American Ecstasy – Barbara Nitke on the Golden Age of Porn
February 6, 2012 by webslave · Leave a Comment
NEW YORK (February, 2012) – Launched with no fanfare, Barbara Nitke’s crowdsourcing campaign on Kickstarter raised over $9,000 in the first few days. Firm in her belief that there is a large audience for the book, she intends to self publish American Ecstasy, and take it directly to the public. The book is a memoir in pictures and words of the twelve years she spent working as a stills photographer on porn movie sets in New York in the 1980s.
“It’s hard to imagine now,” Nitke says, “but back in the 1980s people lined up outside of real movie theatres to watch feature length sex flicks. It was the Golden Age of Porn. There was a thriving X-rated movie industry in New York City, and that was where I got my start as a photographer.”
Her American Ecstasy book is a nostalgic view of those heady days. The photographs, while undeniably sexual, reach far beyond the usual sex machine image of the industry to reveal the touching humanness of the actors. Often shot between takes, when the actor’s porn star masks were down, the images are deeply intimate. Disheveled, semi-naked starlets huddle together between takes, staring out into the distance with combat soldier stares. A paunchy director, wearing a baseball cap, comes into the frame to give Nina Hartley a few notes on her performance. The actor underneath her keeps right on going.
The book also includes stories Nitke wrote of the day-to-day life on the sets, and clips from extensive interviews she conducted with the porn stars of the day. In an essay for the book, art critic Arthur C. Danto writes, “From reading these verbal ‘shots’ of life in the porn world, one realises that the scenario is as rigid as those of commedia dell’arte. Instead of Columbine and Pierrot, one has the needful housewife and the pizza boy, delivering initially the pie, and then himself…” He also compares her photography with that of Robert Mapplethorpe.
Nitke is seeking $25,000 to self publish the book, and is offering rewards for those who contribute, which range from classic postcards to prints of the photos, and of course copies of the book itself.
Campaign and project video -
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990714042/american-ecstasy-photo-book
Barbara Nitke, http://www.barbaranitke.com, is a New York art and commercial photographer best known for her compassionate view of alternative sex. Her career has taken her from behind-the-scenes of hardcore porn sets in the 1980s, to fetish in the 1990s, and into the private lives of sadomasochists for the following decade. She also does photography for mainstream television shows and the fashion industry. Her work has been shown and collected worldwide.
Contact Barbara Nitke
917-670-4304
Barbara@BarbaraNitke.com
House of Tolerance – Film Review
February 1, 2012 by webslave · Leave a Comment
House of Tolerance is a film about a Parisian brothel, L’Apollonide, at the dawn of the 20th century. The film stays within the walls, creating a sense of rich-coloured claustrophobia for the girls and the audience. This is made particular use of in their one day out, when the colours become vibrant citrus and you share their sense of release as they frolic and take the piss out of their clients.
The big surprise of this film is that, although having all the elements to make an erotic film, it isn’t. Breasts, corsets, beautiful women, a pet panther, champagne baths and sex don’t add up to eroticism, although they do add up to a sensuality of colours and textures, which some reviewers have compared to paintings by Degas or Toulouse-Lautrec.
The film is ultimately about the deep bond between the girls that live and work together, sharing each other’s hopes and fears. The ‘emotional skeleton’ of the film, as Director Bertrand Bonello calls it, is the girl who encounters a sadistic client who leaves her with a mouth like the Joker in Batman. Bonello admits that he was haunted by this image from the 1928 film ‘The Man Who Laughs’ directed by Paul Leni, originally a novel by Victor Hugo. This moment in the story recurs thanks to the music-like rhythm of the storytelling.
The film has been quite rightly praised for its soundtrack, perhaps because the obvious instrument would have been the accordion, but instead you are blasted with the gritty-gorgeous ‘Bad Girl’ by Lee Moses and ‘The Right To Love You’ by The Mighty Hannibal.
House of Tolerance was shot in a castle in the suburbs of Paris, in which the cast lived and filmed. Bonello said that he wanted to recreate his childhood in Nice, ‘I was a kid with many intellectuals, painters, writers sleeping on the couch. Maybe that fed me a lot, I am like Proust and his madeleine’, he jokes, ‘running after that again and again.’ And as for the surrealist image of the sperm tears? ‘Should I say the truth or not?’ Bonello asks. He decides to go for it. ‘I received a text from someone who had that dream. I have no imagination, but I like that it’s a dreamy image, something very realistic and the same time because you feel like the girls are being filled up all day and you can cry it out at night.’
Philip French writing for The Observer commended on the non-fiction aspects of the film. He wrote ‘there is enough detail about money, cosmetics, hygiene, sexually transmitted diseases, theatrical deportment and authentic camaraderie to qualify the film as a kind of documentary.’ The official non-fiction elements of the story include the two letters, the first from the madame begging help when the rent is put up, the second to a man who is supporting his favourite girl, but no longer wishing to see her, since she has syphilis and he doesn’t want to infect his family.
Each prostitute, as well as the house itself, which the director said was also cast as a character, has her own fate. Particularly interesting is the opium addict who starts the film saying ‘I could sleep for a hundred years I’m so tired’ and ends the film still a prostitute, but a hundred years later in contemporary Paris. Some critics have argued that this is a statement about the eternal, unchanging nature of prostitution, but Bonello says that for him, who was looking at the girl in the shot, rather than at the background, it was more an attempt to say ‘this girl’s destiny is to be a prostitute forever.’
By Tessa Ditner
House of Tolerance
Production year: 2011
Country: France
Cert (UK): 18
Runtime: 122 mins
Director: Bertrand Bonello
France – Color – 125 mins -1:1.85 – Dolby SRD
Cast: Hafsia Herzi, Céline Sallette, Alice Barnole, Adèle Haenel, Jasmine Trinca, Iliana Zabeth, et Noémie Lvovsky. Judith Lou Levy, Anaïs Thomas, Pauline Jacquard, Maïa Sandoz, Joanna Grudzinska, Esther Garrel. Xavier Beauvois, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Jacques Nolot, Laurent Lacotte. Production: Les Films du Lendemain
Distribution: Haut et Court
For more info and video, see… http://en.lapollonide-music.blogs.dissidenz.com/
SomethingDark – Online Magazine Shines Light on Cultural Crisis
November 14, 2011 by webslave · Leave a Comment
SomethingDark (SDk) free counter culture web magazine has released issue 2, marking our descent into economic and cultural darkness. Read more
Sidonia von Bork and the Bondage Dolly – Live Show
October 27, 2011 by webslave · 2 Comments
Sidonia von Bork is one of England’s top dominatrixes, owner of a famous female domination website and a talented photographer under the alias “Ariel Belle” Read more
Marquis Magazine – in English, French & German
August 25, 2011 by webslave · Leave a Comment
Marquis is the glossy German fetish magazine – now available in the English or French or German language.
The new issue 52 is available now, featuring Sister Sinister from Sweden on the cover and Monique Charriére inside, with fashion from Naucler Design and RuBear from Russia
You can order Marquis (and click on the preview link to see inside the issue) here
Michael Manning at Dirty Show LA 2011
DTLA 2011 is a group show of erotic art brought to you by the organizers of the annual Dirty Show Detroit art events. Local and international artists will be transforming the entire east wing of the City Center Hotel into one of the largest exhibitions of erotic art in LA history. There will be curated rooms and special exhibits from Lenora Claire, Bughouse, Museum of Porn in Art, Rick Castro/Antebellum Gallery and many more.
Michael Manning will be exhibiting original illustrations, paintings, limited edition prints, and signed copies of his graphic novels & art books, all of which will be available for purchase.
If you can’t make it to Dirty Show check out his website: www.thespidergarden.net
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WHAT: Dirty Show Los Angeles 2011
WHEN: Friday, June 10th (7:00-11:00) & Saturday, June 11th (7:00-11:00)
WHERE: City Center Hotel, 1135 West 7th Street (between Lucas & Bixell), Los Angeles, CA
PARKING: The entrance to the show is in the rear of the hotel on Ingraham, the alley behind the main building where you will also find cheap, attended parking lots. There is also a limited amount free street parking in the surrounding neighborhood. DO NOT try to park in the hotel lot or enter from the 7th Street/lobby side. The entrance is in the back-alley on Ingraham.
There is a $15 donation at the door and you must be 21 with a valid picture ID for entry.
There is no dress code but sexy-kinky-pervy fashions are welcomed and encouraged as is respectful/polite behavior.
No unauthorized cameras will be allowed. In other words, the organizers encourage you to look at the artwork and experience the show in the moment, not just take pictures of it. :^) If you want to take something home with you, please consider purchasing something and help support the participating artists.
For more information, please check The Dirty Show site & Facebook page for updates:
Website: www.dirtyshow.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dirty-Show/90721462693
Latex Model and Cancer
In June 2010, at the age of 44, I was given my first taste of professional latex modelling. I was immediately smitten and threw myself with gusto into my new found career as a total enclosure model.
All was going fine until one fateful day in July when I found a suspicious lump in my right breast. I made an appointment to see my GP and she reassured me that it was probably just a cyst and nothing to worry about, but she referred me to the hospital for a mammogram and biopsy just to be on the safe side.
A few weeks later I went back for the results. The Consultant was thumbing through my notes and eventually looked up and said “Do you have anyone here with you today?.” He didn’t really have to say very much else.
The biopsy had shown I had stage two breast cancer and I was scheduled in for surgery two weeks later.
It all felt like a mad whirlwind of a time, but I was absolutely determined not to allow the cancer or the treatment to get in the way of my latex modelling.
In November and December 2010 I had chemotherapy. Because I am needle-phobic I had something called a PICC line fitted. Even that did not stop me modelling. I found that, if I wrapped my arm in clingfilm and sellotape I could still get my rubber catsuits on. The chemo nurses at the hospital were fascinated, as I would take the photos in from each modelling assignment I had during the treatment and proudly show them off.
In February and March 2011 I had radiotherapy. This meant a trip to a hospital an hour away from home every day and it had quite an impact on my life. But the staff were every understanding and would try to fit my appointments around my bookings for modelling assignments. The radiation treatment left me feeling very tired, but I was determined to carry on leading my life to the full. I did and I still am.
You can see more photos of Latex Model on her website: www.latexmodel.co.uk and book her for modelling by e-mail to: info@latexmodel.co.uk
Behind The Whip, by Maria Coletsis – Major New Dominatrix Book
Canadian photographer Maria Coletsis traveled the world to compile this hardcover coffee table book of portraits of top professional dominatrixes in Berlin, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Sydney, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Bangkok and London. We’ve all seen photos of dominant women in leather and rubber before – but Coletsis goes far beyond just presenting some nice snapshots of dominant women in sexy outfits. Read more
Bob Carlos Clarke: Peep Show London, 30 March -14 May
The Little Black Gallery, in association with the Bob Carlos Clarke Foundation, announces Peep Show, the third part of a retrospective of work by the legendary photographer Bob Carlos Clarke.
The first two parts ‘Wall To Wall’ in 2009, and ‘Full Throttle’ in 2010 both caused much controversy. The exhibition will show a selection of images from Bob’s 30 year career. And following the successful release of the first series of estate editions in 2010, the Estate of Bob Carlos Clarke is releasing a second series of nine prints of some of Bob’s most famous images as 16” x 20” digital bromide prints in edition of 25, for £350 + VAT, including ‘Faithful Unto Death’, ‘Masked Blonde’ and ‘Cry Baby’.
The exhibition coincides with the announcement of the production of a film on Bob Carlos Clarke by directors Bert & Bertie.
The Little Black Gallery, 13a Park Walk, London SW10 0AJ. Tel 020 7349 9332
Bob Carlos Clarke was born in Cork, Ireland in 1950, and came to England in 1964 to study art and design at The West Sussex College of Art where he developed an interest in photography.
He then went on to The London College of Printing, before completing his degree at the Royal College of Art in 1975. Bob worked in almost every sphere of photography, winning numerous awards for his high-profile advertising campaigns, recognition for his photojournalism and portraits of celebrities, and international acclaim from collectors of fine prints. He died in 2006 and is now recognised as one of Britain’s most important and collectable photographers. Bob Carlos Clarke produced six books: The Illustrated Delta of Venus (1979), Obsession (1981), The Dark Summer (1985), White Heat (1990), Shooting Sex (2002), and Love Dolls Never Die (2004). A biography ‘Exposure’ by Simon Garfield was published by Ebury Press in 2009.
Fetish Dynasty
For many years a connoisseur of latex fetish and bondage photography, Fetish Dynasty was always searching for imagery that could satisfy his personal obsessions and fetishes. In 2009, he was inspired to begin creating the kind of images he’d been seeking out in collaboration with his wife and partner in crime, the PrimaFetishista. Read more
