SEAF – March 24-26

The Seattle Erotic Arts Festival 2006 was better than the last two years. As I understand, jurors were tasked with limiting the amount of photography. After last year’s show, I can understand this. The photography of the last couple of years dominated the show’s content. Moreover, the presentation and quality of a lot of the photography was sub par. This year there was more classic arts represented.My laundry list of artists to research is lengthy. There were many exceptional photographers, but it was the painters and illustrators that left a strong impression. Jeff Faerber’s Nude sticks in my mind. His small acrylic contra posta nude looks like an oil painting by Rembandt. It’s eroticism was in the simplicity of the study of a waif figure under a men’s shirt. The little painting contrasted with the images of genitals that bookend its frame. John John Jesse, a show favorite, was represented by several prints. The gestural line art of Francois Dubeau also caught my eye. I also enjoyed, the 17th century themed miniatures of Jessica McCourt.

Two photographers did stick in my mind. Rik Garrett displayed painterly lighting techniques in his photos Elemental, Equinox Emergence, and Amphisbane. It’s rare in today’s digital demand photography market to see photographers still exploring darkroom and studio techniques. Garrett’s image displayed an understanding and control light. There were indications in Elemental of using a pen light to paint in shadow. And Amphisbane was composed under the enlarger. Erin Frost’s autobiographical images stood out because of their beautifully crafted compositions. She seemed willing to expose her most sensual thoughts through direct statement. Self-Portrait with Trench Coat has her sitting in a chair illuminated by afternoon sunlight. Wearing a trench coat indicates a desire to be an exhibitionist, but she stays in her living room.

Belle & Sebastian / New Pornographers – March 25th

What a great show. I was supposed to meet friends from work, but they were detained by drinks somewhere. I never did catch up with them. The New Pornographers put on a excellent set. The best was their nod to B & S – the entire band wore Scotland is For Me! t-shirts. This was my first B & S show. This group from Scotland put on an excellent show. I acquired much of their music through the friends that failed to show up on time. Everyone of my favorites were played. The best was an encore with the New Pornographers. Everyone held slips of lyrics while singing “Any Way You Are.”

Charles Gatewood Workshop – March 26th

This was a day that I waited nearly two months for. I schlepped five bags of gear to the workshop. When I saw that it was being held in the cinema, I became concerned that I was over prepared. Pretty normal for me though. I take three bags for a weekend trip. Gatewood talked for about half of the three hours allotted for the workshop. Much of what he talked about was in the book. But listening to him confirmed my impressions of him I got from the book. Here is a sincere man offering seasoned advice. The last thing he wants to do is tell others how to take pictures. Gatewood just wants that all parties involved be respectful of each other.

When it came time to take pictures, three lovely models showed up. A couple of attendees also offered themselves to our lenses. At first I was frustrated. Four of my five bags of gear were going to go unused. I snatched them all up and headed for the door. The room was going to turn into a shooting gallery. Twenty photographers were going to shoot five models. I am not very comfortable with paparazzi style shooting. The walk to my car cooled me off though. If I climbed into the driver’s seat, I would lose an opportunity. One deep breath later, I was back in the cinema. Gatewood was congenial and shoulder to shoulder with the other photographers. Once I shed the baggage (Literally and emotionally), I had a great time. The models were hot and Gatewood humorous. I even exchanged jibes with him.This was the busiest weekend and one of the most pleasurable I have had in a long time. Let’s see what I can do in the future.

I made sure to get a festival ticket for the full three day event. That means I need to pull together a costume for the ball opening night. There will be several events during the course of the weekend, but I am most looking forward to a workshop. Charles Gatewood, pervy photographer extraordinaire, will be teaching practicing and would be pervs to take pictures of latex and leather clad models. I am totally jazzed.

To prepare, I emailed Gatewood to find out what was going to be needed for the workshop. His one line reply was “Bring your camera, lights, model release forms, and read my book, Photography for Perverts.” Done. Done, Done, And done a while back. Shit! I need to buy more CF cards for my camera. Time to make a To Do list. That date is coming quick. Guess what new gallery will be up after next weekend.

Jessica and I attended to opening night gala. We wandered the galleries and new titillation around each corner. The Little Red Studio provided a kinetic feast. We watched local burlesque dancers, listened to poets, watched a circle of strangers flirt, and were privy to much more.The show was well-attended. Jessica and I arrived early and by the time we exited the studio, the galleries were filling. We saw all walks strolling the floors. There was leather, vanilla, gay, straight, those not to sure, and those from the fringes. It was a people watching event to be sure.

The artwork ranged in quality (which gave me hope that my work might make it into the next show). I was disappointed with some of the presentations. There were hand prints and dirty glass. Some artists used construction paper for mats and flimsy frames. But this is focusing on a few bad apples. Otherwise, the majority of the work was finely done and presented.

After seeing so many pieces of erotic art, I started to understand what made the better pieces successful. Most pieces were exploring sex in some fashion. What made some stand out was the craft and time given to the work. There were a lot of photographs to be inspired by, but the unsuccessful prints were those that were quick 1-hour lab prints. They just lacked an artist’s interpretation of the subject. Similar images could be trolled from the Internet.

My first impressions were clouded by the crowds and general social atmosphere. I returned on Sunday to revisit the exhibits. It took the edge off of my opening night grousing. What I finally took from the show was a desire to return to my own projects. I think much of the art leaned toward fetish imagery. This placed next to pedestrian passion and sensual expression has a tendency to overshadow what most people can relate to. My work has never been a study of the fringe pleasures. It is about the core pleasures most people experience. This is something that needs to be more closely scrutinized.Next year, people will see what I am talking about.

The story can be summed up quickly. A cursed tiki makes it’s way to the Bikini A-Go-Go bikini shop. Shop hand, Brad, finds the tiki and takes it home to love-interest, Janet. (Do you see where the jokes are going?) The curse of the tiki takes hold of Janet and turns her amorous. Meanwhile, the original owner, a siliconed caucasian in chinese whore clothes, sends her terminator boytoy to retrieve the tiki trinket. Let the adventures begin!All told, the plot takes only about fifteen minutes of the entire movie to resolve. Leaving the rest of the 70 minutes of play time for various softcore porn time. The movie is completely kitsche. Occaissionaly, the movie is interrupted by a high school hygiene movie narrator who does nothing for the plot, but adds another level a levity.I wouldn’t go spending money on this piece of camp trash, but it was fun for the rental. Look for it and prepare to say “Oh! My God! This is awful. Do you feel hot? It’s getting hot in here.”

We seek partners according to many physical and economical attributes. Those that fit the criteria we desire will most likely be sought out for sexual intercourse. This is, however, limited to the scope of people seeking to create families. What happens to those that dispense with the procreation and seek sexual partners for pleasure?

Procreation can be pleasurable, but it has intent outside of the actual sex act. Therefore, it does not need to be pleasurable to attain the desired results. So sex for fun has to be that. Both men and women are wired for pleasure. This makes sex a desire and procreation a possible result. If progeny are eliminated from the possible results, all that is left is sex for pleasure. Now the point of sex is no longer ejaculation, but sustaining pleasure.

Sustaining pleasure then is about technique. Any browse through the self-improvement section of your favorite chain bookstore will reveal that notion to be true. I found a book on becoming a multi-orgasmic male. (Later, I learned my mother gave a copy to my brother. Sexual hang-ups were never really a problem in our house. Somedays, we wish they were.) The sex manual has been around for centuries. We have been teaching each other what is necessary for pleasure. The invention of positions, condoms, the pill, dildos, and sex clubs, among other things, only goes towards proving that pleasure is important to the human sexual being. We strive to make sex longer and more pleasurable. Duh!

For instance, one rhetorical question was “Four times a week, is that all?” Another a bit of input was “the men groaned? You’d think that they would be as happy as the women.” These statements passed into the rest of the conversation and no further exploration was made into the subject. Today, I started to think about the replies from the day before. Why would a woman assume that men want sex all the time? Is there a difference in the way that men and women perceive pleasure?

First, I believe that men and women are wired differently for pleasure. Okay, that is a pretty obvious and cliched statement. However, I think my take on this subject is bit more than just about biology. The pleasure of sex creates bonds between humans. In the old days those bonds were established between 14 and 16 years of age. The peak ages for human reproduction. The fidelity of those bonds depend on the personality compatibility of the the people. As time passes, the drive for physical pleasure ebbs in males and females. Sex turns from procreative drive to a ritual that reasserts the attachment emotions. Only females get to have a second sexual wind. By the mid to late-thirties, women feel a renewed sexual drive. However, this time, women are seeking pleasure. Call this a reward for bearing progeny before menopause radically alter the hormones. Meanwhile, males enter a form of menopause that depletes the sex drive. This is why the men in my joking comment are groaning. They are already playing keep-up with women. But now there is a standard to be met.

At a certain point, men and women change their sexual perceptions. According to the physician on Oprah, sex for thirty minutes a session at four times a week promotes cardiac health, reduces stress, and releases a slew of beneficial chemicals into the body. This reiterated, men can reach orgasm within a few minutes. This is not especially linked to cardiac health. Furthermore, male orgasm saps energy from the body. This causes the ever bemoaned “roll-over and sleep” complaint women hold against men. Women on the other hand can take several minutes to a half-hour or more to reach orgasm. For a woman, sex can be an aerobic activity that has long term benefits. It is a matter of finding a man that is both willing and capable of putting off orgasm.

To do this, a man needs to put aside the learned perception that ejaculation and orgasm are the same thing. Truthfully, they are not. In men, orgasm often occurs at the same time as ejaculation. In truth, ejaculation is a procreative reflex to heightened stimulation. Orgasm is a physical reaction also caused by heightened stimulation. The difference is that orgasm occurs without emission. Orgasm is the simultaneous firing of nerves throughout the system. Muscles contract, respiration increases, and hormones flood the brain. However, the body is not physically taxed to the point of exhaustion and no spermatozoa are released in the ejaculate. The man can have several orgasms like his partner.

–More later–