Art isn't that damn subjective.

Now showing at the Axel Raben Gallery in New York:

Cum Shot Series

Axel Raben Gallery: Ashkan Sahihi
For a weirdly compelling portrait series titled "Cum Shots," Sahihi asked his male and female sitters to bring along a male partner to ejaculate on their face just before the photo was taken. Because the subjects are seated fully clothed before a neutral studio backdrop, the results buzz with the tension between formality and abandon. Confronting the camera with semen splattered across their cheeks, each of these people has an odd post-coital glow--a flush of ebbing excitement that leaves them emotionally, totally naked.
-Vince Aletti, The Village Voice





I don't know about anyone else, but to me, the "flush of ebbing excitement" looks more like an expression of "oh shit, I can believe that someone just jerked off on me!" Someone, please, please, PLEASE explain to me how this is art! It's a fucking FACIAL! It's the last 20 seconds of every porno you have ever seen!

This is art:








This is not:






Now, maybe I'm not that cultured. Perhaps I am just another midwestern S.I.W.B. (Standard Issue White Boy) who can't tell a salad fork from a dessert fork (dessert is on the top, salad on the outside, right?) Maybe I lack the IQ to grasp the subtleties of the photograph. This might be so classy that it just blew my mind. It could be a bold statement about the vulnerability of the human race, and how we struggle to maintain our dignity and a sense of normalcy, even when we are extremely uncomfortable and even disgusted by the things we do and have done to us.


Or maybe some pervert with a camera likes watching people beat off on each other.