"Art Porn Auteur" : a title I now have come to terms with and proudly own as my job description still gets a rile out of people. They hear the word "porn" and have snap judgments and misconceptions about my work. Trust me, just as with all men- all pornography is not created equally. The major difference is Art. immediately the authorship- and ownership of the sexuality in my film work and it's consumption re-contextualized the standard vocabulary of pornography writing its own language. You certainly are not going to be stroking off a big one in a gallery setting (well-not usually) which is the primary exhibition space fr my video installations and film loops. A few years back I established Time-Out Films as a production company to cover my works and have been exclusively working for the past four years as such. This year I began the process of taking on a business partner, the incomparable Justin Warner (Stop-Motion animation director and also of the band
Mattachine Social) and branching out with several ambitious projects like the surrealist horror fairy tale
A Forest, launching a higher profile fine art career with a series of critically well-received international screenings and exhibitions and with the "artporn" experimental feature film SPARK. I'm excited for the future and to share the process of making these films with the readers of Diggin' To China over the next year. Diggin' To China started off as a single post working through a VERY difficult time of major upheaval and turmoil in my life and has served as the launchpad fro a rather varied and ever rising career that takes this small town Georgia boy and his work from a town of 200 to Iceland, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona and beyond. My adopted home of Portland has been lovely to me (We've had our moments to be sure-stalkers and nut jobs LOVE ME) but as the company has grown and lives have changed we've/I've weeded out the crazies and those who were not part of the future for myself and for Time-Out Films. So why am I writing about my career and not Prop. 8's historic overturning? Well I plan to -tomorrow- I've been swamped working non stop on commercials, art photo shoots , a music video shoot and recording a new album with my band for weeks straight so when the news broke today I was stuffing myself with lunch (at the excellent Blue Plate!) it hasn't full sunken in. My (Registered Domestic Partner-not legally wed) husband of seven years Taylor and I are elated, stunned and very moved by the progress made to day in California. We are pragmatically aware there is a long road ahead of LGBT Americans . For god's sake my motto has always been "Expatriation is for Lovers". So I'm processing these changes, these subtle shifts in the sands. I'm proud and sobered by today. I'm also keenly aware my work touches a nerve that makes some(most) deeply uncomfortable. It's queer in an aggressively political way, without pushing politics. It does something more strategic- I show the personal, private emotional truths. Tenderness seems to provoke more fear than showing anger does. This is a good thing. That is the point. I seek to provoke, to fuck with your head more than your body. To challenge you to look, not just at the screen but through it-back at yourself. Hold a mirror to your own interiors. I looked inside myself today and saw relief and happiness for the first time in ages. I'm going to own that for a bit. Tomorrow, however, is another work day, metaphorically and literally. The good work must be done- telling our stories, making our loves and lives last, be visible. That's what I've committed my life to with Time-Out Films, with my career and with my life. I am a film maker, an artist, a writer a historian, a documentarian and yes-an art porn auteur. I'm also a participant in history, as it's happening-and tonight I'm going to sleep a little be sounder.
Take care of each other out there, we're all in this together,
Andrew Klau
TIME-OUT FILMS
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