'Millions of years of evolution, right? Right? Men have to stick it in every place they can.'
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
When I was thinking about this years Halloween themed posts I remembered a series of masked themed photos Manhattan photographer Richard Rothstein had on one of his older sites. With Richard's support, I dug into the archives to pull out some of my favorites.
The first thing I noticed when gathering my favorites, was how un-Halloween most of the shots were. Like so much of Richard's work, there was an intensely erotic feel, felt even more so with the element of mystery and disguise.
The shots reminded me more of an adult eyes wide shut party than a childhood holiday affiliated with candy and fun. Not there wasn't a sense of play, there was, but the kind of play connected with risk and danger. Sexually charged adventures with naked strangers and orgies with faceless bodies in which the climax far outweighs the consequence.
The mask is essential and a crucial element of arousal. To look too closely at the face, at the eyes, would wreak havoc on the fantasy. The mask allows one to avoid any signs or reality, and disassociate with hints of pain, addiction and especially obsession. Jolts of reality corrupt and destroy, aggressively waking the participant from the traumnovelle, the dream story the mask was used to create.
1 comment:
Nice to see so many full frontal shots. had stopped visiting your blog very often because it seemed that too many models weren't showing everything. Thanks for a nice change today.
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