New Erotix: Eroszine

Glenn Harris, "Milky-Kitty-Yemaya," Digital prints

This preview of “New Erotix” originally appeared in Eroszine, July 5, 2005. It was subsequently listed by Fleshbot.

New Erotix
By Abby Ehmann

New Erotix, Art @ Large's third annual juried group show of new erotic works, opens on July 7. The show was curated by Grady T. Turner, former curator of The Museum of Sex and author of NYC Sex: How New York City Transformed Sex in America.

After combing through three hundred entries from the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, Turner selected the works of thirty-eight artists in a variety of media, including collage, painting, drawing and both traditional and digital photography. We had a few words with Mr. Turner about the show, the artists and the selection process.

Ves Pitts, "Maria de Sade," C print

"This was my third year of jurying this exhibition of erotic art, and the year with the most submissions," Turner told us. "My charge was to review the work of some three hundred artists, each of who submitted up to three examples of their work. From these nine hundred or so works, I was to cull a final exhibition of roughly thirty-five pieces. My selection criteria were pretty straightforward. Good erotic art should satisfy three requisites: Is it art? Is it erotic? And is it good? I maintained one bias. I wanted the final selections to reflect the diversity of the original pool of submissions, in terms of media and sexual styles.

"For the most part, the selection process was blind. While I am familiar with several artists to the extent that I recognized their work immediately, the great majority was unfamiliar to me. The final cuts were difficult to make. The size of the exhibition is limited by the size of the venue, so in the end, many worthy artists were removed purely on the grounds of space limitations. In all but one instance, each selected artist is represented by one work.

Porkchop, "Cabhooray," Latex on wood

"As viewers see the exhibition, then, I would encourage them to take in the quality and diversity of the art. Beyond each individual piece is a much larger body of work by that artist. Beyond the works on view are those of many more artists who would classify their output as 'erotic art.' Erotic art is a boisterous ghetto in the larger art world, encompassing high and low, fine art and craft, queer and straight. Erotic artists are similar only in a shared interest in representing sexuality. That so many artists working in so many styles are engaged in erotic art make this a very exciting moment to be looking into this genre."

The thirty-eight artists exhibiting work are Antanas Adomaitis, Ron Amato, Samad Arastu, Fred Berger, Michael Berkowitz, Jennifer Boe, Philip Campbell, George C. Clark, Katie Commodore, Molly Crabapple, Brian Crede, Xiaoqing Ding, Rosalie A. Frankel, Chawky Frenn, Erin Frost, E. Gibbons, Marie C. Green, Mari Gyorgyey, Glenn Harris, Craig Kiefer, Vlastimil Kula, Emma Lucie, Curry Mendes, Slink Moss, Frederick A. Nelson, Krystof Nemeth, Joe Oppedisano, Ves Pitts, Porkchop, PX, Bill Pridgen, Russ Revock, Liezel Rubin, Vannessa L. Sanchez, Tom Sloan, Barry Steely, Rob Tapley and Ruth Waldman.

The pieces vary widely from sober to silly and subtle to shocking. Campbell's graphic anal insertion may cause the prudish to blanche while Gibbons's nude shows no naughty bits at all. Harris's animé-inspired piece could almost be a package design and Pridgen's calligraphic foursome would look perfect silkscreened onto wallpaper. An equally wide range of sexual proclivities are represented, from homoeroticism to BDSM to plain vanilla intercourse. Even the clown fetish gets some play in a photograph by Liezel Rubin.

Vanessa L. Sanchez, "Martha," Type 55 photograph

The opening reception will be held on Thursday, July 7 from 6pm till 9 pm. This tiny jewel box of a gallery gets crowded fast, so be sure to arrive early if you really want to see the art, as opposed to the ever entertaining parade of artists, provocateurs and assorted scenesters. If it all becomes too overwhelming, you can always come back for a more private viewing; Art @ Large is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11am-6pm and by appointment.

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New Erotix: New York Blade

Joe Oppedisano

This preview of “New Erotix” originally appeared in The New York Blade, June 24, 2005.

Is it art or is it erotica?

One of the works in Art @ Large’s juried show is a good example of how the two sometimes blur.

By Stephen D’Agostino

To really appreciate “New Erotix,” the juried show at Art @ Large, you have to like ‘em circumcised. No, not those.

You have to like your art circumcised, void of the prefixes homo- and hetero-. Think of these works as produced not by homosexual or heterosexual people, but by sexual people.

To dwell on an artist’s sexuality is “overlooking that here is a group of people who are all working on the subject of sex and art,” says Grady T. Turner, curator of the show. “That’s a bigger thing to have in common than their sexuality in the terms of the art in our show.”

I, Sherlock Homo, went searching for clues in these 41 pieces by 38 artists to determine which were done by the eight gay entrants (according to Art @ Large owner Pet Silvia’s estimates — he can only guess; he doesn’t ask and he doesn’t care). For some works, it’s obvious: Joe Oppendisano’s “On Your Knees” —two tattooed hotties. Who but a gay man would do a piece of buff pecs, nipples pierced and chained?

I picked “Divine” to be the work of a lesbian, simply because it is of two nude women holding each other. I was wrong. I picked a charcoal drawing of a bound naked male as that of a gay man. Wrong again.

While I was trying to make things more elementary than they were, I overlooked both the erotic and the art in these erotic art pieces.

This is the third year Art @ Large is doing this juried show. Turner, who was once the curator of the Museum of Sex, came up with the idea because he saw a need.

“I think it’s a very interesting ghetto within the art world,” Turner says. The gallery made a call for submissions and over 300 artists submitted over 900 pieces. It was up to Turner to sift through the submissions and to decide what was worthy of a place in the show.

He judged the work without knowing the artist’s gender or sexual orientation. What motivated him was that the pieces chosen reflected the diversity of the media of the submissions — a true representation of the types of work artists are producing — and that the work be good.

Silvia sums it up by saying, “that’s really what we’re looking for—quality, good art.”

If Silvia’s assumptions are correct and there are eight gay artists in the show — 21 percent (greater than the percentage of gays in the general population) — then in the eyes of Silvia and Turner, gay artists are excelling at making quality erotic art.

Silvia admits that male homoerotic art does tend to be more explicit, possibly, he feels, as a means of getting over all the “bullshit” gays face growing up.

Yet he cautions that explicit erotic art doesn’t necessarily mean quality erotic art. “It’s not about the naked body,” Silvia says. “It’s not about the largest hard-on in the universe. It’s not about woman having the most glamorous looking figure. It’s about the honest interpretation that the artist makes of this subject matter.”

So, orientation aside, does “New Erotix” represent honest interpretations of the subject matter? Does it represent quality erotic art? For the most part, yes.

Brian Crede’s “Flesh & Steel #1,” the pierced nipples work, is, thanks to its limited, earthy palette, beautifully rendered. Marie Green’s “Orange Female w/Purple Male on Gray” captures sex as the joining of two bodies into one act, confusing where the man starts and the woman ends.

Marie Green

“Braces and Laces,” and “Maria de Sade” will make you chuckle. Curry Mendes’s “Divine,” the piece I mistook as work done by a lesbian, is fiery and somewhat mysterious.

Curry Mendes

In the end, of course, it’s up to the viewers to determine if they think the work is both art and erotic. “Look at the work,” Silvia suggests “be turned on by it, attracted to it, intellectualize over it.”

In other words, circumcise your prefix, go with an open mind, and see the work of sexual beings as a sexual being and an art lover.

sex
art
erotic art
erotica

New Erotix: Information

Erin Frost

My impetus to begin this review was the opening of an exhibition of erotic art I juried for Art @ Large gallery.

The press release is below. My review of the exhibition will follow—yes, on this blog, I have no qualms about reviewing my own projects! I will post other reviews as they appear.

If you are in New York on Thursday, July 7, stop by the reception to say howdy.

"New Erotix"
Curated by Grady T. Turner
July 7 - 23, 2005

Art @ Large is proud to present its Third Annual Juried Exhibition, "New Erotix.” Curated by Grady T. Turner, New York based art critic, curator and author of NYC Sex: How New York City Transformed Sex in America.

After pouring over 300 entries from the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, Grady Turner has chosen the works of 38 artists. From painting, drawing, and collage, to traditional and digital photography, this is an assembly of erotic art in various disciplines of the highest caliber.

The selected artists are:

ANTANAS ADOMAITIS • RON AMATO • SAMAD ARASTU • FRED BERGER • MICHAEL BERKOWITZ • JENNIFER BOE • PHILIP CAMPBELL • GEORGE C. CLARK • KATIE COMMODORE • MOLLY CRABAPPLE • BRIAN CREDE • XIAOQING DING • ROSALIE A. FRANKEL • CHAWKY FRENN • ERIN FROST • E. GIBBONS • MARIE C. GREEN • MARI GYORGYEY • GLENN HARRIS • CRAIG KIEFER • VLASTIMIL KULA • CURRY MENDES • SLINK MOSS • FREDRICK A. NELSON • KRYSTOF NEMETH • JOE OPPEDISANO • VES PITTS • PORKCHOP • PX • BILL PRIDGEN • RUSS REVOCK • LIEZEL RUBIN • VANESSA L. SANCHEZ • TOM SLOAN • BARRY STEELY • ROB TAPLEY • RUTH WALDMAN

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, July 7, 2005, 6 - 9:00pm, at:

Art @ Large, 630 Ninth Ave (btwn. 44/45th Sts.), #707, New York City.
212.957.8371

For further information, contact:
Paul J. Carvalho, Media Liaison, Art @ Large. 212.957.8371

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art
erotic art
erotica

Welcome to the Ghetto

Erotic art is a curious ghetto of the art world.

Sex and sexuality have always been subjects for artists. Flip through any standard history of art to find ample evidence of this in Bernini and Caravaggio, Boucher and Hogarth, Courbet and Hiroshige, Picasso and Matisse, Duchamp and O’Keeffe, Kahlo and Dali, De Kooning and Warhol . . . just to count off some obvious examples.

Walk though the galleries today, and see it in the work of artists as diverse as Sue Williams, Eric Fischl, Matthew Barney, Cecily Brown, Inka Essenhigh, Carroll Dunham and Su-en Wong.

So, given that sex and sexuality are traditional subjects that continue to fascinate artists, the question is: why distinguish a subcategory as “erotic art?” If all of the above could be categorized as erotic artists—yet are generally simply referred to as “artists”—why then do we use the term “erotic art” at all?

The reason has less to do with subject matter, and more to do with distinctions between high and low cultures.

The term erotic art emerged to describe artists whose work was unlikely to be found in galleries or museums either due to its explicit nature or its lowbrow media. The latter was more likely to relegate art to the ghetto of erotic art; it is hard to imagine art more explict than, say, Courbet’s Origin of the World (1866), an oil painting originally commissioned for a private collection, now displayed at the Musee D’Orsay.



Explicit art geared towards a popular audience, or a subculture, was more likely to be labeled as erotic art. The term came to be most often associated with artists such as Tom of Finland and Eric Stanton, whose styles were closer to comics or illustration than to traditional fine art.

“Erotic art” continues to be a term used more often to describe art inspired by the lowbrow culture of comics, tattoos and kink. But are those distinctions between high and low terribly meaningful now, when the larger art world is populated by artists who share those influences?

This question is in my mind as I launch this site.

My goal is to review exhibitions and profile artists whose work concerns sex and sexuality. I do not propose to make distinctions between high and low, queer and straight, explicit and demure.

I will be primarily concerned with critiquing erotic content in art in terms of how well it functions according to its own terms. Is it erotic? Is it art?

And, most critically, is it good?

sex
art
erotic art
erotica