Arnold Zwicky's Blog

(On male art, not really about language.)

Is it porn or is it art? Is this an exclusive choice?

Around the Globe, another in a succession of books of pornstars as seen by male photographers — a kind of crossover genre, using obviously beautiful male bodies in artful compositions, in this case by Benno Thoma (see earlier X Blog posting here). A set of shots on my X Blog here, including a contrast between Thoma’s presentation of model Brandon Manilow and a flat-out porn presentation of the same man’s body.

The attractions of pornstars for male photographers are obvious, and no one has resisted (the commercial advantages should be clear). The Bel Ami territory has been pretty much divided between the boyish or twink models, where Howard Roffman prevails — Boys of Bel Ami, Private Moments – Bel Ami, plus the Bel Ami Editions Euros on specific models (like Johan #8, Lukas #11, and Ion #14) — and the more mature guys, which is Benno Thoma’s province (see exhibits on my X Blog).

Then we get to Falcon men — in Falcon Studios’ Legends: Men of Falcon (1999) and Young Men of Falcon (2009), for example — who are tougher stuff, and the men of Mustang Studios’ Cruising Grounds (2009). They’re all meat. And maybe art models too.

It’s all about how the photographer views his subjects, how they view themselves, and how their audience sees them. And there might not be one single classification.

This entry was posted on January 22, 2013 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Categorization and Labeling, Gender and sexuality, Links, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.