Sexy Art - Sexy Design - What?

   Making art around the topic of sex is nothing new. It has happened for centuries and it serves a multitude of purposes. It can get people talking about your work, some offend, some titilate, some just express. Those that have a message or emotion to express or portray something about themselves are in the fine art world. Many, fresh art faces are coming on to the scene with images verging on pornographic eroticism, but expressed in the right setting makes a good buzz in the arts community.

   I think these artists are taking a gamble. Will their content help or hinder their endeavors? It's a decision I think each artist makes when exhibiting work of this nature. Inevitably displaying risque work could lose an artist some collectors, it could also gain some new ones. It's an open experiment that can hurtle a fine artist or photographer into international fine art galleries, or land them in the street with "dirty" titles.

   What about the commercial artists charged with sexy endeavors to sell products? Spend a little time perusing the Macy's catalog and website. In particular I am refering to the lingerie department.
  At first you might think... woah, this dirty old man!!! just wants to see frilly draws!

While I can appreciate a good set of frilly draws, I am thinking of the photographers for this particular section. These photographers may have one of the hardest artistic and creative jobs in the business. Yes they have pretty men and women to photo, but lets consider the photos. These images are selling and presenting relatively risque items in a very conservative manner. They need to appeal to a VERY wide audience, something a fine artist often doesn't consider. The photographer has to entice the viewer, usually female, in and give her something to identify with and make her want to be what she is seeing (sounds like art to me). The photographer needs his model to be a blank slate on which the consumer is able to project their face, then see themselves as sexy in the result.

The models are heavily photoshopped, but left with curves, a couple even with ,albeit minor, love handles on occasion. these are not the cover models of vogue, although with Adobe's help they could be. The models have static, typical poses to highlight the product. Lighting needs to be perfect, not sharp, not dull, everything needs to look sparkling clean.

Where I am going with all this? I think that sometimes much more thought is going into the end product of a commercial photo shoot than often goes into a generally accepted "artistic" photo shoot. I wouldn't suggest either is more or less valid in the arts world than the other. The Macys catalog photographer, I am willing to bet, gets very little artistic appreciation for what he/she does outside their immediate peers.

   My artistic hat is off to these people today who are grinding away, using their talents to photograph coffee mugs, carpet tiles, vases and homegoods. Sexy bikinis for summer and frilly draws too. The under appreciated photographic artist. I honestly believe the skills they use everyday in their work, MUST reflect in some truly remarkable results in their private work. Practicing the skills of lighting, shadows, communicating and idea everyday makes them an easy habit.
Indeed some googling on people in this commercial profession have some remarkable artistic work in their off time.