Variety Photographs by Nan Goldin. Edited by James Crump. Published by Skira Rizzoli, 2009.
Bette Gordon's famous, perhaps infamous, 1983 independent film
Variety evolved from an earlier series of cinematic narrative photographs created by Nan Goldin. While a few of the photographs from Goldin's
Variety were incorporated in her earlier opus, The Ballard of Sexual Dependency, this is the first cohesive publication of the entire
Variety project. James Crump's essay provides a wonderful external context to frame Goldin's project in the turmoil of NYC's Lower East Side and the female "sex wars" evolving in the early '80s.
This staged storyline is not too complex by today's standard, but for the early 1980s it incorporates a dark and sexually risqu� theme, challenging the then-current morals. The story portrays a young woman, Christine, who ventures into the world of pornography [s1]and finally seeks sexual satisfaction with anonymous partners. Her journey questions the definition of appropriate behavior, female sexuality and the accepted norms for a man being equally acceptable for a woman.
Variety, by Nan Goldin. Published by Skira Rizzoli, 2009.
Variety, by Nan Goldin. Published by Skira Rizzoli, 2009.
The story progresses serially, with Goldin continually shifting the viewer's orientation, disorienting the frame of reference. We are initially the voyeur, with tight framing, becoming intimately part of the story. Then we become Christine, seeing through her eyes the shared looks, glances -- being observed while assertively observing, being "sized up" and "checked out," not sure if we are the spider or the fly. A quick shift and we are back to observing Christine, then back to being Christine once again. The story finishes with the reader as voyeur and with more questions than answers.
Variety, by Nan Goldin. Published by Skira Rizzoli, 2009.
Variety, by Nan Goldin. Published by Skira Rizzoli, 2009.
Frequently the lighting within the photographs is low, with deep and mysterious shadows or bathed the in reddish hues of the peep shows, sex shops and porn theaters, a hot and almost liquid, exotic light. Both of these lighting conditions create a level of sexual tension amongst the characters, with some photographs just out of focus or slightly blurred, enhancing the feelings of discomfort.
Variety is a bumpy and uneven cinematic narrative, but one that allows for many alternatives.
I'm taking this out because I keep reading like "the worlds of pornography and implied masturbation." The thought of a 'world of implied masturbation' makes me laugh. Also, I don' think it's needed.
—Douglas Stockdale
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