Golden State Bound

 

  California. The imagination links the Golden State to things like the Hollywood sign, poolside cocktails and Malibu, things representing the states sunny and laidback reputation. Its ironic then, that in California, an art form once considered darkly seductive and taboo is rapidly gaining respect and legitimacy. This art form is fetish photography. While the locale seems dramatically at odds with the subject matter women in uncomfortable positions wearing hot, constrictive costumes, perhaps bound and gagged or tottering on extremely high heels the existence of thriving sexual sub-cultures, the presence of the entertainment and sex industries, and the presentation of fetish in fresh, new and even lighthearted contexts explain why this genre is gaining popularity.


California welcomes the different and, for the last 80 years, has served as a refuge for those seeking acceptance of alternative sexualities. San Francisco and Los Angeles both have large sex-positive, radical sex and queer communities from which thriving fetish scenes have emerged. Steve Diet Goedde, the photographer behind the two volume series, The Beauty of Fetish, sums up the significance of San Francisco to the fetish genre. San Francisco is one of the most sexually liberated cities in the world, so [fetish photography] is naturally going to come out of that area as an obvious and natural occurrence. The origins of San Franciscos fetish community stretch back to the early days of North Beach and the Barbary Coast, where red light districts catered to sailors and members of the armed forces. Due to the variety of clientele, these red light districts established an anything-goes atmosphere. Around World War II, the citys sexual subculture shifted toward a queer direction, and during the '60s, the emergence of leather bars, dungeons and other play spaces in the south-of-Market area (SOMA) signaled a budding queer SM and fetish community. In 1978, SOMA became the historic location where the worlds of American art and fetish first met. The curators of an alternative art space, 80 Langton, invited Robert Mapplethorpe to exhibit his work at their SOMA-based gallery, after he unsuccessfully attempted to show in New York and San Franciscos mainstream galleries. The show became notorious in high art circles, but SOMAs leathermen applauded the choice to exhibit the work in its community of origin.

A community of photographers, among them Charles Gatewood, Michael Rosen and Eric Kroll, have migrated to San Francisco to be closer to the radical sex communities their work captures. The works of Gatewood and Rosen have a raw, documentary style edge to them. Instead of featuring self-conscious models in stylized portraits, their work captures a slice of erotic life, sometimes almost anthropological in its approach. Gatewood, who began his career in the '60s, emphasizes the influence of the social sciences to his work, having received a Bachelors degree in anthropology and later completing some graduate work in the social sciences. Although he abandoned academia, he has said that his images are like scientific collections of data with artistic license. Rosen takes a similar approach to his work. I have done, and do, photography of radical sex and not-so-radical sex. I like to call what I do 'Sexual Art,' says Rosen. I've published a very minimal number of cheese- and beefcake pictures, fashion pictures where the 'Standing and Modeling' definition of 'S&M;' is an important aspect. Goedde refers to these San Franciscan photographers as the grandfathers of the genre, members of the old school of fetish photography.

Steve Diet Goedde

While Kroll began his career similarly, publishing Sex Objects, a study of small town sex-working women in massage parlors and brothels, his work has moved away from documentary and more toward portraiture. Instead, he seems to have more in common with a new breed of LA-based photographers. His work has been described as neither pornography nor fashion, but a logical extension of the old Bettie Page bondage photos from the '50s, a school of photography that is about fetishism and obsession acts of creation, like a magician trying to will the old Vargas pin-up tarts into life. When asked about his images, Kroll has stated that he is unlike other photographers. [Hes] not trying to record an unusual reality but trying to make the most aesthetically beautiful photo of that person. He hopes his photographs will be alluring to men and women who will want to be next to that person.

Krolls work, collected in the classic books Fetish Girls and Beauty Parade, features images that are bathed in both natural and artificial light, filled with bright colors and women in sometimes whimsical situations. Southern California-based photographers like Goedde, Dave Naz, and Liezel Rubin all share these same characteristics that seem to mark a new type of fetish photography emerging in the area. Goedde, who moved to LA from Chicago three years ago, believes that the contradiction between the subject matter and locale resurrects fetish from the clich that it is dark, obscure and one-dimensional. California is challenging because here everything is bright, green and more modern, says Goedde. Im all against the obvious and against being clich, but I dont actively try to do that. It comes as part of my nature and I just do what I feel like doing. I dont analyze too much and thats why a lot of my work gets a lot of attention. It goes against the grain of the typical.

Gary and Pierre Silva, the LA-based husband/wife team whose work has appeared in magazines like Skin Two and Secret, say, Los Angeles in particular has an open minded environment due to its being the home of the entertainment industry: film, music and television. With it being the image capital of the U.S., supposedly glamorous, we think that the striking beauty of fetish photography is at home here. With the birth of the film industry around 1910, young men and women began flocking to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming stars. The ingnues reality was that they often found themselves out of work and flat broke. Hard times brought many of them to the citys growing sex industry, turning some into unwitting fetish models. Even Bettie Page, the first pin-up of fetish, was rejected by Hollywood before finding her immortality in front of Irving Klaws camera. By the '60s, San Francisco and Los Angeles had become the countrys porn capitals, with southern California stealing the title in the '70s. Like Hollywood, this multi-million dollar industry draws numerous models, actors and actresses to Los Angeles, hoping to make it in the world of adult entertainment. Consequently, this provides Southern Californias fetish photographers with a steady supply of models, some who are true fetishists and others who are simply eager to Stand and Model for a quick buck.

Liezel Rubin

The peculiarities of southern Californias landscape harsh, direct light, location-hungry production crews and the modernity of the architecture continuously challenge photographers who work on location. I end up being thrown into natural environments, says Goedde, in the hills with green exotic plants, more natural locations. I choose these settings more because I have to and its very abundant here. I work with what I have but its not my first choice. However, these backdrops, with their lush vegetation or sandy beaches, are the antithetical ingredients making many of Californias images stand out. Photographer Dave Nazs prints of models, like Julie Strain framed in the dark green vegetation of a well-kept garden or Niki coyly seated on a diving board, contain elements that add an almost cheesecake quality in their lightheartedness. Some images juxtapose models against state landmarks, like FetishDiva Midori reclining against the Golden Gate Bridge, turning the typical postcard associations with these landmarks on their heads. Liezel Rubin, a Long Beach-based photographer, takes this sense of whimsy a step further by integrating humor into her work. My work isnt as dark as a lot of other stuff, says Rubin. Im more into the comedy end of it. Youll find the drunken clown, the dwarf or the most obscure character that I can throw in there. I like to draw humor from my scenarios. I like for them to be erotic yet funny and that doesnt necessarily work into the fetish scene.

Hollywood influences the work and perspective of these artists, adding another characteristic element to the regions style. Hollywood has a lot of fabulous freaks, says Pierre Silva. Were not the only ones but it may be more out in the open here. Rubin agrees that the Los Angeles area supplies a large number of specialty performers, like midgets and dwarves, who feature prominently in her work. The region imbues others with a sense of old time glamour and history. Hollywood influences my work visually in terms of history, says Goedde. Since Im not a studio photographer, I usually dont imitate that genre though it has occurred by accident. I am inspired in general by Hollywood glamour and I get a sense of that just living here, just driving down the street and thinking, Theres Charlie Chaplins studio, and thats where Lana Turner lived. Pierre Silva also draws inspiration from the same source. I love the '20s through '40s Hollywood glamour style. At times, I like to integrate those specific lighting styles for my images.

Goedde believes that one of the most significant and unique things about southern Californias community of fetish photographers is the sense of camaraderie among its members. Unlike other places, this community is tightly knit, photographers sharing models, locations and supporting each others growth and individual styles. This is bringing fetish photography closer to being legitimized and to a wider audience. It is also bringing the genre the much-needed respect it deserves. I dont think fetish photography is a fad anymore, says Goedde. Its a genre thats in existence now, like how rock n roll was in its beginning. Now its become cornerstone. As of the last 50 years, rock has become legitimized. And I think fetish photography within the last 10 years is forming its cornerstone although now its still pretty taboo. Theres a better chance of it gaining [artistic legitimacy] in California due to the community and camaraderie of the photographers. That could help define Los Angeles or California as a historical hotbed of fetish imagery. Though it may never enter the mainstream due to its erotic overtones, Californias fetish photographers are taking this subculture closer than its ever been towards artistic respectability.

Myriam Gurba ( myriam@toosquare.com )