Oedipal exposure: Leigh Ledare's photographs of his mother having sex

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

I wouldn't be surprised if someone already did it.

Indeed. Isn't there an expression used by some Americans to describe the phenomenon? 🙄

 

[stompyq]

Disgusting

 

[kbg32]

Dear Keith,

Sorry: I didn't mean to imply that you weren't familiar with her work. Rather, the opposite. As I said, "Only repeated exposure to her pictures can enable full understanding of just how dull a photographer she is." The more you see -- and you may well have seen more than I -- the more you realize just how dull a photographer she is. Your opinion of her work may therefore lower than mine, though obviously, this would not be easy. "Google..." was not so much for you as for others. Again, apologies.

Cheers,

R.

No need to apologize Roger. I did understand what you were getting at. I had been familiar with her work for quite some time. The first time I went to her apartment to pick up some work for the gallery, she was sporting a black eye. I didn't ask. I felt uncomfortable being there. I just wanted to leave as quickly as possible. Hers was a world I didn't care to enter on many levels.

Maybe some people might feel this is a good thing - making people feel uncomfortable. Confronting them with things they might not want to see. Compared to someone like Joel-Peter Witkin, I wasn't interested in entering Nan Goldin's "darkness".

 

[f16sunshine]

If this was not his mother would we be talking about anything? Would this thread exist?
Is the search for originality becoming desperate or, is imagery of human sexuality becoming so mundane it needs another dimension in order to be interesting (or art).
I think I'm getting bored thinking about it.

 

[Ranchu]

I guess it was only a matter of time. I'm bored by it too.

 

[helen.HH]

Hmmmm,
i suppose just like Freud
Ledare's photos are creating a buzz of Controversy...

For me it is reminiscent of Trash American TV ...Jerry Springer etc
As for it being Considered in the Realm of Art, me thinks not
Though Thought provoking Yes

Looks more like : 'Look at Me, I"'m desperate for Attention ' / both mother & son

 

[helen.HH]

On another Note...
Its seems Quite Perfect for the 'Voyeur' Society we have become

 

[aizan]

i looked at his photos when they were first published, and looking over them again, the shock value has completely faded. i get the feeling that a documentary of him taking the photos could be much more compelling than the photos themselves, which seem passé.

 

[Rayt]

What if photographer and subject are not related? Would the (shock) value even exist and any of this relevant?

 

[Rodchenko]

I read the article in the paper, and felt unsettled. An interesting project? Or unnnecessary prurience? An unhealthy relationship? I don't know.

I admit that I have found some of Nan Goldin's work fascinating, but it does get samey after a while, and there are shots like the one Roger mentions which raise questions.

I think of this bloke much as I do a red light jumping cyclist.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

His prints sell for $8K and his Mom's private dances went up to $1500 equals a win-win for them.

Artists aren't much different from nutty whores, other than the smart ones make a lot more money.

$8k is not very indicative of the future. There's a lot of money out there chasing anything that might return more than 0.25% like T-bills, or magically inflated equity returns. For a lot of people it's just a crap shoot for fun, like tulip bulbs. If this stuff tanks whose going to admit to buying it? Remember the Starn twins? It's good that Art pushes boundaries. This art does so but only so, so, very little, and in such a selfish and self-referential fashion. It's a pity they have the historical taboo of parent/child going against them; they're made for each other.

 

[Tejasican]

Indeed, Helen.

 

[MIkhail]

I always found Goldin's work "boring". Ok, been there. Done that. (Except beating the girlfriend!) I didn't think she lead, or set an example of a life I would want to lead. In fact, I find people who I meet everyday, who struggle with work, family, and their own demons, to lead much more interesting lives.

I love Nun Goldin's work.

 

[MIkhail]

Hmmmm,
i suppose just like Freud
Ledare's photos are creating a buzz of Controversy...

For me it is reminiscent of Trash American TV ...Jerry Springer etc
As for it being Considered in the Realm of Art, me thinks not
Though Thought provoking Yes

Looks more like : 'Look at Me, I"'m desperate for Attention ' / both mother & son

At one point in time Sally Mann (one of the Greatest inspiration photographers of XX) was adressed similarly.

 

[redisburning]

$8k is not very indicative of the future. There's a lot of money out there chasing anything that might return more than 0.25% like T-bills, or magically inflated equity returns. For a lot of people it's just a crap shoot for fun, like tulip bulbs. If this stuff tanks whose going to admit to buying it? Remember the Starn twins? It's good that Art pushes boundaries. This art does so but only so, so, very little, and in such a selfish and self-referential fashion. It's a pity they have the historical taboo of parent/child going against them; they're made for each other.

this is a good post.

taboos are so individualized at this point that it's hard for me to see challenging them as being particularly effective as art. this sounds so much worse than it is to view; after all it's not my mother and every porn actress is likely to end up or already be someone's mom already.

the only time I can remember being legitimately shocked was when I took a trip to New Mexico and saw the abject poverty that plagued many Native American communities. But those feelings of anger and disgust come from lack of personal exposure; lots of people are poor themselves and to them pictures of such poverty would be rather less shocking.

 

[igi]

What if photographer and subject are not related? Would the (shock) value even exist and any of this relevant?

What if you don't know it was his mother? Would the (shock) value even exist and any of this relevant?

 

[kbg32]

Probably not.

 

[Landshark]

It's just a small business venture.

Much "art" is the result of the artists ego and ability to convince someone to buy. What you're looking at is porn directly from the maker. Maybe it's signed.
Big deal.

 

[uhoh7]

I heard Van Gogh was just a finger painter, back in the painting forums of 1883.