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Click any image to view the
pop-up gallery slide show. Batts took a few moments to chat with Eros Zine about his many projects and his views on art and sex.
Carlos Batts: I love photography and art and grew up studying the masters of art. I thought the whole idea of art was to challenge society. I've never been comfortable with the title fetish or porn because I have many interests as an artist and an intellectual. My boxing series will show a completely new perspective on my photography career. I feel more in tune with Egon Schiele and Man Ray. I'm more interested in art movements and what art is meant to do for society. It becomes very easy for people to categorize everything that is sexual under simply porn and fetish. I feel those titles immediately attach some kind of stigma to the work. There have been graphic depictions of sex and violence in paintings throughout history. I've been to the Louvre. Its full of naked women, angels, decapitations and Jesus. I wouldn't call it porn or gothic work. I see sex as a part of life and it's not as taboo as the media portrays it. I just see myself as an artist. Eros Zine: Tell us about your recent movie, American Gothic. Carlos Batts: American Gothic was my personal assignment to take an iconic, easily identifiable painting and retell the story of the painting using the same characters. The painting was quietly political in 1930. 75 years later, I wanted create the American Gothic in the future. I also wanted to pay homage to my youth. I grew up on death metal and Peter Jackson movies. Carcass, Cro-mags, Integrity, Eye Hate God, Fudge Tunnel, Bolt Thrower, Doom, Neurosis, Logical Nonsense, Slayer, Early Metallica, Biohazard, Black Sabbath. I watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Faces of Death a trillion times as a teenager. So it was fun just to make a movie with those influences in mind. The main actor is my neighbor and the book was a 15 year collection of my work. My wife worked at the Ahmanson Theatre for 4 years and I saw a lot of plays and theatre productions, so that had an influence on the way I directed the film. I'm focused right now on directing my next film Fairy Tale in the City. I have another film called Trash Queen, written by my friend Scott Phillips and John Howard that I'm preparing and I'm working on some videogame/animations with my longtime collaborator Nathan Carlisle.
Carlos Batts: I've been shooting Fatty D, aka April Flores, for 6 years. She is a true Muse by definition; she cares about her work and performance in the picture. We decided to put it out for fun; we just wanted to share with our peers the work we were doing. Now she's shooting with other people and taking pictures as well. Eros Zine: Your other recent or upcoming DVD releases include Crazy Sex (described as "a surreal fetish dream come true) and The Exhibitionist ("wall to wall eye candy for people who like to watch.") How did these come about, and can we expect to see more hot fetish video erotica from you in the future? Also, how do those projects relate to American Gothic, the movie? Carlos Batts: I directed The Exhibitionists and Crazy Sex in 2000 and 2001. I also directed music videos for Dog Fashion Disco and Swarm of the Lotus. Both of the projects gave me total creative control which allowed me to feel comfortable, painting, drawing and really trying to push the limits of creativity. After doing those projects I wanted to do a film in which I could paint, draw, and shoot the film. It's an old school process. That's how it relates to the book because the book is very organic. And the film is organic as well. American Gothic DVD was my return to making films. I used the anniversary of the painting as the template for my film. After I made "Puppadere" in 1992, I decided just to let me vision grow. Eros Zine: One of your other projects is documenting the life of a Los Angeles area boxing gym through some amazing photographs. You also mentioned to me once that a documentary film about that is in the works. How did you get interested in boxing? Do you feel like that work is related at all to your erotica and interest in the darker side of art? Or is it just a matter of personal interest, and being multi-talented?
It's more journalism and documentary photography done in a very raw visceral way. There are not too many things you can recreate or fake at the gym. The world champions have a very fundamental approach to life: work hard, train, focus on the goal in front of you. Eros Zine: Given how intensely hot, explicit and kinky something like The Exhibitionist is....would you ever want to make commercial porn for one of the big production companies, or would you rather work independently on projects like this? Carlos Batts: I view all work the same: sports, sex, film, celebrity portraits and commercial assignments. I approach everything and every project with the same enthusiasm. If I was given an opportunity to direct for a big company and I could keep my vision I would apply that same work ethic I would do for Nike, Microsoft, or any other corporation. Porn is corporate; this isn't the '70s. Society's ideas of how they view porn are outdated. Porn is a booming business. Eros Zine: Sometimes it's hard to believe that the Carlos Batts that produced something like American Gothic is the same guy who made The Exhibitionist, shot the photos in Wild Skin or The Fetish Anthology or Crazy Sexy Hollywood, or is working on a boxing documentary. Not to be rude or anything but....how the hell do you keep it all together with so many diverse and exciting projects? AND have a flourishing commercial photography career (for such clients as Skechers, NBC, Ballantine Books, DC Comics, New Line, Warner Brothers, etc etc) -- not to mention having been a painter, set designer, curator, and more? Carlos Batts: I guess too much Atari, D&D and Comics. Growing up I liked playing video games, collecting action figures and reading comics but I also liked making my own comics, games and films. I'm from the DIY School of thought. Art, Punk, Rap, Metal has that "do it, make yourself" spirit. Maximum Rock & Roll, Bones Brigade, SRL, Public Enemy and Film Threat -- those were my influences. I just wanted to make cool work and have fun in the process. Eros Zine: Your work has been published in magazines like Vibe, Maxim, URB, Hustler, and....National Enquirer. How did you end up working with the Enquirer? Is there a great story behind that? Carlos Batts: The National Enquire was my tribute to WEEGEE. Hollywood is funny sometimes...
Carlos Batts: Rock, Rap and Sex are all the same world. It's all a counterculture that becomes popular culture than starts over again. If Paris Hilton, Chyna and Colin Farrel have sex tapes, then what's next? Tommy and Pamela made personal sex tapes very popular by default, like "here we are on our vacation -- a Rock Star and a Playmate." They made it cool because they made it seem very normal. So from that point on it's like who has the most interesting tape. Alter Ego has that spirit because it's real but surreal. Eros Zine: I already mentioned Crazy Sex, American Gothic, and The Exhibitionist, not to mention Alter Ego. What other projects do you have in the works? What are you most excited about working on right now? Carlos Batts: Right now we're finishing April's book. I'm in the middle of the boxing book, and I'm also going to have work included in a book called Street World due out next year. I'm in pre-production for Fairy Tale in the City. I'm excited about all of them because they are different. Fairy Tale in the City is exciting because I'm drawing all the characters, making the costumes and writing. It's about a guy who re-imagines his life while having a bad day at work. It has the spirit of The Wizard of Oz, Kids and Pee Wee's Playhouse. I plan to start filming later summer. My boxing series will be in Swindle Magazine in August. I recently worked with Razordolls.com. I have few other things in the works as well. Eros Zine: Thanks, Carlos! Readers can get info about everything Carlos is working on at carlosbatts.com, and can buy The Exhibitionist, Alter Ego and Crazy Sex at cbattsflyvideo.com.
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