 |
|
|
Compiled By GayToday
British artist Paul FR Hamilton in his piece Comme
Gay British artist Paul FR Hamilton, 26, unwittingly caused chaos at last weekend's prestigious "Living Surfaces" Web design conference, when an enormous image featuring his own erect penis was accidentally displayed to 400+ delegates. The picture came from Hamilton's infamous "Uncut" Website, an exhibit of "full-frontal self portraiture" which has been attracting a stream of acclaim, awards, stalkers and outraged condemnation since its launch in August 1998. "There has always been some difficulty in exhibiting these pictures in a fine art context," said the artist today. "The site's been repeatedly banned as pornography by Web hosting companies worldwide.
Unfortunately, no such warning was given to the conference delegates at the American Centre for Design, Chicago, before the image was projected. Maverick designer Patric King, addressing them at the time, accepted full responsibility: "It was an incredibly embarrassing accident," said King. "I was delivering my speech, discussing societal reflections of mass technology... as an illustration I was demonstrating the way I've used my own site as a personal forum. "One section of my site showcases all kinds of artwork--including a lot of Paul's, because I think it's some of the most scintillating and intelligent erotic photography out there - but obviously I had absolutely no intention of displaying it during my speech. I just clicked a link without thinking and suddenly there it was... one of the most explicit ones, too... projected fourteen feet high. "I almost fainted. Quite a few delegates walked out, though some just giggled."
"I really gave no thought to the effect my work might have on people outside of the gay community... I don't ever try to be outrageous or shocking or offensive, I just make pictures that I consider beautiful. They're on the Web so that an appropriate audience can access them, I'm not thrusting them in Jesse Helms' face. "'Uncut' has caused a lot of trouble, but only when it's fallen into the hands of people who I never intended to see it. I'm just glad that this time it wasn't directly my fault. The last disaster was a press release I wrote this Spring for Magic Mirror, a collaborative fine art show with my American partner Howard DesChenes, which accidentally outed him to his mother. "I was visiting at the time, supposedly as just a friend--his parents still thought he had a girlfriend. His mother suddenly phoned him out of the blue to say that she'd seen 'Uncut', and was he gay too? "It was a nightmare. In the end, though, Howard and I work so well together, and the exhibition was so phenomenally successful, that she couldn't really insist I was a bad influence. We get on OK now, she calls me her 'other small obnoxious child' and complains I don't eat enough.
"My most recent site 'light[squared]' features photoshoots of gay escorts offset by dead animals and psychedelic shrimps, so hopefully on balance it won't offend anyone." |
This Uncut photo of Hamilton popped up at a British Web design conference 
Hamilton's Moth 
© 1997-99 BEI