I was listening to a famous female artist the other day, and thought how extremely talented she is, but wondered what did she do to herself after all these years, like all the other young rebellious artists that have been bombarded by the media. There seems to be a trend of a rising young star who starts out clean and wholesome, then after a few years of constant media barrages, they become the “bad boy/girl,” which not surprisingly, receives even more attention than being proper. This is obviously common knowledge and in the news every day, and unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you know how the story goes.
While the thought ran through my head, it dawned upon me how I, as an artist, am not immune to such social demands either. I am not famous by any means, just well known around my small community - and while I refer to myself, I am really talking about my work that represents me. My personal life has always stayed private and does not reflect the work I present to the public.
I place myself in the middle of what I think is a “true artist” and a commercial artist. I don’t starve nor do I only produce deep and profound work that comes from my inner soul, and I also am not a slave to what the people want and producing happy, pretty, profitable work. I only create work that stirs up my emotions, imagination, fantasies, and sometimes just plain ol’ eye candy, while keeping a discernible distinction of what’s proper for the public and what’s not. To put it more technically, I only share about 1% of my work with the public, and the rest are for my eyes only (and the subject of course).
As a new artist, the easiest and fastest way to gain an audience and approval is to produce work for the masses. If you sing, that means writing a catchy melody, if you create visual images, that means creating something pretty, in most cases. I have been in the same position in my early stages of my people-photography career. When working with models, I cater to what they want. I learn many new skills in the process. I create more pretty images. I make people happy and want me even more, thus making me happy as well. So where am I now?
While I still believe I am in my early stages of photography, I feel like I’ve paid my dues in catering to people, and I have more audiences than I could ever count. With all the compliments and critiques I’ve been receiving about my work, the most overused description is “classy.”
“Your work is so classy!”
“I love how it’s so sexy yet classy.”
“I want classy photos too.”
I almost feel the pain of the other young artists who are probably bombarded by society’s imposed image of them being a wholesome individual who has a lot more potential to create more happy products to please the rest of them. I do appreciate the compliments, I really do. If I can push some limits and still have people label my work as “classy,” that means I am still accumulating fans, after all, numbers count!
My issue now lies within my lack of responsibility to cater to what people want. Just like the already rich and famous artists, they no longer need the money or approval of everyone, they have proven their skills once before, and now their rebellious side comes out.
What is my rebellious side? I am honestly sick of hearing about my work being classy. I know what my work is, I know how to present it, and I know how people respond to it. The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear that word is “shut the hell up, you have no idea.” That is correct, you have no idea. Remember that 1%? You only see the top of the glacier when it comes to my work.
We all have our privacy and level of comfort when it comes to the topic of sex, from the simple distinction between male and female, to the visual stimulation of a body, to our own preference on how to please our sexual desires. This isn’t some underground culture that most people can only talk about, such as S&M. Everyone and their mom (yes, your mom too) has had sex, has an opinion on what’s sexy, and knows what stimulates their mind.
My interests is not to reveal the privacy of an individual, but to express the raw emotions and desires of people. I’ve captured everything from the simple beauty of a naked body, to the raunchy pornographic poses that most of you probably do in your own privacy in front of a partner, possibly in front of a cheap camera too! Too many people are caught up with definitions and classifications of work. “It’s okay to be nude as long as you look classy.” That’s a lame excuse to be nude. To me, classy has become boring and has many limitations.
Now that I’ve given a rough idea of the scope of work I produce, you might understand why someone that wants me to create sexy photos for them, yet limit me to a classification of staying classy, that I would turn them down upon hearing that magic word. Go find someone else just starting to create classy and safe images. My goal now is to breach the limits and boundaries of what an individual can allow to be captured on film, and while most of it will still stay private, I will continue to give my audience a glimpse of it.
Next time you’d like to give me a compliment on my photos, please choose something more descriptive and more creative than “classy.” I would really appreciate it.
I leave you with some encouragement:
update: I also forgot to mention the other word I hate. “Tasteful.”
