Biography

Interview

Awards

BIO

Photographer Lon Casler Bixby has been on the cutting edge of American art and music for more than a decade. While studying at the University of Texas, Lon directed short films that won him awards at the Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston and Australian International Film Festivals. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, he produced national commercials and industrial videos for many major companies, while at the same time managing some of the area's hottest bands.  After reaching top of the Dallas indie film and music world, Lon moved to Los Angeles, where he produced, directed, and wrote movies and television shows that have been released worldwide. His most recent productions, Tales from the Dead, and ManBand!, are being distributed in both the United States and Japan. Manband! features Fantasy's Core, one of Japan's most influential new rock groups. Lon is also a professional photographer who has been published in a wide variety of magazines and whose work includes commercial photography, fashion, fetish and erotica, and has gained him a growing reputation in LA's art scene.

THE ART OF LOVE INTERVIEW

I like to think of the work of Lon Casler Bixby as open, experimental and a bit rough here and there. Most of his work is in black & white and has that typical vintage look, with some very heavy contrasting shadow parts. He is one of the early contributors to the Art of Love, featured many times on our site. Finally the master speaks his mind in our five questions interview. How would you personally describe the nature of your art? The majority of my work is in Black and White and I like to think of it as Dark Art. I like the shadows and contrast to say as much about the mood and atmosphere as the model and setting does. What artists, art periods, are an inspiration for your own work? And in what way? Olivia. Bresson. Adams . Leibovitz. Also, the independent, unknown artist inspires me with their open and uncultured creativity. Sometimes I believe that the more famous an artist is the more scared they are to create something new or never done before, for fear of making a mistake. Some of my favorite pix were mistakes or came from me having made a mistake and then getting an idea from that mistake and working it into something beautiful. I get inspiration from all genres and periods of life; especially the 1920’s – The look, feel, and of course, the fashion from that era is a huge influence on my art. Lately, I’ve been getting out of my safety zone of B&W and have been experimenting (and playing) with the use of colors… stay tuned… Where are your ideas coming from? Does your work reflect your own erotic fantasies & desires? Yes! And no! Sometimes an idea will come to me when I’m asleep or just day-dreaming and I can’t get it out of my head until I’ve worked it out in a photo session. I love the “dark & erotic” and I try to recreate in photography what I see in my head – sometimes it comes out just like I see it and sometimes it… well, let’s just say that sometimes it’s a “mistake” that gets worked into something beautiful. What's your biggest artistic frustration or main struggle in your creation process? I’m not always good with the tech part of the photo biz. I love the creative process but knowing all the “photographic rules”, the proper f/stops vs. the shutter speeds, and having to meter the lights is a pain; especially after a shoot when people ask me all the tech questions on how I accomplished a certain look . I don’t keep track of what f/stop & shutter speed I used so it makes it difficult to answer those questions. And when I can’t answer the tech questions, people look at me like I don’t know what I’m doing and I find that very frustrating. And don’t get me started on how unprofessional some (not all, but some) of the models are. I am so tired of booking models for interviews and shoots and then they don’t even show. It is so frustrating and definitely hinders my creativity. To me, this is the most annoying part of doing a shoot. Is it easy to find places to display your work (galleries, museums or shows)? Or is erotic art still somewhat taboo in your country? I shoot a lot of “erotic art” and seldom shoot any explicit, open leg, genitalia. Yet, I have had quite a few galleries tell me that my work is too erotic for a show.  In this day and age in the US one would think that art would be worshiped here as a freedom that some countries can not have, but the truth is… people in the “fly over” states, and parents of children who let their children see all kinds of sex & violence on TV, the movies, comic books, and in video games, are afraid of their child seeing a nude body as a work of art. It’s a very sad statement on our society. So yes, finding a place to display my work can be difficult sometimes.

PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS & EXHIBITIONS

. COLOR MAGAZINE - Single Image Contest - 2010 Merit Award - Nude/Body - "May's Flowers" Merit Award - Portraiture - "Amelie" (Published - COLOR MAGAZINE - May, 2010 - Special Issue #7) COLOR MAGAZINE - Portfolio Contest - 2009 Merit Award - "Anime Geisha Series - No. 6, No. 7, No. 9, No. 10, No. 15, No. 19".  (Published - COLOR MAGAZINE - November, 2009 - Special Issue #4) THE LUCIES – 7th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL PHOTO AWARDS - 2009 Honorable Mention – Architecture – Bridges – “Old Joshua Bridge”. Honorable Mention – Editorial - War/Conflict - “Tabernacle”. Honorable Mention – Fine Art - Nudes - “Union Gap". Honorable Mention – Fine Art - Portrait - “Contemplation". Honorable Mention – Fine Art - Self-Portrait - “Urban Rooftop”. Honorable Mention – Nature - Flowers - “Sleeping Jenny”. Honorable Mention – People - Self-Portrait - “Urban Rooftop”. EROTIC ART EXHIBITION - ARTundressed Tour - Los Angeles - September 10 - 12, 2009 BOXeight Studios – Invited Artist (Competition Winners) - “Saturnalia”, “Venus Butterfly”. LOS ANGELES CENTER FOR DIGITAL ART - November 12 - December 5, 2009 Selected to Exhibit in the "Snap to Grid" Exhibition - "Venus Butterfly" EROTIC SIGNATURE - 2009 Competition Winner – “Venus Butterfly”. (Published - THE WORLD'S GREATEST EROTIC ART OF TODAY, VOLUME III - 2009) THE CENTER FOR FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY - January 9 - February 2, 2009 Selected to Exhibit in the "Negative Space" Exhibition - "Liz" THE LUCIES – 6th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL PHOTO AWARDS - 2008 Honorable Mention – Advertising - Beauty - “Anime Geisha No. 20”. Honorable Mention – Architecture - Buildings - “Grandma's Barn”. Honorable Mention – Fine Art - Nudes - “White Series - No. 3, No. 10, No. 12, No. 14, No. 15". Honorable Mention – Nature - Flowers - “Anime Geisha No. 20”. Honorable Mention – Nature - Wildlife / Pets - “Friends”. Honorable Mention – People - Lifestyle - “Safe Word”. Honorable Mention – People - Portrait - “Beanie”. EROTIC SIGNATURE - 2008 Competition Winner – “Saturnalia”. (Published - THE WORLD'S GREATEST EROTIC ART OF TODAY, VOLUME II - 2008) THE LUCIES – 5th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL PHOTO AWARDS - 2007 Honorable Mention – Fashion – “Asian Girl with Balloons”. Honorable Mention – Nudes – Series B&W – “A Penny for Your Thoughts”, “Mirror of Theda”, “Nacreous”, “Shades of Glamour”, “Shadows Of Discontent”. Honorable Mention – Wildlife – Series Nature – “Dad’s Cows”, “Divine Waters”, “Pretty Kitty”, “Red Zebra Head”, “Thoughtful Chimp”. Honorable Mention – Culture – Series – “Anime Geisha 1”, “Anime Geisha 2”, “Anime Geisha 3”, “Anime Geisha Silent Scream 1”, “Anime Geisha Silent Scream 2”. Honorable Mention – Portrait – “Lament of Grace”. B&W MAGAZINE - 2007 Merit Award – Portrait - “Contemplation”. (Published - B&W MAGAZINE - February 2007 - Special Issue #48) EROTIC SIGNATURE - 2007 Competition Winner – “Lament of Grace”. (Published - THE WORLD'S GREATEST EROTIC ART OF TODAY, VOLUME I - 2007) 3rd ANNUAL BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS – 2007 Double Nominee - Nude – “The Dark Side of May”, “White Series No. 1”. Double Nominee - Fashion – “Lament of Grace”, “The Dark Side of May”. INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS 2ND ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHY MASTER'S CUP - 2007 Nominee - Fashion - "Bishoujo". (Published - 2ND ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERS CUP - YEARBOOK - 2008)