Posts Tagged ‘controversy’
Nude Controversy
May 29th, 2008
I had an interesting comment today on my controversial blog post, “Enraged Feminist vs Utah’s Sexy Dancers.” Here it is, with my response:
I know that the girls are comfortable with the photography. If they weren’t they wouldn’t be shooting. However, I do know that Eric takes nude photographs, and I have to ask why. What is the reason for nude photos? They aren’t sold, so there goes the “sex sells” argument. So why are these girls being asked to take off their clothes? If the claim is “for artistic purposes,” I would have to truly question that motive. There is a fine line between art and pornography (which can be defined as, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal), and I think some of the near nude (and the nude shoots) really fall into grey territory. – Mr. Anonymous
Mr. Anonymous,
I am building collections of intimate portraiture, both nude and implied nude that I hope to compile into high quality books and fine art giclee prints. These collections will be marketed to fine art collectors — NOT to porn sites.
There is a long history of nude art, and many of the world’s most famous and celebrated portrait artists have done nude work. Would you say the same about their collections?
FYI, nobody yet is privy to my full nudes collection. I have never released some of my best nude work, and don’t intend to until I have enough of it to do a high profile gallery showing and publish my first book of nude works.
My nude collection is not simply made up of skinny model types. Also included are full figured women, and many people who do not fit the standard definition of pretty girls according to Cosmo. One of the things I hope to accomplish with the collection is to redefine the concept of “sexy girl” to extend beyond the skin deep beauty concept — to capture the essence of a sexy personality. A woman’s ability to feel sexy empowers her.
My beautiful wife is the driving inspiration for my nudes collection. She is an outstanding, sexy woman who has struggled her whole life with self esteem issues because she doesn’t fit typical “sexy” stereotypes… but she is very sexy to me! I want her, and women like her to understand that they too are worthy of love, devotion, admiration, desire, and even lust. I think that women need to feel lusted after once in a while. Sex and procreation are essential to the continuation of the human race. As a spiritual person, I treat sexuality with sacred respect. Love and lust are powerful forces that speak to the core of our self worth as human beings, and everybody should have the right to enjoy them.
When it comes right down to it, I am a male feminist. I want to empower women. I want to build their confidence, and give “regular girls” hope that they don’t have to look like a supermodel to be desirable, capable, and powerful creatures. That is the essence of my nude work. That is the positive message I hope to share through the collection and publication of that work. Some people will have issues with my collection. I expect it to be far more controversial than my collection of nightlife dancer photos. I guess that’s the price you pay when artistic integrity means more to you than making the critics happy. I’m willing to pay it, because I’m passionate about my work, and I think the message I’m trying to convey is an important one with the potential to help a lot of people.
I really hope that my wife, and women like her will be able to see it for what it is, and feel uplifted by it. Maybe that’s silly. Maybe it will backfire. I can’t worry about that, though. I am driven to express myself creatively, because I am a creative person. That’s how I communicate. I hope that some people will get the message, but I’m not going to stop just because others don’t.
To my beautiful wife, Maria: I love you. I hope you can see that my art is an expression of my love and admiration for you.
Sincerely,
Eric Hamilton
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