Erotiche is a two-volume photography project celebrating sensual nude photography by Aaron Knight.
Although this is an unapologetic celebration of the sensuality of the female form, it is more than a collection of appealing body parts. Each image is crafted with an aesthetic that embodies the spirit of passion by embracing line, shape, and pattern. This collection was photographed with an emphasis on composition, and each image was painstakingly selected from thousands of options. The subjects were chosen for their portrayal of confidence and unabashed self-expression.
- Volume one: 100 images on 88 pages. 389 word introduction.
- Volume two: 100 images on 88 pages, 471 word introduction, 411 word about-the-artist section.
Volume One Introduction
The images of Volume One leave much to the imagination, imparting a subtle impression on the viewer rather than provoking a reaction.
In the canon of human beauty, there is an array of appealing features and body types. The Erotiche collection is curated from a narrow band of that spectrum, based on Aaron Knight’s perspective. He neither creates nor documents elegance, but pays homage to it. His images are a glimpse at an alternate reality, not a captured moment from life. Although the camera is thought to be unbiased and accurate, it is always his intention to create a fiction that exists in his mind. As an actor on a stage might take an audience willingly to suspend disbelief, the women he collaborates with are equally complicit in this masquerade. He prefers an image that becomes more interesting as it is studied to one that relies on a sudden visual impact. Striving for this elusive goal is a process of constant evolution.
Photographers have many tools available to orchestrate illusion: modified lighting, lenses that distort, and software. Despite a plethora of possibilities, his images rely on a consistent principle of selecting a color palette in a comparable fashion to mixing colors for a painting. When producing a color image, Knight uses hues that are fictional but believable. These colors may, initially, appear like a normal image, but the coloration is other worldly. With his black and white photographs, he departs from pure monochrome with a range of subtle hues such as steely blue-gray shadows and warm amber highlights.
Knight reserves his creative energy for the portrayal of the subject. Goals are independent of medium—the same as if working with oil paints. He strives to create artwork, not photographs. He feels as though he owes no particular allegiance to traditional concepts of what a photograph should be.
Volume Two Introduction
This second volume of Erotiche contains images that are provocative with an emphasis on the aesthetic appeal of the form. The compositions explore both the psyche and the physical, speaking to the long-standing relationship between creativity and sensuality. They examine not only the nature of the viewer’s desires but also those of the subjects, as they express themselves in multiple facets. This collection seeks to captivate rather than shock, so nuance is employed to keep the emphasis on beauty rather than extremes in taste.
The themes herein range from playful to thoughtful. Some images are to be taken just as you see them, while others are layered in meaning and ambiguity. There is the occasional embrace of two figures or the interplay of props, but most of the images are of an individual subject, displaying an original perspective in terms of pose and attitude. These images convey a positive energy as something you are meant to see.
Artist Aaron Knight has chosen to keep color to a minimum in this collection, to steer the viewer’s eyes towards the lines and shapes presented on each page.
Knight’s goal in this is to encourage the viewer to consider the creative process rather than merely the subject. The overall effect should be less voyeuristic than regular color images. They may resemble black and white or sepia tones, but they have more complex color schemes than those. A range of subtle hues is rendered among the lights and darks. He often chooses cool shadows and warm highlights to accentuate depth.
When it comes to poses, Knight’s predominant tendency is towards keeping the artwork suggestive rather than explicit; this allows the viewer to complete the meaning in their imagination more elegantly than the artist can render on the page. This collection resides near an undefinable line between two gray areas. He feels the difference is not in what is shown—no part of the body has been kept off limits—but rather in how it is shown. A medical text, for example, shows every uncensored aspect of the body yet without a sensual component. Erotic art, on the other hand, has the challenge of presenting the sensual in an aesthetic context. The abundant availability of low-quality erotic imagery means that erotic art is often challenged by skeptics to define legitimate art. Tolstoy might have said that art is something that unites us. He has quipped that “the difference between erotic art and p—nography is that people hide their p—n.” More earnestly, “is it art,” is a futile question; it is better to consider how thoughtfully we interact with it.
Knight sees an artistic obligation to strive for a fresh perspective on each subject matter. His aim isn’t just to document alluring women but to also craft each image with such care that the presentation itself is worthy of admiration.