Nap Time – Erotic Art
Although nudity and erotica is widely criticised by many, there’s no denying that art has been inherently linked to passion, expression and sensuality since its inception. The very first prehistoric scrawlings were generally of either penises or breasts… and in that urge is still evident in modern graffiti.
Ahem…
Of course art can also be magical or political or poignant, but it’s always undeniably fervent, created with enthusiasm and soul. Art is an outpouring of self and it should provoke a reaction, even if it was never created to be provocative.
Erotic Art, Nudity and the Female Anatomy
Artists have been painting the nude female form for many years, whether in erotic art, mythological or religious. Somehow, this has become massively frowned upon in more modern times (what an oxymoron). What especially seems to rile people is nudity is genitalia in general, but women’s genitalia in particular. With this erotic artwork, Nap Time, I wanted to challenge that outrage, while creating a piece that had a certain gentleness to it; a balance of seductive and sweet. This was the drawing that inspired Queen, the piece I created that caused a backlash around me so vitriolic, I very nearly cancelled all of my social media accounts.
One thing is for certain is that western society likes to shun the very thing we’re fascinated by. We love sex, but vilify sex workers. We watch porn in secret and then pretend we’re disgusted by it. We sexualise breasts and then tell breastfeeding mothers that they must shuffle off to feed in shame.
The Pious and the Plaster Saints
In the 1800s, Pope Pius IX defaced priceless artwork to remove the penises of statues carved by the most incredible artists in history. We like to think that we’ve come a long way since the Victorian times, but I really feel we’re going backwards in a lot of respects. We’re so scared of sex, sexuality and sexual organs that we’re actively angry about it, it seems. And then in others, we’ve gone so far the opposite way, we’ve lost sight of any beauty or political stance. Hats off to Cardi-B and her WAP* – what a great way to empower little girls on the dance floor at school discos! Let’s just hope she doesn’t have to retrain as an accountant.
Yes, that was sarcasm and yes I see the irony. Seriously, hats off to the woman – she’s made a success out of selling herself… much like a sex worker. In fact, exactly like a sex worker, except that apparently, her version of sex work is so socially acceptable, we let children emulate her, whereas people who call a spade a “spade”, or sex work “sex work”, are disregarded and denigrated. And therein lies my problem – straight forward sex work is still seen as demeaning, despite the fact that courtesans were highly revered, educated, funny women back in the day. Art that doesn’t cover up vaginas is seen as crude, despite the fact that the masters didn’t shy away from nudity. But where are the invisible lines we’ve drawn? We’re a more secular world in so many ways** but then in others, we’re more puritanical than our forebears.
And it’s not just genitalia we’re scared of. Poison also brought me under a lot of attack…
I told you older women hate me. What really upsets me about this is that I am a feminist and I will do everything I can to promote and support other women, particularly women in the arts. The thing with Poison is that there’s so much to it – how can it be that all people see is a pair of breasts? And breasts that have been heavily censored for the Facebook audience too.
Erotic Art vs The 1%
How can it be that someone like Cardi-B can get her wet ass pussy past the censors, but I can’t get a piece of art, Nap Time, onto a facebook group without massively censoring? One woman even said to me: “I can’t believe I’ve had to click on a link to see two little lines. What are people so afraid of?” And I had no answer for her, because I just don’t know. Perhaps because I don’t make the money Cardi-B does.
Regardless of the censorship and censureship Nap Time is one of my best selling pieces in terms of prints. And every time I push it to social media, the traffic to my website goes crazy… thus proving my point that people want sexuality, but they also want to pretend that they don’t. Le sigh.
FOOTNOTES
* That stands for wet ass pussy, by the way and I’ve just watched the video and can’t stop laughing. FFS [facepalm]. There was a small part of me that wanted this to be good, but it’s…god awful. I think the real low point is the motif of a guy chanting: “There’s some whores in this house” all the way through. They’re not whores, you bellend – we call them sex workers these days. And before anyone corrects me, unless that guy is from Yorkshire, he’s saying whores, not hoes.
** And amen to that!
Purchasing and Prints
The original erotic art pencil drawing, Nap Time, is available in my shop and you can also get your mitts on prints, merchandise and downloads. Saatchi is your best bet for luxury canvas and framed prints, whereas Redbubble absolutely nail merchandise like clothing, stationery and home decor, as well as more budget prints and greetings cards. You can also download hi-res, print ready versions of this piece from the shop and make your own prints in as many formats as you like.
The original painting is available on the website.
It’s also available in all kinds of printing formats and across all clothing and home decor products on Redbubble.
Luxury framed or canvas prints are available from Saatchi.