is even more interesting though, is the fact that the person who sent me this makes it quite clear that they would have liked me to change my art to suit their likings. Shouldn't we be encouraging artists to pursue self-discovery? Isn't there more than enough conformity in our lives as it is? Should we be pushing for conformity in the artistic realm as well?

 

i will end my post with a quote from Chuck Palahniuk's Choke:

 

WHATEVER LIGHTING THE PHOTOGRAPHER USED was harsh and made bad shadows on the
cement-block wall behind them. Just a painted wall in somebody's basement. The mon-
key looked tired and patchy with mange. The guy was in lousy shape, pale with rolls
around his middle, but there he was, relaxed and bent over with his hands braced against
his knees and his poochy gut hanging down, his face looking back over his shoulder at
the camera, smiling away.
"Beatific" isn't the right word, but it's the first word that comes to mind.
What the little boy first loved about pornography wasn't the sex part. It wasn't the
pictures of beautiful people dorking each other, their heads thrown back, making those
fake orgasm faces. Not at first. He'd found all those pictures on the Internet even before
he knew what sex was. They had the Internet in every library. They had it at all the
schools.
The way you can move from city to city and always find a Catholic church, the same
Mass said everywhere, no matter what foster place the kid was sent, he could always find
the Internet. The truth was, if Christ had laughed on the cross, or spat on the Romans, if
he'd done anything more than just suffer, the kid would've liked church a lot more.
As it was, his favorite website was pretty much not sexy, at least not to him. You
could just go there, and there would be about a dozen photographs of this one dumpy guy
dressed as Tarzan with a goofy orangutan trained to poke what looked like roasted chest-
nuts up the guy's ass.
The guy's leopard-print loincloth is tossed to one side, the elastic waistband sunk into
his tubby waist.
The monkey's crouched there, ready with the next chestnut.
There's nothing sexy about it. Still, the counter showed more than a half million
people had been to see it.
"Pilgrimage" isn't the right word, but it's the first word that comes to mind.
The monkey and the chestnuts wasn't anything the kid could understand, but he sort
of admired the guy. The kid was stupid, but he knew this was something way beyond
him. The truth was, most people wouldn't even want a monkey to see them naked. They'd
be terrified about how their asshole might look, if it might look too red or baggy. There's
no way most people would ever have the nerve to bend over in front of a monkey, much
less a monkey and a camera and lights, and even then they'd have to do about a zillion sit-
ups first and go to a tanning booth and get their hair cut. After that, they'd spend hours
bent over in front of a mirror, trying to determine their best profile.
And then, even with just chestnuts, you'd have to stay somewhat relaxed.
Just the thought of auditioning monkeys was terrifying, the possibility of being
rejected by monkey after monkey. Sure, you can pay a person enough money and they'll
stick stuff into you or they'll take pictures. But a monkey. A monkey's going to be honest.
Your only hope would be to book this same orangutan, since it obviously didn't look
too picky. Either that or it was exceptionally well trained.
The point was, there'd be nothing to this if you were beautiful and sexy.
The point was, in a world where everybody had to look so pretty all the time, this
guy wasn't. The monkey wasn't. What they were doing wasn't.
The point was, it's not the sex part of pornography that hooked the stupid little boy. It
was the confidence. The courage. The complete lack of shame. The comfort and genuine
honesty. The up-front-ness of being able to just stand there and tell the world: Yeah, this
is how I chose to spend a free afternoon. Posing here with a monkey putting chestnuts up
my ass.
And I really don't care how I look. Or what you think.
So deal with it.

 

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

i should have to make a scan of this, as the flash is not kind to the art! ;-D

 

but here is Jim SantAmour's Cebu Rose!!!

[Jim SantAmour]

..I am glad I did send "Cebu Rose"...

[Jim SantAmour]

I really had second thoughts about sending "Cebu Rose"...I wasn't worried how you would receive it...but more worried that it might be considered porn by the US Post Office (especially because it appears Cebu Rose is very young...even tho' the image is from a 100 year old negative!).  I even talked to a friend and fellow IUOMA artist.  The flowers over her breasts were the compromise...although, at the end I think it added something to the art.  Saying that, very little offends me (namely deceit, disrespect and bigotry)...what I did find offensive was the fact that I had to second guess myself with regards to presenting my art...

[Jen Staggs]

I would be horrified to receive a letter like that!  It almost makes me want to censor MY art to keep from offending anyone.  Woof.  ALSO, nipples do not equal porn.  Hooray for boobies!

[Neil Gordon]

I'd like to put my 2cents in abt. art &porn; self expression=selfexpression!!!! To some people Disney is porn. its all relative, e=mc2xwhat is beautifull or meaningful to you. Nuff said,Neil

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

as you can see, i have blotted out the name and i am not putting any blame on the person.

my point in posting this is merely to bring it into light. i feel it worthy of at least a moment's thought!

 

it's interesting to me to find that there is this invisible line in people where something can be acceptable, but then it crosses over that line, just slightly and becomes absorbed into a whole different series of neural networks in their brain. just a slight tweak and major bends in perception result. which ties in a lot with my ideas of a subjective world which i've expressed at length in the asemic group. i think all art is ultimately up to interpretation of the viewer. as an artist, you have some sway over how people will begin to perceive your work, but if a viewer wants to, they can force the mind to see it in a vastly different light than was intended.

 

i imagine there are times this person views nudity and is undisturbed by it in the least.

but they have decided to categorize my nude art as "soft porn" (their quote).

[DKeys]

Erni,
This reminds me of that discussion awhile back about Punk Mail Art where the intention was to be rude and downright offensive. I think the thing that bugs me about the above letter is the implication that Superhero's intention was to demean, reduce, disrespect, offend him/her. I'm sure that is not the case. It's good they took a stand for sure, but if someone took the time to send me something I would feel grateful. If it offended me I would simply put it in the bin.

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

i like them.

it took me a while to adjust to your art at first, but you certainly were a piece of inspiration toward pursuing my own boundary pushing!!! ;-D

 

in particular, your Urban Exploration Zombie:

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

thank you! ;-D

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

and one last thing off topic; SH was a nickname given to me by the Devilla Clones.

given what i now know about how he's been toying with me from the start when i joined IUOMA,

i find it derogatory and offensive. please just call me superhero.

 

i once found it endearing, but that was before the truth of intentions was revealed.