The Devil - from the Tarot cards

IMO this is disgusting. I would say the same thing if it were a female model fondling herself in an obviously aroused state.

It's not disgusting if you're viewing it within the context of the project. Art doesn't have to be pretty or comfortable to look at.

Murray

The devil is horny? I think it's an interesting series, although I don't really understand it. I would personally love to have a little bit more background to at least begin to understand. Can you shed some light on these different 'figures'?
By the way, from a boring technical aspect, I find your platinum prints to be of remarkable quality. I'd love to see them in person one day.
- Thomas

I agree with Thomas. Some background would be nice. Or perhaps not. I certainly do not think it's disgusting, nor do I find aroused females disgusting. That seems a rather Puritanical notion of human nature. My problem is that it seems to lean a little too much toward homoerotic art, which is not my cup of tea. I find it competent, but not very interesting. I like the older photo much better--the one that caused the initial controversy. It reminded me a bit of the Manuel Alvarez Bravo shot of the boy peeing into a bowl. I know this does not relate to photo itself, but I find the responses to the older photo just strange. They seemed so threatened by male nudity. Really puzzling to me. I'll be curious to follow this one.

It's interesting that this is assumed by some to be homoerotic when there's no one else in the photograph to be the object of arousal. Conflating the photographer with the photograph doesn't do much for either. In fact, I would guess that the Devil (if that is the Devil....I don't know much about Tarot cards) would be omnisexual.....

The Devil in the traditional tarot series is traditionally depicted as A: male, and B: with genitalia exposed. Frequently he is shown with male and female nudes flanking, and they are in some form of bondage (collars and chains, etc). This is a quite tame version of the Devil image by comparison. In most readings of the Devil card, the meaning is tied to situations relating to sex and obsession and enslavement to obsessions.

The tarot cards are a bit complex to explain here at length, but the really short version of it is that they date to at least the 1400s, and are probably much older than that. The modern take on them is that they represent Jungian archetypes and are useful for self-analysis, because the viewer reads in the cards what is in their own mind. There are 22 cards in the Major Arcana, in addition to the 50-some odd cards in the standard deck, from which modern playing cards are derived. The Major Arcana includes cards such as The Magician, The High Priestess, The Hermit, The Emperor, The Hanged Man, Death (which often shows up in cheesy movies and the character who draws it knows immediately that something awful is going to happen to them, but this is a misreading of the card. The card really has more to do with change than it does with actual death), The Tower (this is the card that should be used in said movie scenes, as it has more to do with calamity and disaster), The World, The Sun, The Moon, The Star, Temperance, Strength, and The Fool, amongst others.

Yes, I am trying to create a homoerotic Tarot series as an interpretation of the imagery. This is still a work in progress, and so I will probably re-shoot this at some point.

As far as the symbolism of the card, I think this works, to a decent extent. Maybe a little more of a sneer or something would help? The card The Devil is meant to symbolize the mainly inner demons or bad parts of a person that need to be dealt with IIRC. It's not a good card to draw, but it's not the end of the world, either.
I think the series is shaping up well and I'm curious to see the whole when it's done.