“Lust & Love”
An uninhibited photo essay of intimacy from artist Ark Saroj and PULSE Publishing
Bangkok, 7 February 2024 – PULSE is proud to announce the publication of “Lust and Love”, a limited-edition art / erotica photography book by Bangkok-based filmmaker, artist and photographer Ark Saroj. “Lust & Love” explores emotional connections and physical desire via the intimate, often explicit gaze of Ark’s camera upon his male subjects, or “muses.” The book is available for purchase at all PULSE locations throughout Bangkok, in a strictly limited edition.
With “Lust and Love,” Saroj’s first solo book of male portraits, the artist presents his work in line with the late American photographer Peter Hujar in both aesthetic and sensibility. Indeed, both Hujar and Saroj push boundaries in their photographs by blurring lines and intertwining seemingly opposite territories. Saroj’s work in “Lust and Love” though – which features portraits both in black and white and in color – names these territories overtly while asking the onlooker to consider how, or if, “lust” and “love” overlap in today’s world.
As Saroj points out, love and lust are distinct psychological experiences. Love is associated with the realm of the “Other” and is characterized by a deeper emotional connection, often rooted in the desire to be recognized and accepted by the beloved. It involves a sense of selflessness and a desire to care for and nurture the other person. Lust, on the other hand, pertains to the “Imaginary” and is driven by physical desire and definite attraction. It is more egotistic and tends to objectify the other, reducing them to a source of pleasure. Commenting on how he explores this boundary in his art, Ark explains:
“The way I create makes my muses trust me and open up to the point that they are vulnerable; that way it becomes personal, emotional. It is a privilege for me that I earn that trust. And if I do have close connections with someone, it will be personal to us both. Do I have sex with the subjects of my photography? Yes and no. Some of the pictures are out of real connection, touches and intimacy – I probably play with fire, to walk across the boundary between lust and love but art is art. This is what I do.”
Through Ark’s lens, human bodies are presented as both objects of desire and vessels of emotional connection. The portraits in his new work invite us to contemplate on the complexity, and perhaps the intersectionality, of love and lust.
About the Artist Ark Saroj
Ark Saroj Kunatand is a television director, photographer and visual artist based in Bangkok. He is known for the abstract nature of his films and short videos, which are influenced by classic black and white movies. His photography work started in 2015, with his first photography exhibition in 2018. Ark Saroj is also an artist of drawings with subjects related to his muses. Selected presentations and exhibits include:
2018 – “Moderato Cantabile” – Photography Exhibition at 1x1Wall, Ekkamai, Bangkok
2015 – “La man t’englaise: the murderer’s insight from the artists’ eyes” – Short Film and Video at Cloud, Maitreechit Rd., Chinatown, Bangkok
2015 – “Beauty Salon” – Photography Exhibition in local beauty salon, at “Art on the street”, Ladprao 112 Street, Bangkok
2011 – “Down” – Projection on double screen, Short film at “Warp 54″, Bangkok
2010 – “Brown” – Paintings Exhibition – Short Film Screening at Bacchus wine bar and Restaurant, Soi Ruamrudee, Bangkok
2009 – “Allure” Paintings Exhibition – Short Film Screening. K’s Kitchen Sukhumvit 71, Bangkok
2007 – “Estella – I believe in Art” (Paintings) , Bangkok Art and Cultural Center (BACC)
About PULSE Social Enterprise
Established in Bangkok, PULSE is Asia’s leading lifestyle clinic, offering one-stop services for travel medicine, sexual health, preventive and integrated medicine to everyone regardless of age, race, sex, gender, religion, political views. Since its establishment 8 years ago, PULSE has been and continues to be a trailblazer in offering online to offline services, including in-person counselling, laboratory testing, treatment and prevention. It has serviced patients from over 130 countries. PULSE Clinic currently has 16 branches in Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, all with global operation. https://www.pulse-clinic.com
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