Porn Vs. Art, Why do we care?

When I was in High school I had a remarkable photography teacher, Mr. Creighton. He conned me into copying a Robert Mapplethorpe self portrait series for my final project. I didn't know Mapplethorpe.

Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait

When I saw the work he had done, I freaked out! I couldn't do it! Mr. Creighton told me to do some self portraits and write an essay about Mapplethorpe's work and the impact it had on society.
I was shocked. I had no idea there was such an outcry in the art world, such a problem with nudity or homosexual/homoerotic depictions.


I thought this would make an excellent story. I was right. I tracked down Chris Ironside, an artist who deals with identity and sexuality in his art.

Chris Ironside, Colby - Hard Candy

He thought that photography was more highly criticized for its content than paintings because it is real, because the image jars people with its base in reality. The photo, conjured or not, is a snapshot of life.
The age old question emerges: What is art?
I myself am just as likely to say modern art, lines a splatters are not art. I know I am wrong, I just don't understand that kind of art.
Nude people have never been "not art", in my mind.
It seems that trend is taking hold in the rest of Toronto. Geoff Person, the owner of the O'Connor Gallery thinks that we live in a very tumultuous time and people are faced with so much now that it is easier for artists to depict what they want.
That makes me extremely happy because, I know, I like to see outrageous art, it helps us grow!
Victoria Gray