Midwest FurFest was hit by poisonous gas. I rushed out a short notice, and had tips sent in by friends like Mordi. Soon, the news was everywhere.
It's the biggest wealth of #furrynews for the worst reason this week... yeah I won't even attempt to wade into this. http://t.co/BSYfXigbX2
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) December 9, 2014
Please help answer the question at the end of the story!
“Furries & Despair” happened on 11/7/14. It was super successful. It featured portraits of fursuiters from Further Confusion by Ron Lussier, and Bobby Pin’s urban decay photos from Detroit. The show was packed with people having fun in and out of costume. You don’t often see such energy at a gallery.
Courtesy of Bobby Pin:
Thank you again for everybody that came out and supported our work. We hope you guys had a great time. It was great seeing everyone.
BAMM did an amazing job filming the opening night. Please give them some love.
Check out the wonderful video they did for the Furries & Despair Show:
News from: North Dakota, Britain, Australia, Austria, Buffalo and San Francisco.
Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag. Story tips are always welcome.
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Prairie Public radio interviews Furry author, Tempe O’Kun.
NPR broadcaster Prairie Public’s “Main Street” covers North Dakota news, arts, movies and books. They invited Tempe O’kun for an in-depth conversation. Hear the Furry author’s 23 minute talk on Main Street.
Tempe is granted a welcome level of respect. He’s introduced as an author first, college teacher and person, and then one of those Furries. The well-researched questions don’t bat an eye at the mix of “cuddly, steamy furry romance” presented in his popular SoFurry collection, or judge the hot fan-fic and porn at his FurAffinity page. Good. It skips non-issues to introduce the genre of furry (like expectations of character type: sly foxes, etc.) – and writing style chat that authors will want to hear.
Tom Broadbent’s “At Home With The Furries” photo doc update: Bhavvels Bunny.
In Five pro photographers advancing the art of furry documentary, I named “whimsy” as Tom’s signature approach. The carefully chosen fantasy scenes he presents show great storyelling. Tom’s blog updates never fail to impress – this week’s subject is Bhavvels. It explains Tom’s approach- “The setup:”
…should reflect the personality of the furry, but equally the personality of the person inside the suit. The two are interconnected in a very unique way, unlike in fact than any other form of cosplay I am aware of ( I’m prepared to be proven wrong of course)
It is in fact a collaboration, a trust between me and the furry. That relationship and theimportance of maintaining that bond may go some way to explain how protective I am of the project and the furries themselves.
Harley (bandana) and Spottacus (glowing eyes) at “Furries & Despair”
San Francisco had a series of furry events last week. Before it, I posted: “Independent shows and festivals offer new concept for furry events”. After, I posted about the enthusiastic response. The creativity and demand for more couldn’t be contained in one event. Here’s further developments that spun off from the successful gallery opening of Ron Lussier and Bobby Pin’s “Furries and Despair” photo show.
Donate at least $25 to Ron Lussier’s cause for Movember – and receive a 5′ x 5′ Signed Furry Portrait from his ‘Furries & Despair Show’!
Just your average San Francisco art gallery opening! pic.twitter.com/dhuUmbi2Qr
— Further Confusion (@furcon) November 8, 2014
Last week, San Francisco had a series of back to back events: a street fursuiting “crawl”, a furry photo gallery opening, a fetish party, (a private special interest thing not representing others), and Frolic dance party. The series drew more furries than my butt attracts fleas.
It was first-time fursuiting for Sketchywolf. He attended all of the events, and posted about it:
I’ve never seen so much love for furries from random strangers! So many photos! So many smiling faces! … Fursuiting turned out to be even more fun than I imagined it to be! I love the reaction of others when they see a suit. Walking over to Frolic suited, and back to the hotel and the end of the night, I was stopped by people wanting to take pictures! I danced, I partied, I hugged EVERYBODY. Oh! I had SO MUCH fun!
Before the events, I posted: “Independent shows and festivals offer new concept for furry events”. Each was organized separately, but with loose ties. They used special venues and locations to add character beyond the “sterile/consumer” vibe of a hotel (like one comment said). I called it a model for growing beyond cons, and proposed a new, free-range fair or festival concept. Judging by the enthusiastic response, the idea was more than hype. It’s a sign of a burgeoning subculture. Let’s look at how things went.
Four events are back to back in San Francisco: Fursuit crawl – Furry portrait show gallery opening – Wild Things fetish party – Frolic dance party.
On Friday 11/7/14 is the “Embarcadero Fursuit Crawl“. The street fursuiting fun will move downtown, to a grand entrance at the gallery opening for Ron Lussier’s Furry portrait show. Ron’s creative partner, Bobby Pin, shares: More Press for the upcoming ‘Furries & Despair Photography Show’!
Saturday has the “art and sex” party – Wild Things. This furry fetish and petplay party has gotten tremendous response. (It’s for a special interest and adult activity doesn’t represent furries in general.) Afterwards is Frolic dance party: the monthly “mini-con” that attracts several hundred attendees, and helped influence spin-off parties across the USA.
The San Francisco Bay Area has so much activity, that furries often have multiple events to choose from at the same time. On Halloween there was a cosplay dance party, a house party, and a street costuming meetup. Consider what it says about developing subculture.
The show “Furries & Despair” features Ron Lussier’s fursuiter portraits, and Bobby Pin’s photos of Detroit. The gallery opening is Friday, November 7 in San Francisco. The press release has gone out, announcing a fursuit crawl to meet at the gallery. This is an excellent event to support and have fun with the public!
Bobby Pin tells me:
40 People already got tickets to our show through Eventbrite. 23 People are coming to the show through Facebook and 32 are maybes. I think it’s gonna be an event people are going to love and talk about for awhile 😛
More about Ron’s portraits:
Here’s a press release to share as PDF:
Fursuit portraiture is getting ambitious. It’s more than an inward-focused service just to make con-goers happy. It’s starting to be treated as documentary art to publish and put in galleries.
These photographers often give special focus to fursuiters, a sub-section of this subculture. Furry is about more than costumes, but it makes sense to emphasize their unique, non-replaceable fuzzy glamor. News media puts them in front of every furry story because it answers a “show, don’t tell” challenge.
The photo subjects come with fixed expressions, designed by their makers. Performance brings them to life. It’s a challenge to avoid stageyness in flat images of a tactile experience. The best photographers do it by putting something personal in the relationship – a signature approach.
Fursuit-makers don’t require outside notice to be cool. But this work isn’t “ogling”, it’s inspired from within. It’s win-win for both sides.
Here’s five photographers earning notice for their Furry documentary art. Update: added a sixth at bottom. (This is a nonprofit blog only sharing to promote artists- send questions here.)
Project- “Further Confessions.” Gallery show opens in San Francisco On November 7, 2014.
Canessa Gallery in San Francisco. November 7, at 7PM – 708 Montgomery Street.
Portraiture of fursuiters can be tough to pull off with as much energy as in person. That’s why I love promoting “Street Fursuiting,” and candid photos of it.
Fursuiting appeals when it engages viewers to interact. It’s animated and tactile. Staging their play can dull that down. Less-successful efforts can look like a diorama of stuffed toys. Cartoony suit design may not blend with surroundings, turning long views into eye-straining barf.
But no matter how they’re executed, they make memories with meaning to those who were there. If you’re furry, you get it. Art for the uninitiated is just a different purpose.
Ron Lussier’s “Further Confessions“ project overcomes the “stageyness” barrier in a compelling way. He juxtaposes portraits with personality expressed in hand-written statements. They reach through the frame, and greet you as personally as a hug. This stuff does FUN right. I have to say it’s the best fursuiter portraiture I’ve seen, and I think it’s an honor to have Furries featured this way in an art gallery.
On io9, Ron Miller posted a gallery of his photos of Cosplayers from 1970’s science fiction conventions. (NSFW)
