Sunday 31 August 2014

Aquarius

Aquarius by GothicNarcissusNo need to apologise
For the gypsy Madonna:
Truth is not always kind.

[ Unrepentant Geraldines – Tori Amos ]

Sign of the Philosopher
Element: Air
Secondary element: Humidity
Planet: Uranus
Alignment: Light

A Light-aligned Air sign that embodies Humidity and everything that gives vitality to the atmosphere, it is derived from the constellation of the Water-Bearer. It is called the Sign of the Philosopher because it is most often ahead of its time and constantly thoughtful. Its ruling planet, Uranus, inspires renovation, even to the point of revolution or iconoclasm, and makes the Aquarius unconventional and free-spirited.

At long last, here is the third work from The Zodiacs. Once again, if you’re interested, you can go and read more details about it on The Gay Boy’s Guide to the Zodiac.
As a fellow air Sign, I have some sort of affinity for the archetypical Aquarius, which is probably why I came up quite easily with the concept for this work. Also, as one of the most human figures in the Zodiac, it was quite straight-forward by itself. Uriele, who’s one of my best friends, also happens to be the archetypical Aquarius, so I had the perfect model for the role, too.

As for the symbolism, first of all I immediately excluded any kind of “sexily pouring water on himself” kind of things because, while very alluring to a male gay audience, it’s definitely not what I am aiming for with this photo. I will never say out loud enough how much this project, while being expressed through artistic nudity, is meant to be very allegorical and not crossing into eroticism. Or at least, that would do for Scorpio, but not for such a cerebral sign as Aquarius.
Aquarius is an Air sign, so I decided to have the water in the ewer phase into vapour and pouring out as that to engulf the Aquarius within his own element, also in order to bridge the two elements together. As air is pretty much omnipresent, I decided I might as well shoot the photo indoors to make things quicker and easier for Uriele, as well as taking advantage of his bedroom’s wallpaper, whose pearly colour is quite fitting with the work. Initially I had a different idea about the pose, but while discussing it with Uriele we decided to have him kind of reaching out with the ewer to represent the connection with constant development, rather than having a “folded” pose which would be more suited to a conservative sign as Capricorn.
On the musical side, Tori Amos is Uriele’s Number 1 favourite singer, and her song Unrepentant Geraldines happens to perfectly embody the iconoclastic spirit of the Aquarius. I mean, it was totally meant to be. The postproduction took a while because I was never satisfied, but at last here we are. I hope you enjoy it!