Matthias Herrmann, Exhibition-ist Au Courant
Drew Frist
To describe Matthias Herrmann’s photographs as full frontal, full on, or full anything for that matter, is an understatement. Herrmann has in a decades’ time become one of contemporary art’s unabashed kings of exhibitionism and erotic photography. From self-portraiture to still life, Herrmann’s images have blurred the boundaries between subject and photographer, art and porn, the sex and sexless through a no-holds-barred look at penis and psyche. Whether he is having his way with a blow-up doll or ejaculating on a still-life arrangement, his photos shock and arouse–be it your interest or otherwise.
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Here in two interviews done in the Q&A stylings of NY Arts Magazine and a Herrmann magazine favorite, BUTT, he discusses his body of work and his latest project at the Secession in Vienna.
Drew Frist: What inspired you to start the nude, still life and semen series?
Matthias Herrmann: In the beginning, I wanted to see how a different approach to the male nude could look. It had to be something different from the beautiful boys in beautiful poses photography that kept on surfacing in the 80s. It was also partially done as a response to the AIDS crisis–born out of a need to show off a healthy, potent and not endangered gay male body.
I wanted to find a more brutal and complex way of dealing with the images of the/my gay body. I wanted to condense the different ideas we got from the media, like Nicholas Nixon’s depictions of people dying of AIDS, and the strong, invincible gay man into one body of work.
The semen works are really meditations on the duality of semen–the power and danger of it–and the photography of it as such. I took underdeveloped black and white photo paper and exposed it to the sunlight for varying lengths of time and ejaculated on it. The semen started a chemical process with the paper. Of course, a lot of artists, Pierre Molinier among others, used semen to produce art before me; I am well aware of that.
DF: Some might group your photos with the larger body of erotic arts. But, the way you position yourself, the full-on nature of the semen, penis and ass shots seem to de-eroticize the picture into something else completely. What do you think this is? Are there any other photographers that you think produce similar work or that you find inspirational?
MH: The way I see it, erotic art aims at the arousal, actual or sublimated, of the beholder. Traditionally, erotic art has a soft edge. I tend to think of David Hamilton when I hear the term "erotic art." My work seems to be too up front, too sharp, too clear, maybe too brutal to be qualified as being erotic.
There are quite a few artists that are doing great work using a similar approach. For instance, Richard Sawdon-Smith, a London-based artist I discovered recently. What the people of BUTT magazine do and whom they feature I also find very inspirational. There is a series by Lovett/Codagnone where they dress up in leather and take pictures in shopping malls or with their families–fabulous. Guys like British writer, musician and porn star Aiden Shaw also really interest me. It’s the way they mix different artistic approaches, techniques and realms.
DF: What is the ideal male? Clarify for me, is your work about mocking gay ideals of body and mind or about manipulating them?
MH: I wouldn’t mind mocking and manipulating them. A lot of those gay ideals are taken far too seriously by far too many people. We could also do with a more diverse, more open image of what being and acting gay could be. But then I chose art as my profession; I am not naïve enough to really believe art could be persuasive enough to change anything in real life. If I wanted to change the world, I should have probably found a more efficient way of dealing with those issues than making art.
DF: How does your work reflect your status as an HIV+ male?
DH: Quite a lot, I’m afraid. When I found out I was HIV+, my work became darker and darker without me forcing it in that direction. I wrote a lot during a one-year period when I was feeling very low. I put some of that writing into one of my "Hotel" books. When I was in that difficult state, I was swallowing all material by other HIV positives or people with AIDS I could find–just looking for assistance, but also thriving on their misery.
Later, I wanted to share my negative experience and–above all, my getting out of it–with others. I am very happy when people tell me that my writing and my work helped them, even only a little bit. Today, I cope very well with my infection and my mental state is stable and sane. I owe this to my partner and to my shrink. Still, my status is reflected in a lot of my work–sometimes more directly, sometimes less.
DF: Do you feel your work evolves as your body evolves or your mind?
MH: It’s charming how you say, "the body evolves." I rather have the feeling it ages–quite drastically. I find that unfair and difficult to accept, but as I do not want to overload my work with private feelings, I am still looking for ways of working with that. I hope my mind does evolve and doesn’t only age. There is so much I still want to learn and use in and for my work.
DF: Tell me about the text that you put in your images. Some is in French, German and English.
MH: The languages do not have a very specific significance. Sometimes I choose the language of the country I’m showing the work in first. English is the international language and German is my first language, so I use those two the most.
The text is meant to add a different, sometimes more complex layer to an image, a layer that imagery alone cannot achieve. Text can add information; it can alter and strengthen the feeling an image conveys.
DF: Tell me more about your latest series of work.
MH: One is a series I shot for a book published in conjunction with an exhibition with Austrian artist Eva Schlegel at the Secession in Vienna. She made a big installation, covering the walls of the exhibition space with lead, and invited four photographers to document that installation. I decided to use Schlegel’s installation as a stage for my own work.
The other new series is an homage to Pierre Molinier for the big exhibition at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux. They invited me to create some works that were shown together with pieces from 27 other artists who have drawn influences from Molinier–such as Warhol, Castelli, Sherman, Mapplethorpe and Pierre et Gilles. The self-fucking double exposures, not computer generated, are a re-staging of works I had produced in the early 90s. I wanted to show the influence Molinier’s photomontages had on me while stressing the difference in my approach at the same time.
Right now, I’m working on a series of headshots, following up on the headshots in the "8×10" book. I am interested in making portraits without any hint to the personality of the person photographed while simultaneously telling many different stories.
DF: Your latest photos and book continue to explore what is essentially at the core of all your works–yourself. What impressions of Matthias Herrmann do you think people walk away from your photos with?
MH: Maybe the wrong one. Many mistake the person in the photos for the real thing. I am not as self-centered as it may seem. Maybe a bit vain though…
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And in best BUTT magazine tradition, Herrmann answers questions and irrelevancies that border somewhere between trite and telling.
Drew Frist: Which makes the bigger statement, wearing women’s clothes or no clothes at all?
Matthias Herrmann: Depends on what you want to say. Women’s clothes do hide better what needs to be hidden.
DF: Out of all the texts included in your images, what’s been your favorite?
MH: "Hell was full, so I came back," which was taken from a bumper sticker, and "I’m not a person today. I’m an object in an artwork. It’s about emptiness," which is from Andrea Fraser’s performance Official Welcome.
DF: What do your photos say about masculinity?
MH: A lot. I think more than I could possibly say here. I love being a man, and I try to be masculine most of the time. Oh, I know this is not very P.C. to say.
DF: What is the title of your favorite adult film?
MH: The Link trilogy. One name, three films with my all-time favorite model Corey Jay.
DF: Does Aiden Shaw’s talents make him a Herrmann favorite too?
MH: I guess it is the mix of talent I admire.
DF: After exposing yourself hundreds of times, how do you increasingly push the limits to keep your photos "sharp"?
MH: That’s something I ask myself every time I take a picture.
DF: How do you differentiate between porn and art? Are any of your images inspired by pornography?
MH: Yes. I quite love pornography. Some people tell me they jerk off to my work, which I always take as a compliment. I don’t necessarily make a distinction for myself between porn and art. There are so many categories that limit us in our perception of the world and out place in it. So, I try not to create new ones when it comes to my own work.
DF: Beard or the clean-shaven look?
MH: Stubble.
DF: In the "Hotel" photos, there is so much raw emotion captured in each still. What were you feeling after as you took each exposure?
MH: The same void Freud described as la petite mort.
DF: What impressions of Matthias Herrmann do you want people to walk away from this interview with?
MH: That I’m sexy, hunky, funny and bright.
