Tying like me.
Sometimes people say that they would love to learn to tie like me. Can I teach them?
First I have to say that I consider these requests to be some of the highest compliments you can receive as someone teaching bondage. It really is personally something of a thrill when someone says something like that. It is however not possible.
I can't teach people to tie like me. But it's possible that I can, given time help them to do something much more satisfying and help them to learn how to tie like them.
I, no matter how much I may wish to can never tie like one of the greats that I admire. I can learn from them. I can observe them, I can be inspired by their ties. I can emulate some of their tying to better understand it. I cannot however really understand their thought, feeling or style completely. It effects mine but it is not mine. Their inspiration and something of their aesthetic that struck a chord with me however does become part of my style. And a persons style grows over time with the accumulation of experience, practice, observation, and study.
As a teacher I can I think help people to embark on their personal rope bondage journeys. I can never travel it for them though. Their journey is not mine, mine is not theirs, my experience cannot be theirs either, though they can benefit from it.
It can be that you see a disappointed face when you tell someone that they cannot learn to tie as you do. But for those that have the potential to do well they will grasp that this is not a bad thing. It is an opportunity for self discovery, to know yourself, to be yourself. Surely this is a good thing?
I cannot teach you to tie like me, be glad of that.
Fotofest 2012
The Art of Contemporary Shibari Exhibit is a 6 week long event as part of the Fotofest 2012 Biennial in Houston, Texas. I have submitted 6 pieces of art to this exhibition.
DoctorZ has put a lot into this weekend and if you can make it along, I think it will be a wonderful event, with live performances, the public are invited to bring their cameras to participate in this visually binding opportunity and discuss this art form with these very accomplished artists from all over the world. There is also the opportunity to take part in a Shibari Shoot on Monday the 19th March, you will find more information on this here.
The artists exhibiting include; Cannon, Captured Erotica, CharlyB, DallasKink, LeeDavid, DoctorZ, Jim Duvall, Stefano Laforgia, Hikari Kesho, Chi Lum, MaillerPhong, Zee Maitri, Noble Manqué, Alexander Neptune, Lew Rubens, Riccardo Sergnese, and myself with WykD_Dave. A wonderful mix of style and talent from all over the world.
Come along and show your support and have a wonderful time with all the activities, live performance and opening reception, you may even be moved to buy a print.
Below are a couple of prints I am submitting which are limited edition prints one of ten, signed.
Does your work speak for you?
Does your work speak for you?
I'm connected to my work, it's a part of me, it comes out of me and so I cannot help it being part of me, speaking for part of me, expressing part of me.
However it's not all of me and only connects to some aspects of my 'self'.
They are aspects that I think are important. At least they seem so to me so in this context they are.
If your work doesn't speak at least 'of you' and to some extent 'for you' then maybe you're not doing what you should.
Does my work speak for me?
Yes of course, how could it not?
Is it Art or Pornography?
Rope bondage. Is it Art or Pornography?
Yes.
In all endeavours we should I believe aspire to the highest level. So can this be art, absolutely. Is my work art? I will leave that judgement to the spectator. I would not be so arrogant as to proclaim my work as art nor myself an artist.
The fact of the erotic or even the pornographic does not preclude beauty. It is just as much a part of our humanity as our aesthetic tastes.
Personally I think the brevity of the form makes it more beautiful not less. The image or the video can only capture the appearance of the moment, people can see the expressions and the movement of the moment but cannot feel it, they can empathise and imagine but they cannot be in that moment. If you like it's a creation of not just aesthetics but of emotion experienced within the moment. Not an installation.
Beautiful and brief. If I may permit myself a cliché.... like the cherry blossom the beauty is all the more vivid and precious for its brevity.
A thanks.
I have lately thought about inspiration and where it comes from. When it comes to bondage there are of course a few very obvious examples of those that have inspired me. Osada Steve as a teacher and friend an obvious inspiration and influence. With others it’s harder to say. Chimou Nureki who’s work, taste and legacy in film and literature the western student of Shibari cannot help but see. Denki Akechi who’s style and ties and aesthetic choices have been such an influence not only directly but also via the work of others themselves influenced. Go Arisue who has influenced me not only with his aesthetic but also with his tying style. Haruki Yukimura who’s ideas of bondage and who’s effect upon the bound inspire differently and make me search for deeper connection and effect via rope. Recently Akira Naka came more to my attention and his different energy and style has added something new to the mix that though I can’t name it I feel. Kinoko Hajime who inspires in a another way with his enthusiasm and passion to drive kinbaku on for a new generation.
I wonder how many who’s names I never knew have influenced and inspired me via pictures, behind the scenes in movies, in words repeated, in their teaching passed on via others. And how many of those were inspired by figures such as Seiu Ito?
For all that share a passion for kinbaku we owe debts of gratitude to them all. I owe a debt of gratitude to them all. For without those that developed, pushed, publicised, taught, thought, wrote and spoke I, sitting in my home in England typing these words, may never have discovered this passion and pleasure art and satisfaction. This wonderful obsession that has become the centre of my life.
To you all of you present and past, who have and continue to inspire. I thank you.