Shoot in My City, Abigail Ekue Photography

For the second half of 2016 (how is it the 2nd half of the year already??) and beyond, I will be combining my work and travel a lot more!


So I've a gotta question for you: 

Which cities should I visit for private photo shoots?

To Paula, From Bare Men

I welcome the direct notes and emails about Bare Men that I receive. To my relief, they are positive and supportive. Some people share their appreciation of the art, others are advocates of nudity, I hear from men who want to participate in the series, while others who contact me are explicit in their arousal upon viewing the photos.

A couple of the recent notes I've received recently:

"I was absolutely blown away by your Bare Men project and wanted to offer my sincere compliments. I found you on the website "Naked Men, Happy Women". It is a site I check out occasionally, and certainly your work just jumped right of the page! I do love your non-judgmental philosophy, not insisting on ideal or perfect body types. Your talent in this field is most evident!"

This one - Subject: Ekue's wisdom - I received from a man in the Midwest who was passionate about nudity the misconceptions surrounding it:

Abigail, I am a young man from Minnesota. Society deserves no apology for your support of nudity!!!

The human body is not indecent!!! It is a gift which provides opportunities for its occupants to pursue good lives. We all pretty much have the same bodies. We are born nude, we dress nude, we shower nude.....and under our clothes we are nude. Pornography also is absent when particular persons issue zero portrayal of sexual material (for arousal). 

#seemetakeover Includes Abigail Ekue Photography

This Thursday, July 24, SeeMe takes over 2 of the biggest billboards in Times Square - Express (9000 sq foot LED) and American Eagle (15,000 sq foot LED and 25 stories tall) - for the #seemetakeover.

The Positive of Mercury Retrograde

 

Old photo from my trip to GA. Photo taken by my bro, "Kid"

Merely writing this blog post is indicative of Mercury Retrograde. Lately my work and creative energies have been focused on photography and exercise and fitness -- areas of my life that I've gone back to recently.


Revise, Rewrite, Rework, Relearn, Rekindle...



Bare Men is a major focus point right now. The project has taken on new life. I'll even be able to preview images this spring in an exhibit -- I've found a home for my nude men.

A Home For My Nude Men

My Bare Men photo series features 7 men, ranging in ages 22-51 in art, editorial and erotic nude images sharing moments of joy, release, ecstasy, vulnerability and angst. It is also a book.

"Cover Boy", Bare Men, Abigail Ekue Photography

I'm currently seeking a place to exhibit and it's been a uphill battle. Any rejection I've received has been about the content of the photos, not the quality of the images, the level of my work etc. I've been told numerous times, "I/we love your work, we just can't show that here", the reason given being the clientele or they feel it's too raw.

Gallery Crawl

Photo by: Mia Berg

I attended the evening reception of Mia Berg's WOMAN : CAMERA at Gallery 151 on Thursday evening. The nudity, self-portraits and Spencer Tunick got me through the door. After studying the images and the exchange of opinions, my friend and I headed to Chelsea for an impromptu gallery crawl.

Synchronicity

Photo By: William Perls

There are coincidences in life.

I'm aware of them.

Last week, I was introduced to the term for those coincidences that are a bit more - synchronicity.


We stood on Rivington Street and discussed art, philosophy and metaphysics. BEAU commented on how small the world is and that his life is full of synchronicity lately. Turns out I went to one of his shows in February 2010 and here we were meeting again, so I agreed with the small world observation; lately I can go anywhere and run into someone I know. Even in the most unexpected places. We're all connected somehow. At one point during the brain-bending conversation BEAU shared his belief that life may be already planned for us. Not by any particular religious deity but that there is a predestined plan. That was a Monday night.

Sarah Small's Tableau Vivant at Skylight One Hanson

Sarah Small's "Tableau Vivant of the Delirium Constructions"

What a way to start the week!


On Monday night, I attended the premiere of Sarah Small's "Tableau Vivant of the Delirium Constructions". I'm always asked how I find out about these things so here's the brief history: Sarah Small is the photographer who shot me for Moregasm, she attended the opening reception for my photo exhibit, Man. Toy., I was contacted about being in a Tableau Vivant in October 2010, but missed the casting deadline.


OK...


I spotted a familiar face (and body) when I arrived--Sidney Etienne--one of the models. I also loved the interior of Skylight One Hanson. It's a beautiful venue. I'll put that on my list of places to check out in case I have to move my garden party indoors. The mosaic tile mural was an extension of the "living picture" Small created and vice versa. The performance was a homage to art history. Guess where she got the inspiration for this... The Louvre. Again, I loved the set. I don't know if my photos do it justice.

Generation Them

This past Friday and Saturday night I got a taste of the next generation of artists. A good friend of mine, a few years younger was performing in a play. I remember when I received his text telling me he'd auditioned for the part and was cast. My heart swelled like a proud Mama (or big sister).


So I returned to my old stomping ground to watch a few plays as a part of the One Act Play Festival the theater department was hosting at City College. I was very impressed by the talent and professionalism. You could tell they took their art seriously. After the show when every one gathered outside the theater in the hallway I was reminded of their age. I wondered who out of the bunch would go on to pursue acting as a career. Many were surely talented enough to do so.

Festival Of Ideas For The New City

The Festival of Ideas for the New City is a new initiative in New York bringing Downtown organizations together to collaborate in harnessing the creative power of the community and to explore ideas to shape the future city.

The StreetFest brought together artists, small business and community organizations to showcase their innovations to make future city living more efficient, cleaner and more of it's citizens self-sustainable. Urban gardening, recycling and upcycling, composting, consuming organic foods and products and discovering and utilizing alternative energy sources were major themes of the day.

Artists of various mediums created and educated through their works. Artists participating in the Festival of Ideas also used any available space to display their work.

The Festival of Ideas for the New City StreetFest took place on Saturday, May 7, 2011 along the Bowery.

The Darker Side of Lust In Paris

If you haven't heard it, it's news to you...

    

My art is holding a place for me in Paris.


Copies of my book, The Darker Side of Lust, are available at Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France! This was a moment of I wanted something, asked for it and received. I originally contacted the bookstore about hosting a book reading during my (then) planned trip to Paris last November. All their readings were full but they invited me to participate in the open mic they were starting at the time and told me I could drop off copies of my book for sale at their shop...

Dating A Nude Model

I was pondering what to blog about last night and within minutes, Raising Hope switched to a scene of Jimmy in an art class where his girlfriend walks in as the nude art model. The moment of truth--could he date a nude model?


I've done nude modeling since 2006. I'm not as active as I used to be because I'm more selective of the photographers I work with and the projects they present to me. You could say I'm semi-retired, but have no qualms being nude in front of a camera or posing for painters/sculptors/artists.


Being single, I don't have to consider anyone's insecurities at the moment. And I won't have any patience for it in the future. So the men I date have to be comfortable with the fact that I've modeled nude in the past and I'll most likely do it again in the future.

Faces Of The Economy

Faces of the Economy Opening Reception

I've been doing the artist hustle and the freelance shuffle for the past 2 years. I've accomplished a lot since I was laid off in January of 2009. But assignments weren't coming as quickly and the sale of my art wasn't as brisk as before.


A friend and I shared our pathetic financial situations recently over IM. I sat at my computer and laughed till my eyes watered. It was one of those situations where you either laugh or you go insane.


I am a face of the economy.


April 15, 2011, at Art for Change Gallery, the group exhibit, Faces of the Economy opened. It is a great collective of social art commenting on the recession, unemployment, budget cuts, foreclosures, Wall Street. Many more Americans are affected by the recession than the media reports. I'm sure anyone reading this knows someone who has been laid off, is underemployed, behind on rent, on public assistance or considering it...


I marked April 15th on the calendar, and not for tax purposes.

My Nue York

This one's for Berman Fenelus

A few weeks ago my interest was piqued when I learned of the exhibit, Nue York: Self Portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen. I mentioned it my Raising My Hopes With Bob's Anuses post. Erica Simone took nude self-portraits of herself around NYC. I'm not going to be interested?


With all the press the opening was receiving, the event was very well attended. When I arrived the line to enter the Dash Gallery stretched all the way down Duane St. I almost kicked myself for not showing up at 6pm for the soft opening for press but the line was moving.


Kudos to security at the door. The RSVP list they had to weed through was pages long. It was alphabetical by first name. Easy entry for me.



Open bar was provided by Belvedere. I saw more of the brand than I did of her work for the first few minutes I was there--Belvedere glasses were stacked in all sorts of arrangements along the desk at the entry; the orange of screwdrivers, the reds and pinks of half-consumed vodka-crans and the greens of limes floating in vodka tonics.

Raising My Hopes With Bob's Anuses

I caught up on TV shows Thursday and Friday night with one of my Hulu marathons. Two shows stood out to me this week - Bob's Burgers and Raising Hope.


The episode opens as Bob and his children are on an art crawl. I went on a gallery crawl on Thursday in Chelsea. I can't say the art I saw was "really, really bad". I gained some inspiration from the PAT: Unseen, unheard, unexplained exhibit at the Thomas Erben Gallery. I ended up at Chelsea Market afterwards and gazed at self-portraits by Kerry Skarbakka. The following day, I learned of the Nue York exhibit opening next month and was invited to the Freedom to Create show at the Ana Tzarev Gallery (If you've never been to that gallery, I encourage you to visit. It's a beautiful space). I need to make my next solo photo exhibit a reality. It's time.


On Bob's Burgers "Art Crawl", Bob's sister-in-law, Aunt Gail (that didn't go unnoticed), hangs a series of paintings of animal anuses in his restaurant. The family and patrons were offended by the art but couldn't tell her. Too much for a dining establishment? Or just too much?

Naked Nude Yoga (or Coke Fiend)

The above is what happens when I ingest coke. That wire was live.

I took a few swigs of Coca-Cola on Sunday. It was sweet in flavor and sharp with carbonation. I don’t drink caffeine, so I’m not sure what came over me. But since I didn’t want to start walking on the ceiling or to experience heart palpitations, I “diluted” it with Crystal Light.

I took a break from packing up trash from my former kitchen to take photos of the other rooms of the apartment—proof of the condition I left it in. My ankles and feet were achy so I sat on the floor. I set the camera while I sent texts and tweets. Then, this is when I think the caffeine kicked in…

Finding Inspiration

I didn't realize how much stress I was under until I just sat. That's when I realized how tense I was and how much was on my mind. On Friday, two of my friends came over to help. I appreciated the company a thousand times more. One friend invited me out to an art exhibit the following night. I agreed.

Break On Through To The Other Side

I started nude modeling in 2006. Great experiences, some a bit wacky, luckily none scary or dangerous. Now I’m on the other side of the lens. I shot my first art nude model last Wednesday night. I got the (paid) gig through Craigslist. That’s actually where I got my first modeling gig as well. That photo shoot was paid too and resulted in one of my favorite shots wearing a fishnet dress.

Wanted Men Wanted

So I had a vague idea come to me about 2 weeks ago. A word collage of quotes. I wondered, no, I wanted to know what made men feel wanted. Often times there are talk shows and articles and blogs about women and their wants, needs, desires. But what about men? Surely, they wanted to feel wanted. And since I was questioning it, did men feel wanted by their families, friends, lovers, coworkers, society?

Am I A Black Feminist?

During the week of Thanksgiving, The Lion's Historian asked for my thoughts on Black feminism in 200 - 500 words. I wasn't sure I'd get any words because I'd never thought of myself as a Black feminist. So I thought, I scribbled notes, I mused in the shower, I did some freewriting in bed, I even caught Sex in '69: History of the Sexual Revolution in America that same week.