LBC CenterStage Exploring Boundaries A Conversation With Liezel Rubin by Sander Roscoe Wolff All photos by Ms. Rubin, except her portrait, by Joe Flazh! Liezel Rubin is an uncompromising artist who is dedicated to exploring a unique and personal inner vision. Using photography as her principal medium, her visceral photojournalist instincts capture exceptional, and sometimes shocking, moments. Despite the near-documentary feel of some of her images, they are surreal and whimsical artistic creations, populated with a fanciful cast of characters including abused clowns, drunken red-necks, midget pimps, cross-dressers of both genders, and more. To make things even more interesting, she classifies herself as an erotic artist. Since 1996, her work has been featured in shows from Seattle to San Diego and, currently, some of her works are on display at Coffee Haven on Broadway. LBC: I've been looking at some of your photos on the web site, http://www.eroticart.cc, and it seems like many are dealing with fringe elements of society. What draws you to side shows, white trash, and carny workers? Liezel Rubin: It begins with growing up in a zany household amidst a family where everyone is a character. When you get enough wacky people together it begins to feel like you are living in a sideshow...sort of freeing...like growing up in a comedy. I would have to say I did not grow up normal. (Just ask my parents) What intrigues and motivates me to do my art is the "Different to the Normal Society" world aspect. I have always had an issue with that "Normal Society" thing and its standards and its judgements and its ability to treat those who are not "By Society's standards" normal differently. That is why I love sideshows, white trash, carny... they are to me, Americana. I think that people who are different are special and I respect those who can rise up above the pointing finger of society. I also love beauty. But what I love most of all is to bring together the extremes that lay on opposite sides of the norm and free it. It frees me and I love being with my friends and we love to play together. I think it frees everyone who is involved in its creation. I love to explore visions that play in my head. And somehow there are always hot chicks, gorillas, little people, clowns, albinos and other "Characters" that I have to let out onto the other side of my eyes. LBC: What is it that happens, artistically, when you bring extremes together for your camera? Liezel Rubin: It results in freakishly funny, unconventional story telling. All the people transform and become my delusions. My delusions come to life and I can capture them. It's my Mozart, my symphony...visually. LBC: Can you explain what makes images erotic, and how your images manifest those qualities? Liezel Rubin: What make images erotic for me is to feel a hot blood flowing through the image. Beauty can evoke lust, desire, an itch for passion, a sexual desire. Sexuality is the release of a sensuous energy no matter the scenario, the situation, the background, the scene. I attempt to set the premise and induce that flow of hot blood through my models, into the eye of my camera, into my eye as a release. I believe that whether it is a scene with ten people or just one person sitting for me, I allow the freedom of sexual energy to be expressed...in fact I encourage it. I think that sexuality breathes through the images I create. It could be in a whisper or in a scream. LBC: Although this may be a male bias on my part, it seems as though the male models in many of your images are depicted as distorted, abusive, or abused, figures. Can you address this? Liezel Rubin: It is all in the eye of the beholder. I, personally, find them bizarrely beautiful. Perhaps that is the part of my mind that is twisted coming out...They are irregular, distorted and warped, but uniquely so. These images are fragments of un-normalcy that contrasted with the beauty enabling me to exaggerate both extremes with more potency. I look for contrast and opposition to create a tension...to bring my work to life...and make the viewer question reality. LBC: What changes have the exploration of this tension created in you? Has your idea of reality changed at all? If so, how? Liezel Rubin: It has pushed me to push myself forward in the progression of my art and to explore past my boundaries and take my work that much farther. Looking at my King Hitler series is just exactly that. I pushed myself to create that tension IN the viewer so strongly that people actually had to confront my work with a physical response. The tension in the work along with the chosen subject matter pushed people to face certain issues for themselves. So be it more than one person spit all over my work, I am not offended. I am more complimented than anything... because I know the series worked. It was supposed to be offensive...Hitler was offensive. Someone got my point. And the fact that a man was caught sexually pleasuring himself and had to be removed made my other point...there are sick fucks that get off on sick shit. In my work now hanging in the Coffeehaven in the erotic gallery, series titled " sex & violence ", I set to make another such point. My idea of reality is always changing, always growing and never standing still. That is what I bring to my work. Exploration of reality. LBC: Again, this may be a result of male bias on my part, but as an amateur photographer myself, I am always struggling with issues relating to the objectification of women. Is this an issue for you and, if so, how do you deal with it? Liezel Rubin: I really don't feel that objectification is an issue to me, I do it not only with women but also with men. These are just my visions and these are just people playing out the parts for me. Obviously, if it was an issue I would not have so many people so willing to perform for me. My work is based on delusion or illusion, depending on your perception of it. I see nothing wrong with creating these images. Interesting enough, the people I do use generally are people who are known performers in different arenas themselves. They are usually as off as me. They should be commended for their always brilliant and potent portrayals of the bizarre. I am very lucky to be able to work with these people and have them participate in my projects. I see nothing wrong with the objectification of women or men because I am not about portraying reality, which I would think, is obvious. Dreams aren't really real, are they? LBC: Will you explain your unique working relationship with your models, and how you interact with them in the course of a shoot? Liezel Rubin: I generally work with people that have great imaginations and are more than willing to be outrageous and follow my lead. It is not that I am completely directing every move that is made...it is more like I begin with direction and allow everyone to express themselves and explore with action as well as contribute their input with ideas of things to try. It allows for better action and reaction between the people participating. I also have a mind reader Pamela who assists me in overall direction because she knows how I think so well that quite often she directs what I am seeing in my head as I am seeing it. She also has a lot of great ideas that play off on my visions. We set up many scenarios and call out which personalities we need and get them in the position we want and give them their cues and they do their performance. That is what it is like when I am shooting with many people. There are times when we also are very precise about where a hand should be in relation to the shot being framed or the position of a leg or head and even eyes. When I am shooting with one or two people everything is much more controlled but, of course, there is still room given to the models to explore. LBC: So, even though you may have a specific scenario in mind, you are capturing these interactions as they unfold... Has that lead to some surprises? Liezel Rubin: To some degree I am but I have a pretty clear idea of the possibilities that can arise as a result. I have been peed on (oops), I have had the Last Chance Christian Outreach come to save us all because we were sinners and were going to hell (and in that case I had a video camera in Joe Flazh!'s hand and he got every minute of it...that was fun.), I found out that my friend Marc who is a dwarf could sit back and get his legs to point straight up with his toes over his shoulders (I used that in the shoot and will probably use it again), I grabbed June, Joe Flazh! mother-in-law during one of my white trash shoots, put a drink and a smoke in her hands (although I think they were already there) and get her in a flannel bathrobe flipping the bird. All brilliant moments that make my art worth doing. And so on... But keep in mind that, even though the way I get my moments is to let them flow, ultimately I do have control. LBC: Does your control of the unfolding scenario sometimes push your models to go beyond their limits, either physically or emotionally? In other words, even if you're not surprised, are they? Liezel Rubin: I never push my models to go beyond their limits physically or emotionally. I work within people's limitations and find their boundaries and cast them accordingly. Pushing people out of their comfort zone is against my principles. However, I think they are always discovering new things about themselves through the process which is basically all this is...a process. I think people grow from their experiences in participating in my work and come to learn that their boundaries adjust according to their comfort level with themselves and the people they work with. Everyone is in this to expand their universe and that we do. It's all about the process, which is all about having a good time. LBC: But you've said yourself that your work often sends viewers careening wildly out of their comfort zones... How is that different? Liezel Rubin: The viewer's reaction is much different because that is about interpretation and internalization in regards to what message they might be receiving. And it can vary. My work just happens to be reactionary. But pushing a willing participant beyond their comfort zone would not prove have positive results perhaps visually and more so emotionally. My work comes from within and sometimes is about making a firm statement and, sometimes, left way open to the viewers own exploration of themselves and their morals and judgements about life. My models are my friends and cohorts and the essence of my work comes from an understanding between friends and artists and an exploration of each other. Pushing boundaries is not an option, exploring boundaries is how we grow together as people, artists and friends. View Leizel's LBC page and events Learn more about Sander Roscoe Wolff Do you know an artist that we should feature in LBC CenterStage? We'd like to hear from you. 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