Rock Me Sexy (St. Sebastian Edition)

After looking through representations of Christian figures in Reinassance art, St. Sebastian beats out Jesus in the sexy department. The same thing applies with St. Sebastian and other Christian figures as with Jesus during this period of time. The Greek and Roman influences spilled over into the representation of Christian figures, and the sensuality was emphasized due to spiritual passion and ecstacy related with the figures. Rock me sexy, Sebastian.

Jeffrey Lewis- Champion Jim

Jeffrey Lewis is a part of the antifolk movement, but supplements his music with his cartoon drawings. I love this 'Champion Jim' song. The drawings that corrolate with the song remind me of the giant coloring books I used to color in as a child. It really emphasizes the playful aspect of antifolk music. I think it's absolutly adorable, and the song is cute too. I will probably post more of Jeffrey Lewis' work later. Enjoy Champion Jim!

Rock Me Sexy, Jesus

Il Sodoma- Flaggalation of Christ- 15th Century

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, Jesus Christ was often depicted in an erotic manner. Images of Jesus from this period convey his intense religious passion in a sensual way, relying on his body positioning and facial expressions to convey a sense of religious passion and ecstasy.

Passion and ecstacy are two terms that are generally used in regards to sexuality, but also have roots in religious termonology. Passion is any intense emotion ranging from anger and happiness to sexual desire, coming from the latin 'passus', which means to happen and is used in the passive. The Passion of Christ describes the events of his trial leaving up to his crucifixtion. The general definition of ecstacy describes intense elation or rapture in a trance like state. Religions ecstacy describes the same experience, but in a spiritual way characterized by visions and an expanded mental state. Due to the various range of meanings within both terms, although the images of Jesus during this meaning are pointed to convey religious passion and ecstacy, the intense emotion of both terms lead to a sensual depiction.

Prior to the 15th century, Jesus was often depicted draped in cloth, and stoic. There was a huge disconnection between the body and the soul in religion. The body was not something to be displayed proudly, but was merely a vessel to contain the soul. The body was also seen as a distraction from spiritual matters, which should be the main focus of existence. Below is an image of Jesus from the Byzantine Empire. Note the stiffness of his form, lack of emotion, and his covered form.



During the Renaissance, artists rediscovered the techniques and styles used by Greek and Roman artists in regards to perspective, proportion, and the beauty of the human form. Rediscovering the human form revealed the sensual side of the body, and Jesus was not omitted from this. The combination of Greek and Roman inspired forms along with the need to express the passion of Jesus developed provocative, sensual images of Jesus that delve into the realm of sexuality and are sometimes considered as homoerotic.

Below are images of Jesus between the 15th and 17th centuries depicting the events during and after The Passion. They starkly contrast with the Byzantine image of Jesus which was stiff, and clothed. The Renaissance Jesus was sexy, and used his body, expression, and posing to express his intense passion. Another thing I noticed in the three images of the sexy Jesus I posted is that no one else in the images exude the sensuality that Jesus does, showing a connection between elevated spirituality and a correlating heightening of sensuality. Religion has generally attempted to seperate the body and sensuality with spirituality. After examining the definitions of passion and ecstacy, and looking at religious images during the Renissance, it can be noted that sensuality and passion can be unsperable aspects of the religion and are intergral parts of the religious experience. Rock me sexy, Jesus.

Homoerotic continued

Philip Swarbrick - Subway Encounter


Antonio Canova (1757 - 1822) Thesius Slaying a Centaur

One of my more recent posts addressed homoeroticism, however, I was unable to explain what made a piece homoerotic. After looking at images deemed as homoerotic and much thought, I have a theory that what makes a work of art homoerotic is in hyper masculinity and what ideas of masculinity represent and repress. Oddly enough, my theory is based on the properties of physics.

Sociologist and gender studies guru, Janet Saltzman, described seven traits of masculinity. These traits are represented in the males in many images that are considered homoerotic.
Physical — virile, athletic, strong, brave. Unconcerned about appearance and aging;
Functional — breadwinner, provider for family as much as mate
Sexual — sexually aggressive, experienced. Single status acceptable; (do not mind to walk around naked, especially around other guys)
Emotional — unemotional, stoic, for example, the proverb "boys don't cry";
Intellectual — logical, intellectual, rational, objective, practical,
Interpersonal — leader, dominating; disciplinarian; independent, free, individualistic; demanding;
Other Personal Characteristics — success-oriented, ambitious, aggressive, proud, egotistical; moral, trustworthy; decisive, competitive, uninhibited, adventurous.

Several homoerotic images I have seen and some I have posted include some, if not all, of these traits in the representation of the male form. The males are seen in peak physical condition, often times naked or half naked, working in jobs such as firefighters, in the military, or as warriors, and are dominating. In some images, emotion is shown, but the males are not overly emotional. Notice the two images above. Swarbricks 'Subway' depicts two males in good physical condition, shirtless talking to each other, lacking emotion, in a subway. Canova's 'Thesius Slaying a Centaur’, includes a dominating naked male in peak physical condition stoically slaying a centaur. Many gender scholars consider this complete form of masculinity as hegemonic masculinity. John Wayne is hegemonic masculine, while Jack Black represents another form of masculinity. Most homoerotic art shows John Wayne type men. So if the art that is considered homoerotic so overtly masculine, the obvious question is what makes it have an undertone of homosexuality and therefore be considered as homoerotic. The answer lies in what masculinity represses and strangely enough, in the properties of physics.

Masculinity, according to Swarbrick, and Western society in general, represses femininity. Femininity being an opposite of this complete, hegemonic, form of masculinity. Masculinity is not emotional, submissive, open, or caring. In the homoerotic art, these traits are often not seen because the piece is so hyper masculine. For any system to be functional, there must be a balance of certain parts. In physics within a closed system, there must be a balance between the particles for the system to be functional. In this closed system, particles will have spontaneous changes in density, temperature, etc. for the system to remain operable. If these changes do not occur in order to create balance and harmony, the system will destroy itself. This applies not only in physics, but also in any system, even in society. In homoerotic art, which I am considering a closed system, a singular male or a greater number, is depicted. All of the men, or either the singular male, is hyper masculine. There is no balance of masculine and feminine traits, only an overload of masculinity. For the system to remain operable, a balance, which most often happens spontaneously, will occur. The balance will occur by the males releasing the feminine traits that were formerly repressed. This all leading to...voila...the potential for a homosexual act, or great affection between males to occur, which is western society is often considered gay. If this does not occur within the closed system, the males who are hyper masculine would probably kill each other in a battle to be the alpha male, and the system will be destroyed.

Subconsciously, maybe we look at image filled with hyper masculinity and know that the bough will have to break and femininity must be released somewhere, immediately deeming it as homoerotic without any ‘gay’ act occurring. This is my own twisted brand of logic, as a science nerd and society geek, but I think it works in explaining why art that is so masculine is often considered homoerotic.

Physics explains all.

Daniel Johnston is my boyfriend

Daniel Johnston is an influential music artist whose early style served as a prototype to the anti-folk music scene. Johnston is another one of my favorite artists due to his truthful, blunt, and sometimes childish style.
Johnston, born in 1961, was inspired by the Beatles at an early age. He began to play the piano and compose music while in high school. A manic depressant and schizophrenic, Johnston’s unabashedly embeds his problems on wax and leaves behind a carbon footprint of his twisted and beautiful mind.

Johnston began recording music on a simple tape player in his room at home. He made hundreds of tapes, created simple packaging, and passed the tapes out on the street. He eventually caught the ears of MTV. In 1985 he was featured on MTV as an artist to watch. Prompted for success, Johnstons mental issues prevented him from having a successful career, as he was often convienced that Satan was inside of his brain and would stop concerts to spread the word of Jesus. Although Johnston was never a commercial success, his style of music influenced a variety of artists, including Nirvana. I think it's so sad that at the height of his "career", he was so mentally unstable that he did not know what was going on.

One of the things I love about Johnston is the sound of his voice. Johnston is not an amazing singer to say the least, and his musical talent on the piano and guitar is sub-par, but Johnston has the amazing ability to convey joy, pain, sorrow, and any other emotion he is experiencing into a song. Melding the rawness of his voice into beautiful lyrics, listening to Johnston is an experience that is unbearable to many, but enthralling to me.

Johnston is also an artist. His drawings, just like his music, are simple, child like and honest. If you'd like more info about him, there is a great documentary about Daniel Johnston called The Devil and Daniel Johnston. I'm posting two of my favorite songs. Enjoy his madness, he is one of my favorites. Listen to the lyrics, they are amazing.

Ellen Von Unwerth

Fashion photography normally isnt high art according to me, but i like Miss Ellen a lot.


The sepia toned one is a random photograph in england from the 20's.

Cherry Blossom

Ive been posting a lot recently about things that inspire me, rather than artists themselves. In addition to birds, I'd like to talk about Cherry Blossom's.

In China the cherry blossom symbolizes feminine beauty, the feminine principle, or love in the language of herbs, in Japan the cherry blossoms are believed to exemplify the transient nature of life, because of their short blooming times. The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality.
In Japan the color Cherry Blossom Pink is associated with a woman's vagina, and therefore, in Japan, softcore pornographic films are called pink movies.


Here are some photos of cherry blossoms and one that i took as well with my cell phone a few months back.

Ode to the Homoerotic

Steve Walker: Breakfast in America

One evening while watching television, I observed Chris Brown as a participant in one of the most homoerotic videos I had ever seen, sending me on a mission to define homoerotic. In his video for 'Take You Down', a song that explains in great detail how he wants to sleep with a girl, Chris Brown grinds, humps, and sweats (shirtless), with two other men mirroring his dance moves (also shirtless). They are on a spinning Plexiglas platform pumping as if their life depended on it. The females in the audience are going crazy. Everything in the video is intended to excite a female audience, and all the while, I was amazed by the level of homoeroticism in the video that was unintended.

This is the link for "Take You Down", embedding is disabled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLRE8z94VbU

Homoeroticism is generally defined as sexual attraction between persons of the same sex, also relating to homosexuality. Based on this definition, homoeroticism represented in visual or literary form would show some sort of direct contact, lust, or want between the participants. However, Chris Browns video, where there is no direct contact, lust, or want between the participants in the performance but towards the audience, is clearly homoerotic. The definition of homoeroticism must be expanded to not only include direct contact between participants, but also homosexual feelings that could be derived from the observer, or even a scene that has the potential for something homosexual to occur. Homoeroticism in the arts most often includes hyper masculinity, and sometimes, but not always, sensual or sexual actions.

Rocky Training Montage


The training scene from Rocky III is often considered as homoerotic.

In the visual arts, pieces are often described as homoerotic although there is no sexual action between the men in the piece. Greek art is often referred to as homoerotic although many of the pieces described as such only feature muscular men in close proximity to one another. In Steve Walkers painting 'Breakfast in America', which is considered a homoerotic piece, the men aren't touching or doing anything necessarily homosexual, just eating breakfast and talking. There are also paintings, which include one male, who is often hyper masculine, that is not doing anything sexual, but the work is still considered to be homoerotic. Greek art and Walkers piece are examples that reveal the flaw in the general definition of homoerotic. Homoeroticism does not exclusively show homosexuality in the arts, but rather alludes to homosexuality and the potential for sexual contact between males to occur, and can arouse homosexual desires within the viewer, which brings me back to Chris Brown.

The fact that Chris Brown is grinding in close proximity with two other males while singing about sex is more than enough for me to classify this video as homoerotic. It is overtly sexual, and to me, is more homoerotic than Walker's Breakfast in America piece. I’ve posted some pieces of art classified as homoerotic for your viewing pleasure.

Bluebird

As the name implies, these are attractive birds with blue, or blue and red, plumage. Female birds are less brightly colored than males, although color patterns are similar and there is no noticeable difference in size between sexes.
Bluebirds are territorial, prefer open grassland with scattered trees and are cavity nesters.
Males identify potential nest sites and try to attract prospective female mates to those nesting sites with special behaviors that include singing and flapping wings, and then placing some material in a nesting box or cavity. If the female accepts the male and the nesting site, she alone builds the nest and incubates the eggs.
Symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc. Virtually any positive sentiments may be attached to the bluebird. Bluebirds are used to represent confidence in the positive aspect and egotism in the negative. A dead bluebird is a symbol of disillusionment, of the loss of innocence, and of transformation from the younger and naive to the older and wiser.

Cultural references:
Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow"
Sailors
Literature

I know some of these nudie images dont really work or seem to make sense right now, but it will, trust me. i made a video with sound already, but i cant post it, because its not youtube friendly and i cant email it to anyone because the file size is too big, even when its compressed. But i want everyone to see!

blow me polaroid.

another anonomous photographer called thezephyrsong

goddess bunny part 2

this was all found on the goddess bunny website:

Using my ninja-like skills of gathering information, I've pieced together the following tidbits about Goddess Bunny. This will help dispel some of the false rumors that are currently circulating at various message boards.

Goddess Bunny is actually a guy. His real name is Johnnie Baima and his "stage" name is Sandie Crisp. Sandie Crisp seems to be the name he primarily uses whereas Goddess Bunny is simply a nickname. Despite some false speculation that he is a transsexual, he really is a transvestite. Yup, that means he still has his junk down there.

Stricken by polio as a child, it appears that Johnnie bounced from foster home to foster home where he experienced some kind of abuse. Of course you probably figured that he was abused as a child in some way because no well-adjusted child would grow up to do that tap-dancing routine in lingerie while twirling a parasol, right? Additionally, his posture and growth was restricted due to an ill-fated attempt by doctors to strengthen his spine with a steel rod.

Johnnie, as Sandie Crisp, wants to be a famous. Some may say that he has already achieved his goal judging from his huge following in the gay and transgender community. I've heard that he does lip-synching routines and some sort of stage show in various parts of California (not just Hollywood). He has also attained some notoriety in mainstream culture by appearing in Marilyn Manson's Dope Show video and I believe that there is additional footage of Johnny in Marilyn Manson's DVD. It's in the behind-the-scenes footage of the Dope Show video where Johnnie can be seen frolicking and kissing various band members inside a limosine.

Besides this music video, Johnnie also appeared in a presumably horrible Carrie Fisher movie called Hollywood Vice Squad.

dress|high art fashion

gives a whole new meaning to the idea of women being a piece of meat. i love this.
i got it on ffffound.com

the goddess bunny

i need to research this more. i think ive struck gold in some sick way.

polaroid/35mm bw

this should be a diptych. i found it on flickr.