Remember our story about Janine Gordon’s testosterone-spiked photography? The Brooklyn-based multimedia artist is having a giveaway holiday sale on some of her 11″x14″ photographs, starting at just $150 for one print, instead of the usual $1000 gallery price. Tied Up [above] is part of the current sale. But more on this troubling image a little further down today’s exclusive interview…

About her art, Janine writes: The landscape of physical vulnerability is often the subject of my work. Composing the frames with metaphors of post modern bravado often refer to a state of ecstasy or elation. Although seemingly aggressive on the surface value, the endgame that is ultimately expressed is pure joy and beauty.

When we first featured your work on Charmants.com, we wrote that your pet subjects were aggression, rebellion and men. How right or wrong were we? Can you elaborate on that?
You were right on the money. I’m obsessed with men, fight with aggression against social oppression, rebelling against society. I identify with the spirit of the rebel, which largely exist in various forms of subcultures — punk rock, hip hop, motorcycle stuntmen, fighters, graffiti writers, cowboys and the anti-New World Order movements.

You titled the photo above Tied Up. What can you tell us about the model?
I met him on the street in Brooklyn. He used to hang out with these local kids that I used to listen to hip hop with and freestyle. He had an identical twin brother. Both of whom I have photographed, though not as provocatively. He was very easy to manipulate, a very fun guy who was truly have a good time.

Any anecdote about the shooting?
I was on a journey to Brooklyn in the sweltering fucking heat dressed minimally. Short skirt, tight skirt. These three Latino boys that were hanging out in front of my apartment with half their clothes off. I noticed some tattoos sparsely placed on their young muscular bodies. They begged to come upstairs and hang out so I photographed them all. A week later one of them came to pick up the prints, we sunbathed for a while on my tar roof then I used five rolls of film over the next few hand cuffed hours later… Gagged and blindfolded he squirmed on my floor, my bed, my chairs, wherever I wanted him to.

What was the first photograph that you remember making an impression on you?
This may be difficult to be exact, but I guess it was a Man Ray photo or Cartier-Bresson. There wasn’t a specific photograph but I was more interested in the vision of the artists and the intriguing moments they seemed to capture.

Can you describe the first photograph you took that made you — or someone else — think that you might have a calling as a photographer?
I picked up the camera when I was about 12, and actually I won a local photography contest for this black and white photo I took of my grandfather’s hand on a tree stump. The second photo I took, I also won first prize in another contest, it was some Hassidic Rabbis I sneakily snapped in Israel.

Come to think of it, in my 9th grade yearbook my English teacher wrote: To my Famous student, famous photographer, famous whatever, whatever it is, you will be famous someday.

Are you a self-taught photographer or did a mentor show you the ropes?
I wish I can say I was totally self taught, but I was strangely lucky to have photo labs since junior high school, which I then simultaneously pursued along with painting, sculpture, etching, graphics and fashion designing in high school then won a scholarship to The Cooper Union and continued exploring mediums. I was kind of lucky and had some cool teachers, but I always had my own sense of rebellion since I was a kid and no teacher could ever indoctrinate my stubbornness. I did get a masters degree at NYU for teaching purposes, though I was accepted in the program as a painter, then switched to photography to make use of the darkrooms.

Which photographers influence you most?
I have always stayed away from influence since I am often the one often being ripped off. I am interested in individuals, expressions stemming from real experiences, real life, not simulations or constructions, which would be just repeating the mediated vision of the Technocracy. I have always tried to find the places which isn’t often threaded, which would give me an original niche. In terms of the art world elevated acceptance of photography as a viable art form equal to painting, artists such as Vic Muniz, Olaf Bruning and Thomas Ruff are inspirational but not in any stylistic or conceptual way to my work, but more so of the determined immediacy of the object of art. I’m also a fan of Richard Kern, Sebastian Salgado, Slava Mogutin and Robert Mapplethorpe, amongst a handful.

Where do you find your models?
It could be anywhere at all, in gyms, clubs, parties, street corners, beaches, other countries — it depends where my focus is at the time. Most of them are friends first before I’m taking photos of them, but the Mosh Pits series, I’m not familiar with any of the people in the photos.

How do you decide on locations?
Sometimes its the location that decides on me. For example, with the motorcycle stunt series, I had to go specific places where these guys where. Other times I may spontaneously decide a situation, I try not to control a situation too much. It never looks right. Occasionally I can establish an environment or setting, for a fashion shoot, or some drama.

Do you rely on lighting — natural or artificial — or do you rely on computer manipulation?
Yes, I am a lighting fanatic. I hope for natural lighting, sun blaring, blinding contrasting a pensive moment. I never deal with computer manipulation, only for the negative scans since I use only a 35 mm old-fashioned film and my actual prints are hand printed, not digitally generated.

What cameras and lenses do you use most often?
I’m a Nikon F3 fan, but also I have other Nikons. Mostly I use a lens that is as close to reality as possibly, which is a 50 mm. Telephoto lenses flatten reality and wide angles distort, but occasionally I like to play.

Discover three more photographs in the gallery: D-Nice triptych, Smooth Operator and Thugs. We will be back on Sunday with more of Janine Gordon’s men, a few more answered questions, something about desire, and something about a young male wrestler…

Janine Gordon’s Holiday Sale page