It is a seemingly insurmountable task to declare what is “art”. Even further, it is near impossible to set up a system of qualifications to test works for their worthiness. With that being said, the act of seeing or experiencing an individual work, digesting its history, and wading through the technique to find meaning is something that all active viewers should do when confronted with a singular artist or piece. Attempting to slap a predetermined label of “art” or “not art” on all photographs is a limiting act by the individual on potential discourse of questionable works. In most cases, diving into both the artist’s historical background as well as the technical implications of the product can reveal whether a photograph is worthy of the designation of “art”.
The photograph in question comes from Richard Kern, a prolific filmmaker and photographer from New York City. Kern’s piece, from his collection “Noir”, depicts a nude woman – obscured by her crossed arms – crouching in an empty room, save for a lone disco ball hanging behind her, casting half-moon shapes on the back wall. If one would come from a strictly anti-essentialist point-of-view, Kern’s work would automatically be seen as a “work of art”. This is because anti-essentialism rejects the notion that art must exist within a set of parameters, and prerequisites must be achieved in order to justify the title of “art” (Lauren Tillighast “Essence and Anti-Essentialism About Art”). Dissecting Kern’s photograph in this light is both ineffectual and lacking attractive dialogue, even if it is the most accessible and applicable theory for modern works.
So, for the sake of discussion, Kern’s photograph will be approached from an essentialist angle to elicit a proper conversation. In order to determine whether Kern’s work is art, three considerations need to be made: emotional representation, technical aptitude, as well as physical and social aesthetics (Catherine Lord “Indexicality, Not Circularity: Dickie’s New Definition of Art”). To determine emotional success, the image must be conveyed through the image and construct a coherent sentiment. This aspect would include the artistic intention and relevance to a broader set of works, like Kern’s collection. Also to be taken into account would be Kern’s overall technical execution – whether his composition is rational and skilled. Principles of arrangement, staging, contrast, and inclusion within the wider collection is to be contemplated within this stipulation. The final ideal of aesthetics is the murkiest of the three determinations, as this one deals more with audience need and response. Relevant to this subject would be the artist’s social message, the targeted audience, and how the piece is presented to its viewers. In the end, it will be shown that not only does Kern’s photograph justify the label of “art” within the world of anti- essentialism, but it also fulfills requirements set forth by essentialist theories.
To discuss emotion and aesthetics, one commands a working definition of the term “work of art”, so that we as viewers can adequately begin to mark Richard Kern’s photograph as such. This commonplace term is something that is thrown around quite liberally, but legitimacy is achieved in the studies of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who was a German philosopher and forefather of German Idealism. In “Asethetics: The Particular Forms of Art”, Hegel argues for a broad definition of what art is, by concluding that a work of art, or an artwork, is an “idea made manifest”. In accordance with Hegel’s definition, the artist’s intentions ahead of the production constitutes the label of “artwork”, and since the artist’s decisions were acts of deliberateness instead of happenstance, this would explain one’s interpretation of Richard Kern’s photograph as one piece of artwork. Now, there is an argument to be made that not all intention is either present nor grossly intentional, that many elements of a photograph is the result of luck or forces beyond the artist’s control. Hegel, if he were to be regarded, would likely not be seen as an essentialist by the aforementioned standards. This is because the philosopher sees art as an idea conveyed, whether it is a bronze statue or a drawing on a napkin. In any case, Hegel provides a sound explanation of what it is to be a “work of art”, and by his theory, it is not a stretch to claim Kern’s photography as an example of a “work of art.” It is important to keep Hegel’s designation close, as it provides a framework for the designation of Kern’s photograph. When working in tandem with essentialist conditions, Hegel’s thoughts seem to provide a foundation to more qualified determinations.
Understanding the emotions behind a photograph like Kern’s can be difficult, which then calls into question whether it is successful or not in this regard. Understanding his photograph alone is not in the cards, as it simply appears to be a woman in a room, but when coupled with his collection, as well as his attraction to pornography, an emotional undercurrent is exposed. Richard Kern’s started out as a filmmaker, interested in the underground New York punk scene, focusing mainly on personalities that could drive a documentary short (Film Threat, “Transgression Confessions: Interview With Richard Kern”). He soon migrated to photography, still with an intense interest in the same subjects, but soon, through various affiliations, began to produce paying work for magazines, including Playboy. His production of pornography – this label is not meant to devalue the work nor convey worthlessness in relation to art – also modified his subject emphasis, as he began to discuss sexual themes such as voyeurism and fetishism. His other thematic interests also lie in both the male gaze as well as the nature of photography. He explores both the male gaze and female exhibitionism in his book “Looker”, but he also studies and practices photographic elements, such as motion and contrast.
It is clear to determine that within Kern’s collection “Noir”, he exists within a construct world of black-and-white, high-contrast, low-light photography – a deviation from his previous endeavors. His pictures within the series take on a more intimate and introspective ambiance, differing from his lighter and more tongue-in-cheek works. In this particular photograph, Kern playfully experiments with the lighting of the disco ball, an object normally associated with color and atmosphere. His female model isn’t as open as her counterparts in the work, working her body in conjunction with the shadows cast to hide her nude body. Author John Berger concludes in “The Ways of Seeing” that “to be naked is to be oneself” and that “to be naked is to be without disguise.” So for the model to be naked but obscured is to present a complex symbolism of her denial of the spectator-owner ideal prevalent in most erotic photography. The emotional weight on display has more to do with the photographers desire to highlight the element of light, while commenting on the normally explicit nature of sexual photography. With this determination, it is fair to conclude that Kern satisfies the essentialist need for apparent emotional conveyance.
An active participant in experiencing work needs to fully ingest the artist’s intentions as much as one needs to be knowledgeable of the artist’s technical process. The technical aspects of photography lend itself to intention and purpose just as much as it does in the realm of painting. Results may vary in terms of worthiness and execution, but almost all paintings and photographs have intentions beyond just its completion. With photography, it gets muddier because anyone can be an artist and produce individual works of art by chance because the apparatus is far more forgiving than that of the paintbrush; so technical aptitude needs to be feverishly challenged to measure merit. With Richard Kern’s photography, he is obviously a talented photographer, apparent in his knowledge of various methods of photography and his intentional application of said methods dependent on the subject matter.
In his “Looker” collection, Kern tackles the subject of voyeurism and paparazzo, a frequently visited topic of the photographer. By framing his subjects through stairwells and blinds, he implies that the viewers are peeping toms – something only communicated through the title of the collection and the staging prowess of Kern. Compare that to his work in his Noir photos, particularly the photo in question, his process completely shifts to accommodate the subject matter. He relies more on lighting than staging, as well as playing with the nature of the nudity he attempts to display; all in service to the title and theme of his collection. To argue Richard Kern’s merits as a professional photographer is fruitless, as he is a highly skilled and tuned expert of composition.
The job of an art scholar, particularly photography, is to use both ways of seeing: seeing and seeing-as. While the scholar might be initially wrong in the way of seeing, which contains the visual processing of the work of art. The medium in which the artist’s message passes is important, but the job of a scholar is to dig deeper into the living consciousness of the artwork as well as exist within the social constructs of its exhibition. In this case, the scholar does not waiver when it comes to seeing-as. That’s because the scholar is allowed to adjust his opinions and acceptance according to his own experience.
A scholar’s experience while seeing-as is always a socially dependent constant, so that’s the most important element of the work that a scholar can dissect. As previously mentioned, Richard Kern’s photograph is a meditation on the allowance of access to the female form, or the denial of a spectator ownership that exists within the pornographic medium. It is a comment on not only the thematic tendencies of pornography, but is also a broad comment on the nature of women’s relationship with their viewers over the course of artistic history. His targeted audience is built-in, as his particularly aesthetic is focused on the female form and the controversial nature of pornography. Onlookers and fans of the work of Richard Kern may find themselves emulated through the lens of Kern’s cameras. With this particular photograph, Kern directs the models attention directly at the spectator, a method both common for erotic photography and abnormal for classical nude depictions of women. His audience is put face-to-face with their own voyeuristic tendencies, even if they have the most earnest interactions with his work. Also at play is how the work is experienced, or how it is exhibited for the general public.
Most of Kern’s work exists in two forms – online and in print. If we see this work as a total collection in book form, our feelings about this one particular photograph manipulated by all the other photographs in the book. The photos that precede and come immediately after the one in question immediately influence the purpose and meaning of the image. The location and ingestion of works can also affect the strength of its purpose, which is the case with this photograph. Experiencing this photo on the internet – a medium closely associated with the dissemination and promotion of pornographic images – intensifies the explicitness of Kern’s discussion of the male’s relation with a female subject. The physical and social aesthetics of this photograph can lead one to conclude that Kern fulfills the aesthetic need of essentialism, and is perhaps the strongest attribute of his work.
Kern may linger on erotic subject matter, but the difference between his photography and that of Hustler is that he doesn’t come from a place of sole titillation and commerce. Through the eyes of essentialists, Kern’s photograph passes the rigorous test to be defined as “art.” His skills as a photographer and his socially minded approach resulted in an expert image that ruminates about the subject matter he is so often commercially hired to complete. The fact that his work is found within the pages of Playboy and GQ isn’t something to detract from the editorial work on display, but instead reinforces his value as an artistic photographer.
