Claim John Karr Mark

Sex appeal as fine art

You have only to check out my bookshelf to find that erections have hardly been absent from "serious" gay photography collections. Even overt, explicit and insertive sex has had its moments. Yet I can't recall books with such specific, focused intent on – well, call it what you will, sex art or art sex, as the new collections from Tom Bianchi and Mark Henderson. You'll no doubt remember how much I enjoy the work of these men. Yet even to a fan such as I, their new books surpass their previous efforts, making me wholeheartedly embrace both.

Bianchi declares that the depiction of gay sex can be fine art right in his title, Fine Art Sex (Bruno Gmunder, 120 pages, $43.99). He believes in the transformative power of sex, and the blessings of viewing it, in art and as art. He doesn't draw lines between his life and his art. "My mental and physical passions merge in a spiritual synthesis," he claims in the book. "I revel in connecting the dots between a gorgeous melody, a beautiful wine, a wonderfully engineered sports car, a moving film, and the powerful, elegant arc of an erect penis."

One of those powerful, elegant arcs belongs to Bianchi, who is singular among photographers for appearing, bonered and beautiful, alongside and engaged with his models. So cut him some slack for being a bit defensive in his introductory essay "Art History," which reads in spots like one of those prefaces that gay pulps had in the 1950s, making claims for the book's Social Relevance. Bianchi is not so much justifying as stating his credo and inspiration. What his career has brought him, he writes, "are wonderful men who share my desire to celebrate our sexual energies as freely as you see here."

"These pictures," he writes, "are love letters – passionate, boner-provoking love letters." He's arranged his letters in themes. The section named "Time One" documents the first intimate physical experience he had with his lover, while "My Passion" revels in the sexual power his lover projects. Sections named "Eros Avatar," "Primal Rite" and "Hard/Now" record wild spirit and flashes of erotic energy.

In "Underwater," Bianchi plays with the variables of light, angle and proximity that underwater photography offers; he revels in weightlessness, as well as the distortions and refractions of light and water. He enjoys having to surrender a greater degree of control to underwater conditions, because he finds the results are always surprising. I'm only a little surprised to find these underwater shots the most beautiful I've seen of that strange genre, and which include submerged jacking off, cocksucking, fucking, and even foot-fucking.

Paying for News Interviews – is it ethical or just another example ...

Paying for interviews? Rewarding executives or news makers or personalities for their bon mots?

Not in the old days – not when news wasn’t expected to make money – not before corporate ownership took hold and made news divisions responsible for their bottom line and turning a profit. But now, in the wild west of media frenzies thanks to networks, tabloids and scandal sheets, it’s anything goes – and the highest bidder may win, regardless of the terms or conditions associated with the interviewees’ demand.

This For Instant Ratings, Interviews With a Checkbook in a recent New York Times received very little attention, or so it seemed to me. I would have expected, maybe just hoped, for more attention to be paid to the consequences.

Once upon a time people appeared on media because it was truly an opportunity to reach a mass audience. Now thanks to a plethora of media there’s little doubt that any one can get attention, some times far too much or unwarranted attention.

Paying for interviews – or rather for access is not new. The Times piece makes it seem as if it is a recent development… it has existed for years – prime time programs have done it, programs with the most prominent of news anchors have done it. A wink and a nod and money is paid for family photos or archive material in the thin guise that this is the cover for what will become a guaranteed interview with the personality too.

It can be paid to the prospective interviewees, or it may come in the form of lavish wining and dining for friends or families. It happened during the Koby Bryant case, for John Mark Karr who confessed to the Jon Benet Ramsey killing, even to people associated with Phil Garrido who recently plead guilty to the kidnapping and rape of Jaycee Dugard. It’s just not new. And it feels skanky to do it – even when under the direct instructions of senior news managers in New York.

There are so many questions – if you pay, will some one be more forthcoming? If you pay too little, will they hold back? If you pay for one media does that count if some one else pays more for a different platform? Does payment change their story – are they more likely to juice it up to hike the price, or claim to know more than they really do — but money makes them be bold, even to the point of lying?

News divisions once had a policy that prohibited paying any one for a news story. That existed as a fire wall within news, but was not as rigid for prime time magazines or the morning shows which at some networks are produced by the entertainment divisions. Times have changed. Networks demand all programs produce a profit. And now news figures – even temporary news headliners – are sought after as exclusives. They may or may not have much to say – they may not even offer much to discourse or common knowledge – but they command payments just to speak. I don’t feel good about a lot of this whatsoever.

The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes

Karr family record, a genealogy of some of the descendants of Captain John C. Karr, a Revolutionary War soldier

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