a kiss. just a simple kiss. a sign of beauty. a gesture of love.
joel-peter witkin has always worked with images that may be repugnant at first sight, but when the openminded decides to share a few seconds of understanding, then beauty unfolds, and the merely horrible becomes eternally charming.
in le baiser we find the heads of two men kissing... but they look alike. are they the heads of two elder twins kissing? a sign of brotherly love? incest perhaps? witkin's method for creating this work of art included cutting the head of the man's frail corpse and slicing it in half, so that he would have two mirror-like images of the same person's face, then coupling the two halves into an embraceful kiss. knowing this, then maybe the message could be about love for one's self.
as with all of witkin's work, the shocking effect is vital, but without sacrificing the quest for beauty. witkin showed me that beauty is everywhere... everywhere. in words, in light, in shadows, in people, in places, in the accepted, in the rejected, in you and in me. whenever i see his photographs and i realize that i no longer wish to turn away my face, i am no longer shocked, i am no longer disgusted by it... i understand that beauty is in me, and it's here to stay, and i see a work of art like le baiser just as it is...
... a kiss. just a simple kiss. a sign of beauty. a gesture of love.
17 comments:
Bon Matin dear Nilz!
Great pic!
A good friend of mine showed me Witkin's work a few months ago...it shocked me at first, but i understand now why it is so beautiful...and i'm happy to say i don't turn my head now either.
(K)
edilma - just beautiful. now i can show you my nipple belt that i bought from the silence of the lambs' set. made with real nipples.
ok, just kidding.
(K) take care, have a nice wednesday.
Hmmmm, I will have to think more about this and read more about Witkin's work.
Ahhh, one of my favorite photograghers!
Very good taste my young man!
I have met "the master" and he is the most NORMAL seeming man.....it was surprising to me.
I also had the great fortune of seeing his work displayed at the Guggenheim in New York. Wonderful to see other people's reactions to his work!
By the way the "nipple belt" you speak of was an actual reality here in the US! Murderer in Wisconsin, his name was Ed Gein. VERY famous in my neck of the woods!
How stylish of you Nilz!
Oh Nilz,
I fall in love with you more and more each day.
I have one word for you ....
Deep
Funny, Witty, Intelligent.... oh sorry I did say one word did I not?
Self love? is that not masturbation?
Hope you have a great day.
minnie - go and read about witkin's work. very rewarding :)
uta - how wonderful you met witkin. a dream come true that must have been. and yes, i'm aware of ed gein, also the inspiration for the texas chainsaw massacre. serial killers... something very attractive about them ;) take care.
lurker - thank you for the kind word(s). oh, and self love is not necessarily masturbation... but it may be included, of course.
so i assume you link love and sex in a very tight way, don't you? can they be separated? ssshhhh :)
Very stylish indeed dear Nilz...nipples are always nice :0
Did i just say that? ;)
Sex and love, huh? I'm gonna have to think about that...shhh!
Oh my goodness Nilz.
How does a Musician/Teacher/Engineer of your tender age have such a deep insight to the psychological short-comings of a human being?
Yes, as a result of chilhood sexual abuse I do have great difficulty in separating love and sex and despite having a masters degree in psychology I still have great difficulty separating love and sex.
Ahhhh - how effective the mask of blogging.
::I wonder if this is a bit of overshare? But I marvel at the insight of this young man. I think he is in the wrong profession::
edilma - no, you didn't say that, but i heard it very clearly. it happens all the time.
sex and love, yes... there's a big difference between making love, having sex and f... your brains out.
did i just say that?
behind you... A BEAR!!!! ...
(nilz runs, runs and runs)
lurker:
there's no such thing as oversharing. i still haven't started doing it, just give me a little alcohol and that's it ;)
yes, the internet in general is one of the best masks in the world. it got me into a lot of trouble once... hmm, starting to share. i'll wait for the alcohol.
and yes, separating sex and love... for me it's easier than separating an egg. i'm a lousy cook :P
(K)
:::Preparing zombies:::
:o
edilma, are you trying to get me in trouble....... AGAIN?
;)
Nilz,
I return to your blog on my morning break and find fascinating conversation.
I am quickly falling in love with your blog postings, N.
My first reaction to the image, was not the image itself but the use of a corpse for the image. I wondered about the ethics or morality of that.
However, now that I've had a moment to learn a bit more about the artist, I see that he is concerned with morality.
"I think most people aren't aware that mortality has to do with life and death. Of course, not all of it is about mortal toil. But it's about what happens in life. The mortuary, not coincidentally, is the place for the mortal remains.
Every moment is a moral decision. I believe there's a moral codex in each of our hearts, and it's a question of us finding our destinies and the purpose of that destiny. This life is a testing ground. It should be a sublime testing ground.
Thank for for enriching my day.
~Minnie
Excuse me, that last sentence should be:
Thank you for enriching my day.
Oh Nilz look what you have started.
Minnie you have opened up a can of worms I believe.
I have just realised that mortality and mortuary have the same origins.
As for "finding the purpose of our destinies" I believe our purpose and our destiny to be one and the same thing.
And as for "every moment being a moral decision" and "life being a testing ground" means absolutely nothing unless one believes in God and life after death.
And Minnie, since our host Nilz claims to be an Atheist on his web page but list religion as an interest on his blog, I find myself facinated by what his response to all of this might be.
;-)
worms galore indeed :)
why would the use of a corpse in art be immoral or unethic? witkin claims to ask permission for the use of the corpses, and in some cases, he crosses the border (he lives in new mexico) and goes to morgues and asks for those bodies that haven't been claimed. i guess maybe from criminals or who knows what.
but apart from witkin's moral issues, it's my point of view that there's nothing after death, and our bodies without life, well, they're just completely useless. i would like to be cremated, because i don't understand the purpose of having my body occupy some space in this world. but lately i've been thinking that cremation may not be the best way to "do" something with my corpse. maybe donating it to science, in that way it'll be useful, even helpful. or maybe, why not, giving permission to use my body in a work of art... AS a work of art. if i want to "live through eternity", then what a better way than being a work of art.
so, do whatever you please with my lifeless remains. allow me to get scatological. enjoy a litle necrophilia in your life? well, in that case i hope you decide to express your needs with my body, for it is only that... a body, with no emotions, no feelings and no purpose on this earth after i have passed away.
:)
how beautiful everybody here. so nice to share thoughts with people like you.
I wish I could invite all of you to my place to discuss music, films, photography, books, love, sex, birth, death......and I'd offer a nice bottle of Pinot Noir.
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