by Owen | Filed Under Random Musings
This is obviously a question that has a significant amount of interest to us. But first, I’d like to clarify what I mean by “art”. I don’t mean just what is often called “fine art nude photography”, which is typically conceived of as sculptural nudes devoid of erotic connotation and usually presented in black and white. As those familiar with X-muse and our work will know, we see nothing at all inconsistent and incompatible in coupling the notions of art, the erotic, or the sexual — even the explicitly sexual. All of these are a just manifestation of eros, as the terms is originally and properly understood.
Nor do I mean to go into what constitutes art and what does not (I already recorded my thoughts on what art is — and isn’t — in this post). So I’m going to assume (dangerous I know) that we have a general agreement on what art is, the details of which may be safely left to subjective appraisal, and just muse on whether it is an economically viable product or not.
Exhibit A in my musing is of course this site: clearly we believe that X-muse offers up a product with value commensurate to the price we are asking , and we believe that there are enough people around who appreciate what we are trying to do enough to pay a small fee to enjoy it such that the effort and expense of our creating X-muse is justified. Time will tell if our beliefs are sound.
Exhibit B is a bit of a sad cautionary tale — at least I think it is sad. The basic concept behind X-muse is of course not new. In fact, X-muse itself is not new. I first conceived of and created X-muse back in 1999 and the original site went live with the Millennium.
The original X-muse was in some ways a modest success, but in the end I could not make a go of it. There were several reasons for this, but the quality of the work I produced in those days, both technically and artistically, I suspect was the largest factor; hopefully this has improved. But I also wonder if the timing was not right; the original X-muse was something of a critical success but it dwelt in that ambiguous space between art and what many would call erotica or even “porn”, and there was at that time a certain prejudice against work that wandered across such boundaries coupled with a vague feeling that art, at least on the Internet, was something to be shared freely and so asking money for it was a bit unseemly; the praise and adulation of the viewers was supposed to be recompense enough, no matter the costs to the artist in treasure and time to produce it.
Since those days, porn has metastasized through the Internet to point where the whole edifice is practically marinating in it. Competition in the on-line porn industry is particularly fierce and, perhaps counter-intuitively, this has led (largely through the proliferation of so-called tube sites) to more free porn being available on the Internet than ever before.
But the prevalence of porn, especially free porn, has also, in the view of some, created an opening for other types of on-line erotic entertainments that distinguish themselves from the free stuff by any number of means, including being (at least in the view of the creators) art.
So back a couple of years ago, when I began to feel that perhaps X-muse deserved another shot, I glanced about and saw that others had concluded something similar. One of these was the erotic art photographer Richard Murrian, who launched a site called Muse Inspiration Éternelle and another was a Brigham Field, a photographer with his roots in the fashion field who launched a site called: Goddess, Beauty is Divine.
Both these photographers were very self-consciously trying to raise the bar for nude and erotic photography on the Internet and both apparently thought doing so would pay. Both of them, but Murrian most particularly, steered clear of the vulgar, the obviously explicit, and emphasized both the technical quality and artistic merit of their work, as well as the quality and classiness of the women who worked with them (Brigham Field even got a bit preachy about this, as the name of his site might lead one to suspect).
For the most part, they lived up to their words. Their work was indeed well above the common run and while I cannot vouch for their models (except to say that Brigham had a penchant for fashion model physiques that I do not share) they certainly did not look like porn stars or the girl next door, unless you live in a very different neighborhood than I do (like Prague).
So what happened? Well, when last I looked, Muse Inspiration Éternelle had only been updated twice in the previous year, and appears not to have been touched since. Richard Murrian enjoys some repute and has published a number of books so I suspect that he gave up maintaining his site to concentrate on these greener pastures. I also suspect his work, though beautiful, may have been too tame and his emphasis on elegance and finely crafted but understated sensuality did not sell. His flirtations with the erotic were notably gentle and if something more edgy was required to profit, it would not surprise me that he would choose to demur.
Of course I have no certain knowledge — or even anything beyond speculation — as to why Richard Murrian abandoned his site, but I am sad that he did. His work did deserve to sell, and hopefully it is, though apparently in another venue. But I would have preferred (selfishly of course) to see it succeed on-line. And I wonder to what extent his lack of edge might be responsible for it not doing so.
Which brings me to Brigham Field.
Brigham Field boasts a fairly impressive resume, at least when viewed from my low angle: he has been published in GQ, Black & While Magazine and Maxim. His photography, when it is good, is very good. In founding Goddess, Beauty is Divine, Field appeared to take this notion seriously. His site featured not just photos but also information about various charities benefiting women and had an overall tone that was semi-reverent and semi-preachy. But I thought Goddess, Beauty is Divine was worthwhile though I would have preferred a little less reverential gloss and substantially more flesh — and years — on the women he choose to revere.
But today, if you go looking for Goddess, Beauty is Divine you won’t find it — at least not under that name. Brigham Field changed the name of his site to X-art early this year, and his careful adoration of the feminine and his undying devotion to his art have turned into this:
Francesca: From My Lips
Francesca’s long nimble fingers find a sweet surprise as they brush across her pouting pink lips!
and this:
Francesca: Sunshine on My Pussy
Slender blonde teen Francesca takes off her sundress and shows you her pussy in the sunlight.
and this:
Chloe Loves Carl
As she plays with Carl’s cock, Chloe looks up at you… imagine how good it feels as she wraps her pretty pink lips around you.
and this:
Jewel: Deeper
Watch as Jewel licks her lips, raises her hips and pushes a smooth glass dildo deep inside!
and — my all-time favorite — this:*
Sasha: School Slut
Sasha Grey as a slutty schoolgirl who loves giant cocks.
From Goddess, Beauty is Divine to Slutty Schoolgirl Who Loves Giant Cocks. If this is what Brigham Field feels he has to do to make a buck on the Internet, my hopes for X-muse will have sensibly diminished.
If on the other hand, Brigham Field is just following his divine inner muse, all I have to say is: Brigham, we hardly knew ye.
* Yes, I am a former member of Brigham’s site and one of his affiliates, so I still get email from him, from whence these jewels were plucked. And I have nothing against dildos or pussies or even schoolgirls, whether they love giant cocks or not. But I do not consider the latter to be art. Fun maybe, but not art.
Comments
interesting read… as a former member of Twistys.com i can probally understand this for the most part… i really liked the photography on that site, but as time went on; it just seemed to get more saturated with videos, and before i left it was starting to have even more hardcore than softcore videos… (and i’m no prude, but i enjoy style and technical briliance, especially in things i pay for) and ever since then i have been looking for something that showed the art of women and photography… in all its edges, and i think this kind of site suits perfectly… i for one hope it works… cuz i don’t want to have to search for another year trying to find something else similiar with a fair price….
I agree entirely with what you have to say. There is a staggering lack of genuinely artistic and technically excellent photography sites on the net: the grubbily basic tends to proliferate while the beautiful is pushed to one side. It is, after all, easier to grow weeds than it is to grow roses. Sites like MetArt and Femjoy are quite good but even there, while the technical excellence is beyond question, the style is often flat and the settings for the models often stale and uninspired. To have a site like X-Muse which combines beautiful models with excellent photography and, crucially, wit, humour and imagination is exactly what the net is crying out for and I wish it all the luck in the world. Courage mon Brave! Talent will always rise to the top in the end.