by appointment only

June 18, 2016 12:29 PM

The kisses vary in length and intimacy. My subjects are all aware of what I’m going to do ahead of time, but in the moment of the kiss anything can happen. The lipstick mark I leave on my subjects invites viewers to imagine the circumstances surrounding the kiss.

The Makeout Project by Jedediah Johnson
posted by griphus (50 comments total)

Meh.
posted by francesca too at 12:52 PM on June 18, 2016 [7 favorites]

Yet another Serious Artist's website with pointless and vast side-scrolling.

Another vote for Meh.
posted by chimaera at 12:55 PM on June 18, 2016 [7 favorites]

“That arm is a really solid thing that really locates me in relation to the people,” Johnson said. “I want people to come up with their own stories behind these pictures. Just to think about kissing and who we kiss and how we kiss and what does it mean.”

The artist, who estimates he's kissed about 100 people for the project, said his biggest fear is coming off as a creep, rather than an artist.

Unfortunately, the fact that many of the subjects (particularly at the beginning of the set) read as uncomfortable, stunned, or disconcerted, combined with a hand that could be grabbing them by the neck and lipstick that's reminiscent of a bloodied nose or lip makes me think more of abuse than intimate kissing.

It does make me question whether he considered that interpretation before publishing..
posted by Candleman at 12:56 PM on June 18, 2016 [16 favorites]

his biggest fear is coming off as a creep, rather than an artist

Jedidiah, there's a voicemail for you from the entire history of art, it says "those are not mutually exclusive"
posted by escabeche at 12:59 PM on June 18, 2016 [47 favorites]

I just now finished reading a George Saunders short story collection. Or did I?
posted by Countess Elena at 1:02 PM on June 18, 2016

"I want the work to ask questions about human intimacy and the nature of kissing itself."

Looks like artist is mostly interested in making out with fellow white people.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:04 PM on June 18, 2016 [9 favorites]

Seems clear (to me) that despite his use of both male and female subjects (and a baby- spoiler alert) that he vastly prefers kissing the girls. The excess of lipstick on their faces vs. the men tells a clear story. That's fine for him of course. But I can't shake the feeling that he's including the men to help run off the criticism that he's being creepy. He didn't succeed imho.
Ugh.
This skeeves me the fuck out.
posted by asavage at 1:07 PM on June 18, 2016 [36 favorites]

true: the difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.

false: the difference between skeeving around and art is taking pictures after.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:20 PM on June 18, 2016 [11 favorites]

>a hand that could be grabbing them by the neck

Yeah, the hand rubbed me (so to speak) the wrong way, too. Seems to me I've seen things like this done in a way that actually seemed positive, but this just seems tonally a bit off.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 1:27 PM on June 18, 2016

For a moment I thought this was a relaunch of proto-social networking site Makeoutclub.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:29 PM on June 18, 2016 [7 favorites]

This is a highly subjective art project, not rigorous science. You don't need to have an equal number of test subjects with all variables accounted for.

he vastly prefers kissing the girls
Eh, so what? "Looks like he enjoyed making out with the ladies more than the men" is not particularly damning.
posted by naju at 1:32 PM on June 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

There are a few photographs in there that I think are alright. There are a few that I think would be way better if his arm wasn't in there. Like, there's a compelling picture but then his arm is in there and it's invasive and controlling. There's an intimacy that could be had with the picture that is completely and utterly removed by his hand.

One of Our Most Fabulous Friends
Should I Clean Up
She Hurts My Feelings
On Her Way To or From Work
and She Could Pass For 29 Easy

Are all interesting to me and I think they could be good photos but then there's his arm and wrist there and they make me feel exactly the same way. It's like him saying "This is mine. I did this." Instead of letting us wonder about the story he's making us absolutely sure of his presence. A lot of them do read as abusive to me. Also the way he titles his pieces really rubs me the wrong way as well.
posted by Neronomius at 1:52 PM on June 18, 2016 [8 favorites]

The hand freaked me out. It looked very controlling, very possessive. And I don't like the titles either.
posted by arnicae at 2:03 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yet another Serious Artist's website with pointless and vast side-scrolling.

He seems like a pretty sloppy kisser, which is reflected in the sloppy side-scrolling.

Most of the subjects look like they were OK with it, although I agree that the arm is kind of... pointless? I mean, he has litterally left a mark on each subject; the hand doesn't need to be there, too....
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:26 PM on June 18, 2016

And I don't like the titles either.

I mean, maybe it's part of what he's trying to do with the project, but yeah a lot of the titles are kind of super creeps.
posted by dersins at 2:31 PM on June 18, 2016

That hand strikes me as possessive, but that's not surprising. Usually when we look at a relationship that we don't have intimate knowledge, we can see all sorts of odd things that aren't even there (read pretty much any AskMe question about relationships, people project all sorts of things that the writer may specifically say aren't the case).

Yet within the relationship, between consenting adults, there's usually an aspect of "you're mine, I'm yours". Even if its just a make-out session, there's an aspect of "this things occurred between us two people," so the arm makes sense, because the photographer is a part of this moment that we're peering in on.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:34 PM on June 18, 2016

>there's usually an aspect of "you're mine, I'm yours".

Yeah, but there's no arm coming back. I'd feel a LOT better about these if the arm was coming the other way...
posted by Sing Or Swim at 2:42 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm vividly reminded of a good friend's description of a terrible on-stage kiss: "He puts his lower lip on my chin and draaaaaaaaaaaaags it up my face."
posted by epj at 3:03 PM on June 18, 2016 [8 favorites]

I love kissing - it is so intimate - and although my lips are for no one but the love of my life now; I remember every kiss I made before.

I remember my first kiss; I was 12 and dressed up as Santa; and although all the years later I'm starting to look more like Santa than I'm ready to admit (on this platform using my REAL NAME). I feel my trembling hands, that feeling of about to make a move and give a kiss.

I've also been kissed; been the subject of someone's imminent intimacy - the gasp as they seize my lips with theirs.

I love the idea of this - but the implementation is off for me - the artist is kissing - and I can't see a single example of being kissed.

You don't need to be able to switch do to both.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 4:38 PM on June 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

As a woman who wears a lot of often very 'transferrable" lipstick (and likes kissing!) I was interested. One thing that's evident: this man is a terrible kisser. Like, wow. Your mouth does not need to ENGLUF my mouth, ok? What the hell are you lips doing up by my nose? The fuck?
posted by apis mellifera at 5:18 PM on June 18, 2016 [18 favorites]

I probably would have sort of liked a version of this project where the pictures were of the artist himself post-kiss. this version (skeevy titles aside) seems less about intimacy and openness and more like "I MESS UP YOUR FACE WITH MY FACE NOW YOUR FACE IS MESSY."

and like he's not really saying anything about what it means to mark someone else's face with your own face. he's just doing it.

i don't like it.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 5:25 PM on June 18, 2016 [13 favorites]

One thing that's evident: this man is a terrible kisser. Like, wow.

Let's be fair; it's possible he is actually Ronald McDonald, which would explain the wide-ranging lipstick marks.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:51 PM on June 18, 2016 [12 favorites]

It does make me question whether he considered that interpretation before publishing

See, I was certain that this dual interpretation was some kind of artistic statement about the way intimacy and violence can be bound together, and am surprised that isn't most people's read. Its very clear from the photos - mostly because the HUGE lipstick smear must be an intentional choice.
posted by anastasiav at 6:23 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm not getting any mutuality out of these photos. To me, most of the subjects seem to be thinking, "Was it actually abuse, or just the worst kiss of my life?"
posted by epj at 6:31 PM on June 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

This just seems creepy. Not like art. But I think a lot of art looks like garbage. Good thing my day job is engineer.
posted by Kalmya at 6:38 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

If this is supposed to read as creepy and violating, then, well, mission accomplished, Jed.
posted by cmoj at 6:45 PM on June 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

It feels so one-sided. It doesn't look like he kissed the subjects. Rather, it looks as if they were kissed BY him. Something that he and only he owns. These photos are the aftermath.

And jesus crispy crackers, that creepy-ass, grasping arm. So much ick.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:34 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

I hadn't considered that GenjiandProust ! The artist is actually Shakes the Clown!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rX5hindBRU
posted by asavage at 7:35 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is creepy and gimmicky and tone-deaf and unimaginative and just all-around poorly conceived.

I might have liked this better if there was a wider variety of people represented; it sort of looks like he just recruited his immediate circle of artsy hipster friends. And "I like making out with attractive young women" is not exactly a new or interesting statement to make.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:48 PM on June 18, 2016 [7 favorites]

Plus he has his own initials tattooed on his forearm.
posted by goatdog at 8:21 PM on June 18, 2016 [10 favorites]

I hate everything about this, from the color of the lipstick to the grabby hand on the neck to his obviously horrible kissing style, and the turd on the top of this shit sundae is that the pictures aren't even interesting to look at. It completely reads like some dude decided this would be a cool way to get more makeouts and I, for one, how people stop humoring him soon.
posted by spindrifter at 8:46 PM on June 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

I noticed the smearing on the womens' faces as compared to the less-smeared, more respectful-looking, faces of the men and thought maybe he is a gay man who hates women. But maybe, as others have pointed out, he was very much into making out with the women and indeed too "enthusiastic" about it. And I realize he could also be very much straight and still hate women.

In any case, I didn't like it much either and didn't think that the photographs said much about the concept or experience of making out. As I scrolled through, I wondered instead how aggressive the photographer was with each of the people pictured and felt very uncomfortable by the end of the series. The titles of the pictures were odd, too. It was like someone decided to turn their creepo instagram into an art installation.

This quote from the article seems to say a lot about his motivations for this project:

"You cannot walk up to somebody wearing lipstick and ask them if you can kiss them. They will say no 90 percent of the time,” the 34-year-old Pilsen photographer said."
posted by sevenofspades at 10:08 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yep. Still skeeving me the fuck out. The whole thing has a skeevy shit-on-my-shoe kind of resonance.
posted by asavage at 10:37 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

One thing that's evident: this man is a terrible kisser.


He is a terrible kisser and that color looks terrible on everyone.

I feel like I just touched a booger.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:44 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

JEDEDIAH. THIS IS NOT HOW YOU ACTUALLY KISS.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:53 PM on June 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

Just to think about kissing and who we kiss and how we kiss and what does it mean.”

Right cause that's a subject that's been really under-served.
posted by cotton dress sock at 5:35 AM on June 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

I thought this was just mildly unsettling until I read the captions, at which point I found myself getting mad, like actually angry! This is one of the most male gazey things I've ever seen.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:58 AM on June 19, 2016 [15 favorites]

his biggest fear is coming off as a creep

Was coming to that conclusion even before I reached the baby.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:57 AM on June 19, 2016

He...made out...with...a baby??
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:23 AM on June 19, 2016

the best part is that i bet he thinks he is the World's Greatest Kisser and that slobbering all over women's faces and necks like a flapjowled mastiff is Groundbreaking
posted by poffin boffin at 11:50 AM on June 19, 2016 [6 favorites]

flapjowled mastiff

hello new sockpuppet
posted by dersins at 12:15 PM on June 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

If by "best part" you mean "worst part," I'm with you.

The only way I can kind of see this as not horrible is if I assume that kissing like a human being who kisses people regularly with lipstick on would just leave... well, portraits, which... so he goes with this Sloppy McSlobberson approach so you can actually see the lipstick and make his kind of bland portraits more high-concept. A more aesthetically-aware photographer might have just gone "eh, not working; next idea."

So that leaves me with the choice of creep or clown. Or creepy clown.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:38 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I hate this and I'm so relieved other people hate this.

A lot of the women look like they want to cry.
posted by babelfish at 3:12 PM on June 19, 2016 [6 favorites]

Still not over the baby. How do you pitch that to a parent?? "Hey, I just want to give your baby a big lipsticky mouth-kiss. It's for an art project."

"Yeah, um, just one sec, calling police..."
posted by Cookiebastard at 4:19 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

slobbering all over women's faces and necks like a flapjowled mastiff


would rather
posted by louche mustachio at 6:22 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

wow I just read the captions. There's no way this can't be deliberately male gaze-y, I think.
posted by aielen at 12:16 AM on June 20, 2016

The hand makes me terribly uncomfortable, I hate its meaty presence
I cannot really look back on my younger self with a neutral eye, but I think even at my more enthusiastic and amateurish making out sessions I would _not_ have been as messy.

What irks me is the "making people think about nature of intimacy" bit which reads as nonsensical first-grade excuse. This is not intimacy, and this it not provocative.
posted by vrittis at 7:21 AM on June 20, 2016

Being gross on purpose does not make it less gross. It does not succeed as a statement about grossness. It both aesthetically bankrupt and ill conceived. I do not like this art piece and looking at it makes me feel like I am covered with a thin coat of rancid fryer grease.
posted by louche mustachio at 7:24 AM on June 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

Lot of watery eyes from his subjects here. It's possible that his intent is to directly implicate the viewer in sexual violence — I know I'd feel like I had violated someone if I got some of those looks back after a kiss — but from the quotes it seems like he knows he's getting that reaction but just can't quite seem to figure out where it's coming from.

"Plus he has his own initials tattooed on his forearm."

Maybe he once found someone using it at a party and decided to make it clear it was his.
posted by klangklangston at 2:56 PM on July 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

JEDEDIAH. THIS IS NOT HOW YOU ACTUALLY KISS.
THIS IS NOT IT EITHER.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:59 AM on July 8, 2016 [1 favorite]