Tag: nail polish

Crystal Zapata – Don’t Be Afraid of Yourself II (2014)

I am in love with this image. Seriously, I know mid-career artists who aren’t as conceptually cohesive, direct and unequivocal.

And Zapata isn’t about holding the hands of anyone who misses the ostensible point:

I’ve never had such a hard time trying to make art. Lately, I’ve been
trying to figure out what it is that I actually care about. As it turns
out, I am a woman. I can go on for a while about all of the things that
anger me about our social construct, but all I will say is fuck the
media and fuck history for telling me that I have to be a pretty,
flawless, sexual being, when my own sexuality is taboo.

This image should not shock you. I see photos of sexualized women
hundreds of times per day, so why is THIS considered inappropriate?
Question your surroundings.

Awesome and profoundly relatable.

Source: crystalzapata

Darren Ankenman – Dora Yoder (2013)

During the year I studied fine art photography at an MFA level, I was one of the few people in my class who only shot B&W.

My classmates who shot in color always digressed into these long conversations about the purpose of color in photography.

Unfortunately, I had no point of reference to participate in these discussions. So I tuned them out.

Now, some 7 years later, bits and pieces of their lines of reasoning are coming back to me.

…

The main contention was that while a photograph (or image) could be in B&W or color that color had to be used in such a fashion that the sense of the photograph/image would be lost without it. In other words: from the standpoint of fine art photography a B&W image was either fine art photography or not but when you dealt with color the decision for it to be in color must be debated prior to any comment on whether or not it could be classed as art.

…

In hindsight, I realize this discourse was based on the tendency for the monolithic art world to not accept work that was in color unless the fact that it was in color was conceptually unified with the work itself. The great color photographers–Eggleston, Shore, Sternfeld and Wall made work immersed in questions of the roll of color in photography.

(In order to further drive the point home: I say Cindy Sherman; you say Film Stills–but why not Centerfolds or Sex Pictures. I say Sally Mann; you think Immediate Family–but Mann has some extraordinary cibachromes that you’ve probably never seen…)

…

The above is an example of an image wherein the use of color is foundational to it’s legibility.

Source: purple.fr

The earliest instance seems to be this post; beyond that your guess is as good as mine.

This image demonstrates at least a cursory concern for composition. The focal point of the image is not the center of the frame. There is a consistence in the angle and space allotted to the outside-edge-of-the-tub/floor and the inside-of-the-tub/tile wall. The model is watching what is happening in the frame not searching for approval from the viewer. She is presented nearly whole in the frame. Lastly, the flash is exposes the white fiberglass perfectly, stopping short of overexposure.

I love that this young woman is still wearing stockings and cute top. Along with the polish on her nails, the image retains color that levels out what would have otherwise been the tub being too white or her skin blanched.

There is clearly an urolagnia element to this scene. Yet it is– for me at least–mediated by the geyser-like appearance which although certainly urine echoes tropes surrounding female ejaculation.

In other words, some forethought and technical skill went into making this image. It’s gritty and transgressive but quality is not sacrificed just because its content features fetishistic elements.