Who said erotic art must always include nudity? Brooklyn-based photographer Mike Spears takes the form to a new, sophisticated level by lacing his often subtly erotic photos with images of nature and fruit. Dealing with a host of subject matters from women in various states of undress to innocuous and seemingly obvious pictures of bushes and flowers, Spears finds eroticism everywhere. His images, even when not obviously sexual, are suggestive and rife with tension, such as his shot of a flower’s stamens tightly curling in on themselves and seemingly clutching onto each other, or an outstretched hand gripping onto tentacles drooping out of it.
His images all ooze thoughtfulness and a delicate deliberation that displays his finesse making it so that, even when it is not as obvious, the eroticism in his photographs shines through, whether the intent is there or not. His belief, that desire is constructed, is reflected in his work that manages to find the scintillating in the mundane, the erotic in the everyday. In keeping with Gustav Klimt’s philosophy that even in the not-plainly-erotic, the artist unconsciously inscribes their own desires and energy, Spears teases the consumer of his pictures with halfway-there suggestions of more.
In a statement to Beautiful/Decay, he professed that he would like for
“provocative photos to be more fun, thought-provoking, mysterious, and clever,”
and not just conventionally erotic. In this way, eroticism comes as a consequence of his work, and not the focus of the work itself, serving as arousing through his attention to detail, and hyper interesting shadow-play that captures the sharpest features of any object or person and imbibes in them an artistic energy and expression. Be sure to check his Tumblr and Instagram for more!
