The book’s author Mithu M. Sanyal states that the primary reason for her investigation is that the female sex/genitalia has long been overlooked or rather denied an existence.

And having read the book I’d agree with her.

This book is an easy and engaging read that keeps your attention all the way through. It is witty clever, well researched and hugely informative but most of all you can feel the author’s passion for her subject and that’s contagious.

The book starts off with justifying its existence in a way, as it explains how and why the vagina for centuries have been described in a negative and derogatory way (and often still is). But it also looks at the very early and long forgotten mythological and religious worship of the female sex and genitalia creating a framework for a return to some of those values.

Sanyal goes on to look at how the female sex has been used and abused or perhaps more correctly how the female sex has been denied access to the creative world of literature despite some very clear connections between them.

The book emanates feminism and an avid defence of female rights, which may or may not be distracting depending on your point of view.

On a personal level I have as a heterosexual woman struggled from an early age with the concept, that I am feminist who loves men and loves to be loved by men. Embarrassingly, due to my own preconceptions, I confess the underlying feminist tone made me ponder the author’s sexual orientation.

And I have to admit I was thrilled when I discovered, at the end of the book, that the author is a married mother of two. I somehow felt that I had met a kindred spirit who had shown me that it is okay for me to be a heterosexual woman and a feminist at the same time.

Sanyal’s book has given me a lot of new knowledge and I would highly recommend anyone to read this book.

From one woman to another; you can learn a lot about the history of our sex by reading this book, you may also get to know and feel closer to your own private vulva in the process.

But don’t let that stop you if you are a man. Although as a man you are (perhaps) in some ways more familiar with the physical vulva, I bet there will be many things you can still learn from reading this book.

This book left me with an increased respect for both the proverbial and my personal vulva.

By reading this book I felt steeled in my vision that women have a right to examine and exercise their own sexual desires, but perhaps even more importantly this book made me realise that the vulva deserves to be nothing less than to be celebrated by ourselves and our men.

“See No Evil” Copyright of Deborah Klein. Source: Kinsey Institute.

…you should ask yourself this question:

What kind of picture do I want on my wall; a work of art or a decorative painting?

But why should you ask yourself this question?
Because there is a big difference between these two types of pictures.

Let me explain by giving you an analogy.

Singers and artistes.

It is x-factor season. Almost every Friday night when they broadcast the X-factor show you can hear the Danish judges saying things like: “I can’t feel you” to the contestants. I am sure a lot of people are puzzled. I was. What does it mean when a contestant who is singing is being told ‘I can’t feel you’ by a judge who is listening? The problem is that we often associate the word ‘feel’ with tactility, so for a lot of people and not just me, it seems an odd statement. So what do they mean?

One night one of the judges said to a contestant, “There are millions of good singers in the world but there are only few artistes”. Hearing this it became clear to me what the judges mean when they say they cannot feel someone.

There are those who sing who are technically brilliant and have never hit a false note in their life and then there are the others who may sing brilliantly or have a few rough edges and sing false once in a while. If as a singer you have a strong voice, you have good looks and you love performing on stage in front of a live audience, you have a good chance of singing pop music.

Other singers, the artiste, may not be perfect in their pitch or key but they often have a  distinctive voice or a characteristic way of singing and they express and expose their heart and soul through their song. Artistes, unlike pop singers, are not as dependent on having conventional good looks because their music is not about creating broad popular appeal in terms of good looks and catchy tunes but instead about conveying the artiste’s emotions to the listener.

One way of defining the difference between a pop-song and a song from an artiste would be that you love the tune of the pop-song now but it is forgotten a year from now. With a song by an artiste you like, you are likely to remember and relive the emotion it stirs in you even years from now.

Copyright of Anna Modi Discala

Source: Hunter Vain

So when a judge says to a singer that he or she could feel him or her it means that they felt touched by the emotion that that singer was trying to convey with their song, happy sad sensitive or whatever.

Now, just like you can talk about a difference between pop singers and artistes it is possible to make a distinction between painters and artists.

Painters and artists.

Many people think that being able to paint is synonymous with being an artist. They believe that as long as someone puts colours on a canvas then they are entitled to call themselves an artist. Of course anyone can call themselves whatever they like but it doesn’t make it so. Because being an artist is all about the skill involved when applying paint to the canvas – and it varies greatly!

So if you are skilled at painting, you must be an artist right? Wrong.

“Just Put It In Your Mouth” Copyright Keith P. Rein.

There are literally millions of people in the world who are good at painting. Many have gone to art school or art college where they have studied and learnt the techniques of drawing, painting, sculpture etc. Others are self-taught but common for all these people is the fact that they are technically skilled draughtsmen. So, is it the technical skill with which you create a painting that determines your status as an artist? No it is not.

People tend to associate skilled draughtsmen with artists, but this not necessarily correct. Take the commercial work of an illustrator or a graphic designer. These are usually highly skilled draughtsmen whose work is not considered art. Technical ability is not intrinsically connected with art nor does it give you status as an artist. But of course it is possible for a person to be technically gifted and a great artist.

Like the artiste who is not perfectly in key when she or he sings, neither does the artist who paints or sculpts have to be technically brilliant when it comes to colour and form. What is important is that the artist has a personal message to pass on and is capable of delivering that message with passion using a characteristic and individual visual language to express it.

A painting may be beautiful and technically well executed but if it has nothing to say, no message to pass on, no questions to raise or issues to debate, it simply becomes a stylish decorative piece for hanging on the wall.

Choosing and assessing pictures.

There is nothing wrong with choosing a painting which stimulates your aesthetic sense. But if the painting holds no meaning for you or does not touch you in any way other than aesthetically, chances are it will quickly become a one-dimensional experience which is uninteresting in the long run.

Art professionals today no longer debate if something is art or not but rather; “what is good art and what is bad art?” and often art professionals disagree about the value of a piece of art.

So if the art professionals disagree about the quality of art, what chance do you have of finding a good piece art you might ask? How can you assess a work of art to ensure that it will provide you with good and lasting experiences for years to come?

To provide a simple answer to that question let me introduce you to my Art Assessment Model: APIE. My idea with the APIE Model is to illustrate how a good work of art will affect you in different ways and initiate a layered and complex experience.

The APIE Model refers to the Aesthetic Physical Intellectual and Emotional experiences that a good work of art should invoke in the spectator. The more areas you as the spectator can put a tick against so to speak, the better the work of art.

Here’s how to use the APIE model to assess a work of art:

Aesthetic. Start by assessing what aesthetic experience the work of art gives you. Do you like the lines, forms and colours? Most people prefer to put up a picture that resonates with their sense of beauty and what they consider technical accomplishment. Yet there are those people who prefer instead to challenge themselves when it comes to aesthetics. If you belong in that category perhaps you want to find a piece of art that makes you question whether is ugly or not.

Physical. Note your physical experience in seeing the work. What does your body tell you when you look at the work of art? Perhaps it gives you no bodily sensations at all. Maybe you want to reach out and touch it, walk around it and interact with it. You might feel a bodily stimulation or titillation that compels you to use your body in a physical way.

Intellectual. Consider your intellectual experience; Does the artwork make you think, inspire new ideas in you or raise debates about any issues? In short, does the artwork stimulate your intellectual mind?

Emotional. What is your emotional reaction to the work of art you are looking at? What feelings does the work of art bring up in you, is it anger fear unease repulsion joy excitement or some other emotion?

So your general rule of thumb after assessing a work of art by using the APIE model is:

The more layered and rich an experience you get from a work of art the better the work of art. The more of your senses get involved when experiencing a work of art and the stronger the sensations or effects on you the better the work of art.

“Lucifer Suenia con su Dietil” Copyright of Hector Pineda

You could argue that a work of art which affects your strongly due to its aesthetic properties should be considered a good work of art. If you can or will not find a work of art that touches and affects you apart from aesthetically, then by all means purchase a picture like that for your wall.

The choice is yours: Buy a work of art that you love and will cherish in the long run or a decorative picture that you may want to exchange after a few years or however long it takes you not to ‘see’ that painting any more.

For anyone interested in the man that everyone is (still) talking about when it comes to sex research this film is a must see.

I have to admit that I have not read any of Kinsey’s books or books about Kinsey. I have however, come across the name Alfred Kinsey time and again whilst reading books about eroticism. This of course stirred my interest so when I noticed that a film about his life and work, I felt compelled to see it.

The film simply called ‘Kinsey’ was made in 2004 and stars Liam Neeson as Kinsey, Laura Linney as his overbearing wife Clara and Chris O’Donnell as Kinsey’s close assistant Wardell Pomeroy.

The film shows Kinsey’s upbringing in a strict Christian home and his rebellion against his father the preacher as he runs aways to study biology. We follow his education and progressive career as a professor of Biology where he earns the nickname Prok.

It is not until Kinsey meets and marries Clara (one of his students) that his sexlife really kicks into action. In fact, Kinsey is a virgin when he marries Clara (as is she) but then things begin to heat up.

Kinsey decides to start sexual education for engaged and married couples who are studying at the university. At the same time Kinsey begins to be sought after by his students for private sexual advice. As he encounters more and more notions about what is considered normal and healthy and safe sexual practice often striding against his own personal experience he decides to do some research to establish what the norm actually is.

And this is where the film gathers momentum because although there are actually very few steamy scenes the remainder of the film shows how Kinsey gets involved professionally with researching other people’s sexual history and habits but also how he takes on the research in his personal life.

What is interesting is that the film does not shy away from showing the emotional strain Kinsey’s private sexual research has on the Kinseys as a couple. Another interesting relationship which is included in the film is the strained relationship Kinsey obviously had with his own son. It would have been interesting to see that explored a little deeper. But we do get to see a very moving moment Kinsey shares with his father (played by the excellent John Lithgow) as he finally comes to understand the reasoning behind his father’s years of preaching strict sexual abstinence.

The aim of the film is not to present the findings of Kinsey’s research, there is way too much of it after all, yet you do get little tasters of what people in 1940′s America considered normal and anormal sexual behaviour.

Kinsey is a pioneer when it comes to sexual behaviour. Although some of his research methods would be considered unscientific by today’s standards there is no doubt that he significantly expanded societal understanding of human sexual behaviour and paved the way for the following sexual liberation in the 1960′s.

I would highly recommend anyone to see this film who is interested in the man Alfred Kinsey.

For further information on Alfred Kinsey and his work, you should visit The Kinsey Institute website where you’ll find a wealth of information and resources at your fingertips as well as a very interesting collection of erotic art in the gallery section.

At a first glance the work of artist Jean-Pierre Sergent has a flavour of Post-Pop, with its visual references to Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein and Ramos.

But Jean-Pierre Sergent’s work is so much more than mere decorative surfaces deriving from popular imagery. There is a deeper meaning to be found behind each and every one of Sergent’s works.

Despite Sergent’s use of popular imagery like manga cartoons, he has found a distinct visual language of his own. By mixing and layering popular imagery with archaic symbolism and yantras he links explicit sexual and erotic imagery with transience spirituality and death.

I am delighted to present Erotic Art Lover’s interview with Jean-Pierre Sergent where he talks extensively about his work and the ideas and processes behind it.

Enjoy!

Talking to Artist…: Jean-Pierre Sergent

Jean-Pierre Sergent in Besançon studio © of Jean-Pierre Sergent – Photo by Yves Petit

EroticArtLover:
Have you been to art school or are you self-taught?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Both. First I studied the basics of sculpture, painting and the use of colors for a year and a half in art school. After that, I learned about artists’ works and art history through travel and a lot of reading.

EroticArtLover:
What made you switch from architecture to art?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Architecture had too many constraining rules. I am a free spirit and I need to have as few boundaries as possible.

EroticArtLover:
How would you describe your style of art?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
That is a small question that asks a lot to answer it. I will say, it is an art of “image-fusion” that we can call postmodern painting — a mix of images, patterns, abstractions, texts and concepts.

Blue: Mangas, Yantras & Otras Cosas, 2009, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

Blue: Dionysos, Perpetual Orgy of Life, 1998, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm© of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
What is most important to you in terms of your art, form or content?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
My main work is mostly composed of huge murals formed by the installation of square Plexiglas panels mounted side by side. One of the biggest and most recent pieces was on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Mulhouse (in Alsace, France). It was 10,50 meters long by 2,15 meters high. In those large art pieces I can convey to the public the deep content within my work. Form and content work together to create a direct impact on spectators.

View of the wall installation of 18 paintings on Plexiglas in the studio, June 2012, 3,15 x 6,30m © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
What is your preferred medium?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I only paint with acrylic silkscreen on paper and Plexiglas panels.

EroticArtLover:
What’s your favorite color?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
All the colors are important. I like to work with blue as it is perhaps the most mysterious and “spiritual” color.

Blue Skulls: Mayan Diary, acrylic on Plexiglas, 1998, 1,40 x 1,40 m © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
You divide your time between Besançon (France) and New York.  Do you have a studio in both places?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Unfortunately not. I wish I could afford it! Right now I do most of my work in France.

EroticArtLover:
What is the difference between the two locations when it comes to creating art?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
New York is active and creative. You have the feeling that people respect you more as an artist. It is also a place were you meet many interesting artists, art lovers and art dealers and you can visit many exhibitions. When I am there I visit the MET nearly every Sunday. The problem now is that the high rents for studios have become unaffordable for most artists. In France I live in a small city and the interest that most of the local people have in contemporary art is really very limited. But the nature is beautiful and it inspires me at a different level. Also the rent is cheaper!

EroticArtLover:
Is your work a culmination of an intuitive process or hard graft and reworking?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Painting is really an intuitive process. Because I am working on the reverse sides of the Plexiglas panels, I never know before having completed the work how it will look when it is finished. I am not running after a preconceived idea but I add layer after layer until I get the feeling that the painting is finally arrived at, and carries its own energy.

EroticArtLover:
How do you prepare a piece? Do you use a sketchbook?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
No. I am always in the present, the now of the working process. I only use a sketchbook to organize the superimposition of images and colors and the order in which they are going to be printed.

Yellow : Mangas, Yantras & Otras Cosas, 2010, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Do you use photographs or life models for your work?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I used to shoot a lot photographs of nature; trees, rivers, animals, museum artifacts and illustrations from books. Now, with the enormous amount of material available on the web, I find most of my information there. But I still take visuals wherever I can find them. I have not photographed life models ever.

EroticArtLover:
What is the process for creating a silkscreen print?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
It’s a long process:

• First, I import an image on my computer. Sometimes I also draw directly on the film mask.

• Second, I redraw the image. Using design programs like Photoshop and later with Illustrator, to convert the design to vectors.

• Third, I send the information to the machine plotter in order to cut a Rubylith film with a blade. Two films are sandwiched together, the bottom layer is clear and is not cut, the top layer is red and cut by the blade.

• Fourth, I peel off the part of the film I don’t want to print so that my design remains on the film. If the design is simple it can take a few minutes and if it is complicated, it can take up to a day or more of work!

• Fifth, I clean the old silkscreen frames with a high-pressure water cleaner.

• Sixth, I coat the frames with two coats of photographic glue emulsion and let it dry.

• Seventh, I use Scotch tape to stick the ruby stencil that blocks light onto the back of the frame, and I expose it in a light box for five minutes.  The glue dries where the surface is not protected by the film mask. After that, I clean the frame with running water to remove the parts that haven’t been exposed to light.

• Eight, finally I place my frame on the printing table and apply the ink with a squeegee onto paper or Plexiglas.

• Ninth, I add about three more layers of images on every Plexiglas painting. Then I finish it with three layers of monochrome coats with a brush, three coats of gesso and two of varnish.

EroticArtLover:
How long does it take to make a silkscreen print from start to finish?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Silkscreen printing is a long and laborious process. I have a huge database of images collected over the years. So it can take anywhere from a few weeks to several years for an image or a symbol to appear in one of my pieces of art.

EroticArtLover:
Which part of the creative process do you enjoy the most?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I like printing. It is the moment in which nothing can be changed. The color needs to be perfect. I also enjoy seeing the image finally printed in color after such a long design process in black and white. It is exciting.

Orange : Bondage and freedom, 2003, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Are you messy or meticulous when working?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I am really meticulous when it comes to work. I need to be right with the placing of the frame and the studio needs to be dust free since I am printing on Plexiglas, a highly electrostatic material, which catches dust easily.

Jean-Pierre Sergent at work in his Long Island City Studio, NY, photo by Sachie Kumano © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Do you work with music or in silence?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I listen to the radio but I can hardly hear it. The printing vacuum table is really noisy!

EroticArtLover:
Favourite type of music?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
World music. Indian or Bach.

EroticArtLover:
What is the last book you read?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I just finished the two volumes of The Florentine Codex from Bernardino de Sahagun. He describes Aztec daily life, time calendars and rituals before the time of the Spanish conquest. Before that, I read the Zen Buddhism essays of D. T. Suzuki, the complete works of Jack Kerouac and a few days ago I just started The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann.

Red : Mangas, Yantras & Otras Cosas, 2009, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Why is it interesting for you to work with eroticism?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
First of all eroticism is a secret and mysterious, hidden part of every human culture, and it is in every human being. You need somehow to be initiated and to encounter the right person to introduce you to sexual intercourse and arousal. Secondly, eroticism is part of our own culture, and it differs from one culture to the next. And even if the gesture looks the same, the rituals and the emotions are different. Third, eroticism plays with taboos.

Green : Mangas, Yantras & Otras Cosas, 2009 / 2011, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Do you see your erotically themed series as entities separate from your other works?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
All of my works have erotic content to some extent. The different themes are connected and entangled in a complex web. Most of the erotic images displayed in my work are partially hidden by geometrical patterns or ancestral rituals. It takes time to discover what is actually there. It is a game between the artist and the viewer.

Yellow : Mangas, Yantras & Otras Cosas, 2011, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Your series Mangas, Yantras Y Otras Cosas, is a mix of cartoons, yantra (geometric patterns used in meditation) and words. Is the aim of this series to create a connection between spirituality and the bodily experience of sex?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Yes, absolutely! All that we have is our body, and through it and sexual encounters we can access a certain state of trance, which takes us outside the linear arrow of time. Spirituality is always an experience that involves the body, you can’t detach them from each other. In monotheist societies we have disconnected these two entities: the flesh and the spirit, but in ancient societies that was not the case. Maybe it is because back then life was more fragile, and not as easy as it is today. People needed fertility rites not only for grain to grow and game to be hunted, but also to reproduce themselves and survive as a species.

Black : Mangas, Yantras & Otras Cosas, 2011, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Some of your images are very graphic and explicit. Is it your intention to create sexual arousal?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
No, not really. I want to create a consciousness, an awakening of the beauty and fragility of life! Also, an awareness of the cosmic order, a dissolution of the ego into the universal. As Artaud said, in Héliogabale: “The strength which sustains life and the one which aborts life, are as many concrete manifestations in which the sun is the heavy center.”

EroticArtLover:
Do you see it as a failure or success if your work elicits sexual excitement?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
No, neither one. We have pornography for that purpose. Art speaks to the mind, individually and collectively.

Plus, I don’t think about that and I don’t think that De Sade was thinking about it either, when he wrote his books. I am just trying to be honest with myself and with the public. I want to show them what we can call the universal sexual energy, or life, a vital force. People can be surprised by the strong power of my large mural work within their bodies when they face it, but I doubt that they get any sexual excitement.  Maybe teenagers. Anyhow, we never know how the public reacts to the work. Sometimes people have violent reactions against it!

Red : Dionysos, Perpetual Orgy of Life, 1998, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

Red + Blue : Dionysos, Perpetual Orgy of Life, 1998, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
In describing your series Dionysos, Perpetual Orgy of Life you refer to art and eroticism as being sulfurous taboos. Can you elaborate on that?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
In every culture norms of sexuality are set by the moral and structural thoughts of the time, by religious beliefs or socio-economical constraints. What is taboo in one society can be sexual common practice in another one. Nowadays in western societies it seems that the taboos around sex are gone, lifted! Eroticism and sex have turned into consumer goods. They have become a selfish, narcissistic “promenade de santé”, an individual practice. That was not the case in more traditional societies. With their orgies, fertility and regeneration rites, bacchanal in Roman times, human sacrifices every twenty days in ancient Aztec and Mayan times, Hindu tantric rituals in India and so on…

At times, sex was a connection to the universal, and as Michaux quoted in Un Barbare en Asie : “In making love with his wife the Hindu is thinking about God within, she is a presence and a part”.

Nowadays our societies are mostly constructed around work, profit, mass consumption and the exploitation of every resource, including our bodies and soul. Pornographic business profits are approaching those of the international market for weapons. Do we see that as proof of freedom or slavery? Is it a good or bad thing? If the diffusion of pornography were not such big international business, I don’t think it would be permitted to the extent that it is. Because sex destabilizes societies that are organized around work and the production of goods.

Anyhow, in porn images I sometimes find an entranced moment. Seeing a body and flesh climaxing can have the same power as religious images have in Catholic societies where a trance is achieved in death.

Of course, art also plays with the taboos of sex and representations of death, but artists should not link themselves to contemporary morality since throughout human history it is always changing.

Red & maroon : Dionysos, Perpetual Orgy of Life, 1998, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Many of the images in your Dionysos Series clearly reference death. Can you explain your view on the link between death and eroticism?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
When I was creating this body of work, I was traveling frequently to Mexico and I visited a lot of Aztec and Mayan archeological sites where you could discover skeletons and skulls on most of the sculptural bas reliefs. They were also in art pieces in Mexican museums. Since then, this omnipresence of bones has influenced me a great deal, and I use it in my work to show the inevitable presence of death. Throughout our lives, we all experience this attraction-repulsion. These two forces of energy fight each other within us: the libido, which creates life, and the opposite force, which drives us towards death. In my work, as in life, these two instincts definitely fight each other. It is like a ritualistic scene in a tantric dance. It is not overly dramatic, but it is present.

EroticArtLover:
You talk about eroticism and structured society being at odds with each other. Is your intention to provoke a reaction of letting go of logic and structure so we can immerse ourselves in passion and desire instead?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Art is a space in which we can freely express ourselves and we can also feel connected to the collective unconscious. Rational, contemporary societies no longer care about this important human aspiration. What has become of our dreams, other than buying merchandise? Is there an initiation ritual passage anymore, other than bringing kids to Disneyland? Who knows how to pray today for the dead? Who can still feel a connection to the animals, the stars, the water, fire? So it’s not only with passion and desire that we need to be reconnected, but to the world itself as a whole. Nature and sexuality are a good way to experience it, as within those experiences we can have direct access to love, compassion, infinity, now, the void.

The “letting go” of the Buddhist tradition, teaches us to forget about logical and rational thought, to see things as they are, and try to reach a state of satori, it could be a way!

White over yellow : Bondage and freedom, 2003, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
The title of your series ‘Bondage & Freedom’ from 2003 could be perceived as an oxymoron. Can you explain the meaning behind this title?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Yes, I have been working on this series because I found the images of bondage fascinating, attractive and repulsive at the same time. The image of a nude woman’s body tied up artistically, roped like a piece of meat, an object, a package “ready to fuck”, sex lips open and the woman climaxing into a trance or a spiritual experience, is pretty exciting! It comes from the ritual practice of the old Japanese Shinto tradition, in which they used to tied up some things: stones, trees, persons, in order to create a sacred object and to bring the Kami spirits alive!

At the other end, it may appear totally disgusting if viewed from the rational European concepts of free will and the freedom to dispose of our own bodies, that is, if you are not a practicing sadist or aficionado of masochism.

All these questions come to my mind when I am working with such powerful and controversial iconographies: are these bound women goddesses of life, venal prostitutes, or victims of male chauvinism and stupidity?

Red pink : Bondage and freedom, 2003, acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

EroticArtLover:
Is it possible to liberate the mind by restricting the body?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
It is a paradoxical idea, but I believe that the brain is the main powerful organ of pleasure and liberation. In moments of extreme anxiety, it transforms suffering into an ocean of pleasure and of mystical experiences. The power of imagination is endless. You can read all the accounts of prisoners from De Sade to Nehru and look at the paintings of Frida Kahlo. It is also worth considering the power of body-mind liberation, all the experiences of the Hindu cave anchorites, practitioners of fasting, the Mayan monarchs who perforated their penises for bloodletting in order to meet the Cosmic Vision Serpent. The Sioux North Indians painful initiating rites, and all the shamanic trance experiences with Ayawaska, Peyote mushrooms, physical exhaustion — all over traditional cultures.

EroticArtLover:
Looking at your pictures it is tempting to ask if you subscribe to the Bataillen notion of death as the ultimate sexual liberation.

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
This grand idea suits the thoughts mostly of young people.  I don’t believe that older people, who are dying in hospitals, see death as a sexual liberation.  They see it more as the end of their suffering. Bataille also to believed that the disconnected personality of individuals, could through sexual climax or the experience of death, enter into a trance, which would bring them into the eternal continuity of life, or the end of the life cycle. Also Bataille insisted on the connection between the sexual act and sacrifice, as in this quote in L’Erotisme: “The ancient comparison of human sacrifice and erotic conjunction: this human being through death, is brought back to the continuity of being, to the end of his particularities. This violent action, removing from the victim its limited particularities and giving it the unlimited, the infinite, which belongs to the sacred realm, is an act of enormous consequence. This act is similar to the erotic one. When the lover denudes his victim, he desires and wants to penetrate her and disintegrate the body of the woman he loves. In this he is similar to the bloody sacrificer, killing a human body or an animal”.

EroticArtLover:
What other artists do you admire?

Black over yellow : Lady of the Ants, 2003 acrylic silkscreened on BFK Rives paper, 25 x 25 cm © of Jean-Pierre Sergent

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I am mostly interested in the anonymous artists in pre-modern societies, who created artifacts with a spiritual meaning and a social function. An intercessor art that speaks for the human to the spirits, like the Indian sculptors of Yupi masks from the west coast, the pre-Columbian tunics, and weavers and potters, the Egyptian muralist artists, the shaman cave painters, the monks who illuminated middle ages manuscripts, or the Tantric tungas painters…

In modern times, individual artists, or in official museum art history, to name a few chronologically from the Italian primitives, Filippino Lippi, Cranach, Brueghel, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, El Greco, Vermeer, Goya, Gauguin, Picasso, Morandi, Matisse, Rothko, Newmann, Pollock, Klein, Beuys…

EroticArtLover:
What’s your most challenging work to date and why?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
To realize my work as a whole is always challenging, as it’s difficult to make a living out of it. But I am really proud of the big shows I had in NY and my last two museum exhibitions in France. It’s always great to work with institutions that have faith in what you are doing. Working in an artist studio is a bit lonely, so it’s a pleasure to work with all the museum staff, from the technicians to the communications team and the exhibition curator.

EroticArtLover:
How do you relax?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
In summer I go canoeing on the river.  In winter I snowshoe in the mountains.

EroticArtLover:
Living or dead, which artist would you most like to have dinner with, and why?

Fra Angelico (1395-1455)

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Fra Angelico. I like his work, the purity of his colors and he could explain to me how he lived his faith in God. Unfortunately, nowadays we have lost our connection with the sacred.  Meeting someone in direct contact with faith can transfer a fragment of it to me. It would also be great to have an exchange with a Mayan artist, or Pasolini.

EroticArtLover:
What do you prefer, day or night?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Both, but I love the sun.

EroticArtLover:
Biggest ambition for your art?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I would like to have more museum shows, mostly in Europe outside of France. Why not in Denmark? Also in Asia, were my work has never been shown. I can feel a strong connection between my work and the Asian aesthetic. I would also like to have an established gallery defend and represent my work.

EroticArtLover:
Do you prefer gallery representation or personal interaction when selling your work?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I love to sell my art though my studio and at art fairs, but, selling is difficult and time consuming, so it would be great to work with a gallery. I am too busy working on important exhibition projects to focus on selling the work.

EroticArtLover:
Fact or fiction?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Both are really important. Fiction is always based on real facts. You need a base, a starting point.

EroticArtLover:
Favorite restaurant?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Japanese.

EroticArtLover:
When was your last holiday?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
Three years ago. I visited an artist friend in Marseille, it was great to spend time with her and her family in that beautiful city by the Mediterranean sea.

EroticArtLover:
What is you next project?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I am preparing several solo exhibitions for 2013. One in a new gallery in my home town were I am going to show large works on paper, in March (CLICK HERE for more information about Jean-Pierre’s next show Sex and Rituals ). A show in Badenweiller in Germany in June and maybe also a new museum show in a city nearby.

EroticArtLover:
What do you hope to achieve in 2013?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
I would like to have more shows in well-known art places and to meet important collectors. Also, I need to print out all the numerous new images that are already designed in my computer and ready to be printed.

EroticArtLover:
Where can people see and buy your work?

Jean-Pierre Sergent:
For the time being they can contact me directly through my web site: j-psergent.com.

Erotic Art Lover:
Thank you for taking the time to talk about your ideas and work with us.

I love this Shunga Toy Print showing a female with penetration close-up. It is so naughty but charming at the same time because it is actually quite fun. The fun lies in the playfulness and somehow brings back memories of the paper dolls that I used to play with as a child… not that they were anything like this print though!

I imagine this would be perfect for a serious collector of rare Shunga, costing a €585 or $780 from Akantiek who specialise in selling antique Shunga prints.

Mastubating Young Woman

Another new print on the Akantiek site is the Meiji period Shunga print by Ikeda Terukata showing a young woman practising self love. This is a particularly lovely print because of the fine colouring of her vulva, the detailing in her garment and the use of embossing on the white fabric of her kimono. It is also clear for us to see the shunga image that she is using to arouse herself – a potential mirroring of our own position as spectators …

Erotic Sake Bowl

This rare Surimono Shunga print which shows an erotic sake bowl with female and male genitals ready for intercourse is not so unusual with regards to the erotic content.

What makes this print super juicy is when you consider that, this bowl is used for drinking sake an intoxicating alcoholic liquid, yet a drinker might well experience further excitement with mouth and lips so close to this design, you can almost imagine drinking up love juices in a literal sense.

For more quality Shunga prints go to www.Akantiek.nl

SIMULATING SEX Aesthetic Representation of Erotic Activity by Steve Bachmann (Bloomington, Indiana: Unlimited Publishing, 2002).

A while ago I received an email from UP (Unlimited Publishing) which suggested that I might be interested in reading Bachmann’s book Stimulating Sex as this book considers various  artistic renditions of erotic activity by the likes of Picasso, Klimt, Madonna and movies like American Pie. Indeed this sounded interesting and so excited I bought my copy on Amazon.

Book summery:

Simulating Sex starts off by looking at and referencing the basis of and for sexual behaviour and the postulated differences between genders. Scientific research by Kinsey and other researchers is used to describe how and what Americans define sexual behaviour, which makes for interesting but a relatively brief reading.

Bachmann goes on to make a distinction between when he feels an artistic expression is erotic or just plain pornographic in content. He makes it clear that his preference lies with artistic renditions that dig deep to examine the issues surrounding eroticism as opposed to the more easily digestible and popular references, which glamorize and sugarcoat the sexual experience which ultimately aims only to stimulate sexual excitement.

The book furthermore examines taboos around sexuality and for those interested in the link between sex and death, there is a very interesting discussion on how spanking and punishment and ultimately death is perhaps one of the final erotic taboos to be wrestled. In this connection the scientific research of William Clark Professor of Immunology of UCLA is of particular interest because it, on a cellular level, elegantly explains and supports the Freudian psychoanalytical postulation that “sex culminates in death”. Bachmann concludes that sex is a complex matter that always involves a power struggle or a play of conquest and surrender.

Following on from this Bachmann points out that sexual action seen through rose tinted spectacles is entirely uninteresting when it comes to artistic renditions of erotic activity. What is needed instead are renditions that describe the reality of the sexual act, the human experience of bodily insecurities, the emotional roller coaster and the physical struggle and discomfort that any couple in a passionate embrace have experienced. These reflections of real life sexual experiences are needed Bachmann argues, because they equip us better to deal with our personal real life experiences of sexual activity than those of the sugarcoated idealized variety.

Overall…

…the book covers a wide range of issues relating to eroticism looking at different artistic renditions from literature to fine art, including photography music and film. Yet the reviews of literary renditions far outweigh the fine art renditions. With 11 out of 21 essays centering on literature this book is an interesting read for anyone who prefers literature to other types of art.

The limited focus on the fine art renditions was at first glance disappointing to me. Having said that, it is probably good that there were not more. Here is why.

In the chapter ‘Klimt: Diary of a Seducer’ Bachmann frames Klimt’s art from a male point of view when he describes how a man might get erotically stimulated in an attempt to seduce his female companion by showing her some of Klimt’s female nudes. He goes on to argue that the woman being shown and viewing an image of Klimt’s self-pleasuring female might also find herself sexually aroused.

It seems to me, that if Bachmann had paid attention to John Townsend’s point about what women want and what men want when it comes to sex and love, he would have understood that a man would get much closer to seducing a woman, by showing her Klimt’s famous painting ‘The Kiss’, which shows a couple in a close embrace.

Bachmann also shares with the reader his view on what constitutes an erotically appealing female nude and in the process exposes his own personal likes and dislikes of female body shapes. The reader could have and should have been spared this viewpoint especially as the author’s descriptive use of language could have been a little more sensitive. I imagine a number of readers might feel somewhat hurt by Bachmann’s description of certain body shapes.

My Recommendation:

In Bachmann’s Introduction he says, “the role of the critic is to help the reader avoid wasting her time.” With that in mind I here is my assessment of Bachmann’s anthology of essays;

Firstly I think Bachmann’s job is a difficult one, because although the artistic rendition of erotic activity is the common thread that runs through the collections of essays, it might prove difficult to maintain a reader’s interest throughout the book. I, for one, am less interested in how artistic renditions of erotic activity are portrayed in literature than how they are depicted in fine art. Of course that is my personal preference yours may differ.

If, like me, your main area of interest is the visual arts I suspect you will find this book of little or limited value. That is not to say that there is no value in this book. I found many interesting general bits of information about eroticism that added further to my overall understanding of the subject. But this is not a book that covers a lot of ground when it comes to visual renditions of eroticism.

Secondly I think it is important to mention that it is an American author reviewing American culture and you will definitely have an advantage if you know something about American literary culture. If you are not very well familiar or acquainted with American literature, you may feel a little sidelined at times I did anyway.

This book is unquestionably “drier” and certainly less sexy than many other books on the subject.  What is more is the high lix score, so if you are not a strong reader or English simply is not your first language you may well struggle a bit.

If all of this has not put you off reading the book – you can get a taste of what you’re in for as the link below will let you read the first 68 pages of Simulating Sex

Her highly unconventional (in embroidery terms) designs of ladies in various stages of undress are fun and humous but also beautiful and delicate. It is particularly interesting to see the tranformation from idea to finished embroidery in a piece like “Cherry Lounging on a Settee” (Check out the Pdf to see this piece).

You can read the interview with Meghan Willis below or download the Pdf with more pictures of Willis’ work right here.

Enjoy!

Talking to Artist…: Meghan Willis

Megan Willis © Aaron Tsuru

EroticArtLover:
How long have you been making art?

Meghan Willis:
Oh man, forever in some form or fashion. I come from an artistic family; my brother and I would spend our summers drawing or at various art camps. I don’t always consider my various projects as “art”, but I always try and make sure I’m working on something that gets my creative juices going so that I don’t get bored. I’ve been playing with my current mixed media art for the last year.

EroticArtLover:
Have you been to art school or are you self-taught?

Meghan Willis:
Half and half; I went to school for fashion design, so parts of my knowledge are from school, but the rest is a mash up from trial and error, and the internet.

EroticArtLover:
Where is your studio?

Meghan Willis:
My studio is just my house. In my old house, I had a spare room with my sewing machines and supplies, but I just moved to Brooklyn, and so now my machines & supplies are just in my living room. We’re still in the process of unpacking, and hanging art work.

EroticArtLover:
How would you describe what you do?

Meghan Willis:
I guess I’d say a “textile artist” or “mixed media artist”.

EroticArtLover:
Do you see your work as art or craft?

Meghan Willis:
A little bit of both. Before embarking on my latest work, I spent 4 years as a crafter; making leather accessories. When you think about the media I use, embroidery and appliqués, they’re definitely traditional craft mediums. Maybe I’m crafting art? There are definitely connations to both terms that taken various ways can really be interchangeable.

EroticArtLover:
Preferred medium?

Meghan Willis:
Fabric, leather, thread, and paint (acrylic and watercolours).

EroticArtLover:
What made you start working with textiles and what makes textiles special to you?

Kiki © Meghan Willis

Meghan Willis:
I first learned how to sew when I was 6 years old and I just never stopped working with textiles from there. I ended up going to school for fashion design, and even now have a day job in the apparel industry. I love the idea of taking something that’s two dimensional and figuring out how to make it fit the body. With my art, now I’m taking that same 2D medium and painting it to look 3D, and embroidering the body to try and look like it has movement. It all seems like an extension of one another. I love playing with textures, and the tactile quality that my art ends up having.

EroticArtLover:
What tools do you use in your work process?

Meghan Willis:
Hand needles, scissors, rubber cement, regular thread, embroidery floss, my sewing machine, and sometimes my serger.

EroticArtLover:
Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Meghan Willis:
All over! Number one source is probably my husband’s (Aaron Tsuru) photography (tsurufoto.com). I also love to search tumblr for images that spark something. Museums, books, friends, etc.

© Aaron Tsuru

EroticArtLover:
How do you prepare a piece? Do you use a sketchbook?

Oral Fixation: Firecracker © Meghan Willis

Meghan Willis:
A couple different ways. Sometimes I’ll take one of Aaron’s photos directly and use that as a template. Or I’ll put together a collage of images that I find inspiring (for poses, colors, etc.) and then either have him shoot something specific for me, or I’ll shoot something specific. I don’t have a conventional sketch book anymore.

EroticArtLover:
Embroidery is a very traditional type of craft. What is the most common reaction you see when people are faced with the sexy motifs of on your embroidery?

Meghan Willis:
The reactions have been really positive. One thing I find amusing about my embroideries, is that I’m taking images that as photos would be NSFW, and not allowed to post to Facebook, turning them into embroideries which are then perfectly acceptable to post. I have friends who are really conservative who find my work beautiful. There are those that are offended by my work, but I define my work as more sensual than anything else. I’m not making it to shock people. If people think nudity in and of itself is shocking then that’s their own issues and prejudices that they’re labeling my work with. Other reactions are just how lovely things look in person versus online, which is nice to hear; and in person, there’s that need to touch the work – which is perfectly acceptable!

EroticArtLover:
You seem to only show women in your embroidery. Is it harder to embroider images of men or are sexy images of men uninteresting?

Meghan Willis:
Haha! Part of the reason is that my husband photographs mostly women. I find women very beautiful and love being able to capture and share that with my work; celebrating women’s bodies. I do have some ideas for some men themed embroideries that I need to get working on!

EroticArtLover:
Have you made any embroidery of couples?

Meghan Willis:
Not yet, but that’s definitely something else that I have some ideas on.

EroticArtLover:
Is it okay for an artist to create works that she/he knows will sell well instead of creating more challenging and difficult works?

Meghan Willis:
I think there needs to balance. I rely on my day job to pay my bills, so that allows me to create work that’s satisfying for me. But I’ve also run a business that started off as a creative outlet that turned into pure business. In a perfect world, people would create work that makes them happy that people respond to.

Peek-A-Boo © Meghan Willis

EroticArtLover:
What’s your favourite colour?

Meghan Willis:
Pink!

EroticArtLover:
What is the last book you read?

Meghan Willis:
“The Study Series” by Maria V. Snyder.

EroticArtLover:
Do you work with music or in silence?

Meghan Willis:
Either music, or Netflix in the background. Today it’s the Mamas and Papas channel on Pandora.

EroticArtLover:
Favourite type of music?

Meghan Willis:
Indie pop and old school soul.

EroticArtLover:
How long does it take to make a work of art from start to finish?

Meghan Willis:
This can vary by piece, anywhere from 2 hours to 12 hours.

EroticArtLover:
What’s your most challenging work to date and why?

Meghan Willis:
I think anytime I’m trying something new, trying to push my boundaries, it’s always a challenge. “Perspective No. 1” was probably the first one where I felt like, is this going to be worth it in the end? I worry that I’m going to waste my time working on something that I won’t love, forgetting that sometimes that’s part of the process.

EroticArtLover:
How do you relax?

Meghan Willis:
Conveniently enough, I find embroidering really relaxing. Also, reading, hanging with my love, going for walks, scrolling on the interwebs, haha!

EroticArtLover:
Which past artist(s) do you admire?

Meghan Willis:
Degas, van Gogh, Klimt, Alexander McQueen, Frida, Gil Elvgren.

EroticArtLover:
What do you prefer; Textiles: Silk or cotton? Buttons: Wood or plastic?

Meghan Willis:
Cotton, I’m a casual girl at heart. Wood.

EroticArtLover:
Where would you most like to see your embroidery displayed?

Meghan Willis:
I’d feel honored to have it displayed anywhere. I’ve been really touched to see friends hanging my work in their homes.

EroticArtLover:
Where would you like your next holiday to be?

Meghan Willis:
Japan, hiking parts of Mount Fuji.

EroticArtLover:
What is you next embroidery project?

Meghan Willis:
I plan on playing more with incorporating water colors onto the linen on my work. I also have some ideas of printing photos on fabric, and then embroidering on top of those. I’ve also thought about creating a piece incorporating an “I <3 NY” shirt, to auction off for charity.

I <3 New York © Meghan Willis

EroticArtLover:
Can people commission you to do a piece of embroidery?

Meghan Willis:
Absolutely!

EroticArtLover:
Where can people buy your work?

Meghan Willis:
www.tsurubride.etsy.com

EroticArtLover:
Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing your new work in 2013 and hope New York will provide you with fresh inspiration for more great works

REMEMBER: You can read this interview in article format below or download it here: Talking to Artist:… Meghan Willis

Yet these paintings are more than just examples of high quality draughtsmanship, they are also full of imagination passion and mischief. It is the imagination behind the paintings that make these painting stand out, and it is the life and personality of Lena Lafaki that I would like to introduce you to in this interview.

I often feel that it is difficult to get a sense of someone’s personality in a written interview. Yet in this interview I feel I got really close to the artist just like when I have had a chat with a good friend. I would like for you to experience that too, which is why I chose to do a minimal amount of proofreading.

Normally I proofread an article before going to press, but I decided to leave Lena’s answers for this article more or less the way they came back, because I think they convey her warm funny and charming personality. I feel that Lena’s unedited answers bring out the artist from behind the paintings, I hope you’ll agree with me.

You can download the interview in Pdf format here.

Talking to Artist…: Lena Lafaki

EroticArtLover:
How long have you been making art?

Lena Lafaki:
From a very early age; that was normal in the former Soviet Union – it was (and still is) customary that kids are starting to be involved in their future as early as possible.

EroticArtLover:
What is your preferred medium?

Lena Lafaki:
Oil, but I also love to experiment with different media.

EroticArtLover:
How would you describe your style of art?

Lena Lafaki:
Provocative realism? Actually I am double-sided: on the one hand my work is surrealistic, allegorical, with black humor realism; on the other it is ‘painterly realism’.

Three Graces, (Leda) 2011, oil on linen © Lena Lafaki

EroticArtLover:
What is the purpose of your work?

Lena Lafaki:
My head is busy 24/7 and my hands just follow. So, it is my way of life.

Neverland (The Pearl Line) 2009, oil on linen © Lena Lafaki

EroticArtLover:
Do you like or loathe the term ‘Erotic Art’ for your work?

Lena Lafaki:
I am just expressing my view on the world in my work; I do not think of terms, it’s not my purpose. I leave it to the public because everybody feels it its own way. Is it erotic or not – that doesn’t really bother me, but if it touches the viewer deeply or if he/she hates it – anything better than passing by unnoticed.

EroticArtLover:
Have you been to art school or are you self-taught?

Lena Lafaki:
Our “great leader” Lenin once said: learning, learning and again learning, so I followed his decree all my life J.
And seriously – yes, indeed I have studied throughout lifetime, different short and long-term educations.  I am full of curiosity from nature, also a perfectionist.
I hold a Master degree from a Ukrainian Art Institute and a bachelor at the Dutch Rietveld Art Academy.

EroticArtLover:
Where do you draw inspiration for your work?

Lena Lafaki:
I draw a lot from life experience but also from TV, Internet, readings, street.

EroticArtLover:
How do you prepare a piece? Do you use a sketchbook?

Lena Lafaki:
Sometimes the piece appears straight away in my head; I just have to put it down on canvas, but usually I do make some sketches.

Series of sketches from life models © Lena Lafaki

Ballet #5, oil painting © Lena Lafaki

EroticArtLover:
Favourite colour?

Lena Lafaki:
It shouldn’t be because any color in its right combination or place is just beauty in itself; but yes, guilty – it’s yellow and all shades of it, it drives me crazy.

EroticArtLover:
What’s the last book you read?

Lena Lafaki:
Novels of Italian author Dino Buzzati (in style of Kafka) and Argentine short-story writer Jorge Luis Borges.

EroticArtLover:
Do you draw from life or photographs?

Lena Lafaki:
90 per cent of time from life. I hate to do it from photo because than the paintings become dead, but sometimes I have no choice as a supporting medium.

EroticArtLover:
Would you ever model nude?

Lena Lafaki:
Easy, but I have to respect the master who does that.

EroticArtLover:
Do you work with music or in silence?

Lena Lafaki:
I do prefer to work in silence. I am continuously thinking while working, that is why even most beautiful music would take me out of my thought process.

EroticArtLover:
Favourite music?

Lena Lafaki:
When I drive or in free time I love to listen jazz, sometimes house, also classical.

EroticArtLover:
Which part of the creative process do you enjoy the most?

Lena Lafaki:
It’s a combination of the whole process: I start to be excited from the idea, and then I am curious how it will look like at the end. When it is finished I am sitting in front of the painting and look at it. I try then to understand if there is nothing that has to be changed, adjusted; with the result that I had often to repaint the whole work. This last fact I do not really enjoy but if it has success – then it gives me great satisfaction, like ecstasy!

Candy Store #1, 2012, oil on canvas © Lena Lafaki

EroticArtLover:
How long does it take to make a work of art from start to finish?

Lena Lafaki:
Depends on size, on complexity of composition, on style of painting – fine or alla prima. One can be ready in three days, another takes three to four months to complete.

EroticArtLover:
What’s your most challenging work to date and why?

Lena Lafaki:
Every next work is challenging because you enter into the unknown. Everybody knows how to ‘make’ children but nobody knows what sort of personality and outer looks they will get exactly.
I guess my most challenging work was a small painting of a simple apple – the problem was that it was my first work in oil and I made quite a mess out of it. When the apple was finished I was happy like a child! That was a big achievement – since then my oils went like oil!

Green Asparagus, 2007, oil on wooden panel

EroticArtLover:
How do you relax?

Lena Lafaki:
Playing, hugging and squeezing my Chihuahuas. I love dogs and animals in general. Also I love to visit musea: in London or in Paris, Wien or Amsterdam, Antwerp or Warsaw…I also like to rummish through flea markets – it’s like in museum but here you can touch everything and you never know what you’ll see or find – very exciting and works relaxing for the mind!

EroticArtLover:
Which piece of art would you most like to own?

Lena Lafaki:
Oh God! So much! Monet’s London series, any of Flemish Primitives, Chinese ink paintings, any of J.M.W. Turner’s last works … that’s just to begin with. If I’d get bigger house I’d start to dream about having more.

EroticArtLover:
Living or dead, which artist would you most like to have dinner with?

Lena Lafaki:
William Turner. This great master was about 200 years ahead of his time.

Vive la Vie (Leda), 2011, oil on linen © Lena Lafaki

EroticArtLover:
What part does humour play in your art?

Lena Lafaki:
Main. Humor makes us human beings.

EroticArtLover:
Are you stringent and planned or experimental when you work?

Lena Lafaki:
Again, it depend on work: nudes are made as I breathe, my whole mind is accumulating the model in front of me, I try to catch something that makes her characteristic. In these, nudes’ works, I like to experiment and often go wild “physically”.
With my “Leda“ series, for instance, I went “mentally” wild (I mean the idea); but in the execution I carefully worked out the composition, all details were made with spits (pointy) brush. It was a long and tedious process, requiring many layers of thin transparent paint.

EroticArtLover:
What do you prefer, day or night?

Lena Lafaki:
Day, because the colors and all nuances of it are most right at day light.

EroticArtLover:
Biggest ambition for your art?

Lena Lafaki:
Of course it would be nice to “hang” in some cool museums!

Candy Store #6, 2012, oil on canvas © Lena Lafaki

EroticArtLover:
When selling your art do you prefer, gallery representation or personal interaction?

Lena Lafaki:
It is important that it ends up with someone who loves the piece. Would it matter by which means?

EroticArtLover:
Innovation and investigation, is one more important than the other in art?

Lena Lafaki:
They are two children of one mother: in order to innovate one needs to investigate. On the other hand (as someone said): “Art doesn’t need to be innovative to be good”…

EroticArtLover:
When was your last holiday?

Lena Lafaki:
My mother always said: To rest is to change what you are doing. I tried to combine business with leisure throughout my life.
I just came back from Venice, where I had an exhibition, while being there and waited in order to be able to take my works back home, I stood on streets with my painter’s box to capture architectural beauty. Who is not in love with Venice?

EroticArtLover:
Biggest achievement to date?

Lena Lafaki:
Training my Chihuahuas to not to bark on everything that moves (Chihuahua owners will easily understand what that means) .
In art – I haven’t reached it yet.

Never Ending Story (Femme Fatal), 2012, oil on canvas © Lena Lafaki

EroticArtLover:
Fact or fiction?

Lena Lafaki:
Candy or salami, boy or girl?
If smartly done – love both.

EroticArtLover:
What is your next project? What does 2012 hold for you?

Lena Lafaki:
2013: Ladies, ladies and again – ladies. That has been the main subject of my work for the last years.

Candy Store #10, 2012, oil on canvas © Lena Lafaki

#15 (Candy Store), 2012, oil on canvas © Lena Lafaki

Erotic art

Erotic Art Lover:
Where can people buy your work?

Lena Lafaki:
To buy or just to look at and hopefully enjoy – everybody is welcome at:

www.lafaki.com

Thank you to have me here, on your delightful “Erotic Art Lover” website!

Erotic Art Lover:
Thank you for taking the time to share your story with us.

You can read the interview below or download it (with more pictures) in Pdf format here: Talking to Artist …Lena Lafaki



Men know what they desire.

Men know what turns them on and gives them sexual pleasure.

This is not surprising when you consider that male artists for centuries have depicted the female as well as the male nude, in order to gratify the wishes and reflect the fantasies of their male art patrons.

Thus the male desire, whether heterosexual or homosexual in nature, have been well understood and catered for for a long period of time.

The same cannot be said to be the case for many women. But then it has not been easy for women to see their personal sexual desire reflected in art. Until recently, in art historical terms, there has been very few women artists to represent and depict female desire. This is partly due to the fact that art patronage used to be a predominately male activity. Furthermore art of an erotic nature before 1900 was closely policed and censored by those in power (middle-class men) to shield and protect the inferior sex and weak souls, who were otherwise in danger of being easily corrupted and contaminated by such content, meaning women and the uneducated lower classes.

Art and eroticism were really seen to be at loggerheads with each other as the former was seen to be representing ideas to move and engage the mind whilst the latter was all about emotional and sensory bodily desires. Women were seen to be inferior and weak emotional beings who had to be protected against the powerful force of erotic content, content only well-educated men of high intellect would be able to harness.

As women started fighting for their rights in the sixties many social and political rights were gained and things gradually started to change.  Today women can and do work as artists and are in principle free to express and represent a female view on sexual desire and pleasure.

Furthermore with the financial independence of 21st century women, at least in the western world, there is now also financial basis for women to start acting as art patrons purchasing art that reflect their personal desire and tastes.

#043 Art Nude © Vladimir Arkhipov. $570 from Saatchi online.

So, the question then is; with all the liberties and financial independence do women know what they want? Do women know what they desire and what turns them on?

For such a long time, and still today, women have been the centre of attention so to speak. Women are used to being looked at and admired. Women are less used to looking for what they find attractive.

As human beings we are arguably either voyeuristic or exhibitionist when it comes to our sexual pleasure. You are an exhibitionist if you feel turned on by someone looking at you and lusting after you, on the other hand you are a voyeur if you find it stimulating and a turn on to look at someone sexy beautiful or handsome.

Do you know what you prefer? To observe or to be seen?

It is often said that men are visual when it comes to sex (i.e. they like to look to get turned on) whereas women are auditory (meaning they like to hear their lover). This is interesting way of describing men and women’s approach to sex but it is not necessarily correct.

Women since ancient times have been praised for their beauty and sex appeal and great importance is still placed on how we look today. This age old appreciation and value placed on female beauty is not something that is likely to change but what is slowly changing is the increasing value placed on a man’s looks. Heterosexual men are steadily beginning to place a higher value on their appearance and it is becoming much more acceptable for men to actively maintain and even improve on their looks.

With such changes afoot there is more and more reasons for women to really start looking at what is stimulating and pleasing to their eye. And let’s face it, women are highly trained when it comes to accessing female aesthetics so once she allows herself to start looking at men it just becomes a question of finding someone pleasing to her eye.

Just like men for centuries have used art to satisfy their appetite for the naked female form women now have all the options today to use erotic art featuring men or amorous couples to stimulate their own desires.

Erotic art is able to provide a multitude of options to satisfy your needs however classical romantic fetishistic or hardcore they may be. All you have to do is choose.

#058 Art Nude © Vladimir Arkhipov. Colour Photo; $2,145 from Saatchi online.

Promise © Lauri Blank Studio

Fetish 1 Drawing nr. 5, Ink on paper © Antonio Biella. €1,200

Finding Erotic Art That Stimulate Female Desire.

It is definitely possible to find erotic art created by a male artist that stimulates female desire. However, it is even more interesting to see erotic artworks created by female artists because they originate from a female point of view. Who is better at understanding female desire than another female?

The nature of an artist is by default voyeuristic as she observes her subject in order to depict it. With a greater number of female artists working at producing art today than ever before you might therefore reasonably expect depictions of an erotic nature that represent and stimulate female voyeuristic desire.

But that is far from always the case.

I find it surprising and usually a little disappointing when heterosexual female artists choose to focus solely on depicting nude or semi-nude females. Perhaps these female artists find it hard to see and move past centuries of indoctrination to reflect the desire of a female voyeur or perhaps they are just trying to re-appropriate how female sexuality is portrayed.

Personally my pleasure and desire as a heterosexual female voyeur lies in seeing sensual sexy and titillating depictions of heterosexual males and heterosexual couples in close embraces. There are much fewer images of this type compared with images of erotic female nudes but they do exist if you look for them.

On Maya Guez’s homepage you find some fine photographic works which display the male body from a female perspective.

“Beast Within” is an aesthetically pleasing image where Maya has portrayed male model Evan Martin’s beautiful naked body in a very stylised fashion. Normally there is a certain vulnerability that comes with nakedness but here the dark skin of the model’s body accentuated by metal spikes and metal wire creates an image of a tribal warrior who is powered by raw body strength primeval instinct and erotic prowess.

“Beast Within”, Model: Evan Martin, Photograph © Maya Guez

Carolyn Weltman’s works of art are entirely different in style. Weltman is an artist who depicts sexuality in all its shapes and forms. “The Fish” shows a heterosexual couple in a very intimate situation that I think many females would be able to identify with and happily hang on their bedroom wall. This is certainly an image that would help remind you what the bedroom can also be used for.

“The fish”, Drawing © Carolyn Weltman. (Open Edition Print €44)

The images and works of art to boost and stimulate your love life are out there, it is just a question of working out what you like and then finding it.

All artists strive to develop a distinctive visual language which is unique to them. An artistic fingerprint so to speak. But developing such a fingerprint is often a long and difficult process and many artists struggle leaving only a few to actually succeed.

Bianca van Baast who lives and works in Oisterwijk Holland, has successfully developed a strong visual language. The formal qualities of Bianca van Baast’s pictures are based on a figurative style populated by strangely coloured androgynous human beings. Yet despite the formal qualities the viewer can easily identify with the content because the figures emanate recognisable human emotions, both good and bad ones.

Bianca van Baast’s pictures possess an otherworldliness and they reside in an indefinable space which transports the viewer to a place where we connect with our feelings. And the feelings we connect with almost seem distilled into pure essence. It is a powerful experience.

I am pleased to present an interview with one of Holland’s most distinctive and interesting artists of today: Bianca van Baast.

Download the Interviw in Pdf format here.

The guardians, 2012 © Bianca Van Baast

Talking to artist…: Bianca van Baast 

Bianca van Baast © Liesbeth Kaag.

EroticArtLover:
How long have you been making art?

Bianca van Baast:
I was about 6 years old when I told my parents that I wanted to become an artist. Although my parents were not happy with my choice of career, they supported me in my creativity by supplying me with pencils, sketchbooks and paint.
A few years later I attended drawing lessons. At 17 years of age I started lessons in oil painting.
In 2000 I graduated as a art teacher. Before I started this education I already had an idea of the kind of art I wanted to make, but it wasn’t well received by my teachers. It took me a year, after graduating, to get my confidence back and continue what I had started. That was in 2001. I took part in my first (duo) exhibition in 2002.

Tools of the trade – in Bianca’s studio.

EroticArtLover:
What is your medium?

Bianca van Baast:
I use oil paint on canvas.
In the beginning I also used acrylics in the first layer of my paintings, but the producer of Royal Talens artist supplies advised me not to. Oil paint does not stick to acrylics, so it might come off after awhile. That is when I stopped using it.

I graduated with paintings on panel, so in the first years of my career I kept using panels next to canvas. But panels are very fragile and since I do not frame my paintings, it is hard to keep them intact. I prefer not to frame my paintings because the subject matter is about freedom and evolving that is why I feel it would be in conflict to frame them.

EroticArtLover:
How would you describe your style of art?

Bianca van Baast:
My artwork is figurative, but not completely realistic. I like to think that it’s art with a message. People ask me often whether there is a name for my style. But although my artwork has links to other movements like symbolism surrealism and visionary art, there is no special art movement where it belongs.

It’s how you look at it, 2006 – Copyright Bianca van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Have you been to art school or are you self-taught?

Bianca van Baast:
I graduated as an art teacher, but school never taught me how to oil paint. Years before art school I had joined a group of amateurs painting in oil. That is where I learned the basics.

By experimenting further I developed my own style and technique. The more I learned the more my technique changed over the years, which you can see if you compare my early work with my later work.

Goodbye yesterday, 2001 © Bianca Van Baas

In these arms II, 2010 – copyright Bianca van Baast

EroticArtLover:
What is the purpose of your work?

Bianca van Baast:
I wish to inspire people to create a better life for oneself. That’s also the thought behind my project ‘Een glimp van je ziel’(A glimpse of your soul). It contains a painting that is travelling through the Netherlands with the same message.

Glimp van je ziel (A glimpse of your soul), 2007 © Bianca van Baast

When I started to paint I was depressed and felt like a victim. But while painting my emotions, feelings and thoughts I noticed that I could heal myself.

I became aware that I could take control over my own life if I only listened to my needs and wishes and if I took action. I’m sharing this whole process in my paintings.

New life, 2010 © Bianca Van Baast

Touched II, 2010 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Why are the models in so many of your pictures androgynous?

Bianca van Baast:
I wish to show the inner being of a person. That is why I strip away all externals like clothing, hair, make up and jewellery. And some details, like eyebrows or fingernails, are insignificant to the story that I want to tell, so I leave them out also. This way it becomes more difficult to see the difference between man and woman. Not that it matters; Men or women, we all experience the same emotions.

EroticArtLover:
Looking at your pictures it is clear that relationships between people interests you. Isolation, segregation and loneliness are some of the words that spring to mind. What do you have to say about that?

Reverse stream, 2006 © Bianca Van Baast

Bianca van Baast:
Most emotions and feelings are triggered in relationships. And I do not mean exclusively in a man and woman relation, but in every possible relation.
We all want to be heard and understood, but others will never know exactly how you feel and what you need or want. This might make you feel desolate.

But once we realize that this is just a feeling and we accept this feeling, we can take a step forward. I had to paint all my illusions before I finally realized this.

EroticArtLover:
Where do you draw inspiration for your work?

Bianca van Baast:
I feel inspired by that what surprises me or makes me curious. Emotions, feelings and thoughts that come up in certain situations, makes me want to investigate them. These situations might have to do with me, but it is also possible that others are involved.
I examine these feelings and emotions by writing about them, sketching and painting them.

Sketch for painting ‘Morning ritual’

EroticArtLover:
How do you prepare a piece?

Bianca van Baast:
When I get inspired I make a note by means of a quick sketch and/or text. When the idea stays stuck in my head, I’ll invite a model to pose for me. Taking the ideas of the model in consideration, I’ll search for the right pose or expression and take pictures. I use the photos to determine the composition and the size of a painting. Then I’ll order canvases with the precise size at a wholesaler. Sometimes I use a computer program to edit the pictures. Depending on the idea, I might prepare the canvas before copying the picture to the canvas. I paint in layers, first background, then the body, then background again, and then finishing up with the body.

Photo of model for morning ritual – copyright Bianca van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Do you use a camera in your work process?

Bianca van Baast:
Yes. Like I mentioned before, I take pictures of my models. And during the painting process I also take pictures. Sometimes it is easier to evaluate the work that I have already done by taking a photo, than by looking at the painting itself. It gives me a better survey.

Morning ritual, 2009 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Have you ever tried being an artist’s model?

Bianca van Baast:
I thought about doing it. And while talking to some artists I hoped that they would ask me. But I’m not very comfortable with my body and therefore not sure whether I’ll have the guts to do it.
I did pose for myself. But only a couple of pictures were usable. ‘Lovely lucky life’ is one of the few self-portraits that I made.

Lovely lucky life, 2011 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Which part of the creative process do you enjoy the most?

Bianca van Baast:
I’m not sure whether I have a favorite part. Creating feels like a rollercoaster. One minute you are insecure, and a minute later you’re on a high, because everything seems to work out fine. Then soon after, everything seems to fall apart again.

The wave, 2003 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
It sounds like the painting process is exhausting. How do you relax?

Bianca van Baast:
When I need a break I go for a walk. It relaxes my body and clears my head.
To alternate painting with reading and writing also helps me to relax. But the best way is to meet friends, whether they are creative people or not.

Turning blossom, 2011 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
How long does it take to make a work of art from start to finish?

Bianca van Baast:
It is difficult to say. It depends on the colours that I use and the amount of layers I paint. Oil paint dries very slow. Especially colours like white and violet. When I paint, it takes almost a week before I can add another layer. That is why I work on several paintings at the same time.
Most paintings take me about 6 to 7 weeks to finish. Canvases with more then two figures need more time. Sometimes 3 to 4 months. There are some paintings that I put a side, to finish them several years later.

EroticArtLover:
Do you work with music or in silence?

Bianca van Baast:
Most of the time I listen to music when I’m working.  Sometimes I listen to an informative, internet radio. The music I listen to is a mix of R&B, Rock, classical, reggae, metal, soul, 60-s, 70-s and 80-s.

Dyers eve, 2001, oil painting © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Favourite type of music?

Bianca van Baast:
Probably hard rock.
I use to be a Metallica fan. Their music inspired me to paint ‘Dyers eve’, which was one of my first paintings.

EroticArtLover:
What’s your most challenging work to date and why?

Bianca van Baast:
I guess that’s ‘Ecce homo’. I was asked to participate in a Jheronimus Bosch tribute exhibition. But I had no idea what to create. One day before the entry date I was working in my studio and thought about passing up on this opportunity. Then all of a sudden several ideas, that I had for years, came together.

Ecce homo, 2007 © Bianca Van Baast

I love the title Ecce homo (Behold the Man). It’s a title that is most used in paintings where Pontius Pilatus introduces Jesus to the public. Jheronimus Bosch also used this title in his work.
To display the human being in a painting, also gave me the opportunity to add the seven deathly sins to it, which was also a subject in one of Jheronimus Bosch paintings.
Bosch painted pictures with many figures. And I had just sold ‘De golf’ (The wave), a painting which had over 30 blue figures in it. I wished to make more of these ‘all over’ paintings. And this was my chance.
So the theme, title and figures all came together in one painting! A year or so later I painted ‘Admirari homo’, a follow-up of Ecce homo, showing the seven virtues.

EroticArtLover:
Favourite colour?

Support, 2009 © Bianca Van Baast

Bianca van Baast:
Personally I love the colours green and orange, but for some reason they never look appealing on canvas. That’s why I prefer blue and yellow ochre in my paintings.
Blue is known to be a cool colour, but to me ultramarine feels nice and warm. And phtalo blue always knows how to surprise me; like it is a different colour all the time.

EroticArtLover:
What’s the last book you read?

Bianca van Baast:
I read a lot. One of the latest books I read was ‘A whole new brain’ by Daniel Pink. In his book he explains that our society, which is now left brain oriented, soon will change to a right brain society. That’s good news to all creative and empathic people since they are all right brained.

The latest novel I read was Rachel by Geert Kimpen. It’s a historic novel about faith, love and art.

EroticArtLover:
Living or dead, which artist would you most like to have dinner with?

Bianca van Baast:
There is one living artist that I would love to meet! Mike Shinoda, member of the band Linkin park. He’s also a painter, designer and illustrator. It’s not the artwork that he creates that makes me want to meet him, but it seems like everything he does, is done with such an easiness and pleasure. He seems to be in such a flow which makes him able to do what he wants and with whomever he wants. I love that!

Thanks to my project ‘Guest’, where I invite artists to be a guest on my website, I already met many of my favourite artists. It’s great to talk to them and exchange ideas.

The other side, 2009 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Which museum in the world would you most like to visit?

Bianca van Baast:
Ooo, there is still so much I want to see. On top of my wish list I have the Vigeland park in Oslo and some British museums. And I’d like to go back to Musee d’Orsay in Paris. I’ve been there twice, but I can’t get enough of it.

EroticArtLover:
Are you stringent and planned or experimental when you work?

Bianca van Baast:
A little bit of both. I have a plan before I begin, but I do not sketch every detail on the canvas before I start to paint. During the process I let the paint and colours surprise me.

I might add or leave out some things to make the composition better. A harmonized composition is always more important to me, than the story that I want to tell.

Blessed, 2009 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
When do you prefer to work, day or night?

Bianca van Baast:
I prefer to start the day with some reading and/or writing. Painting starts in the afternoon, after lunch. After a break in the late afternoon, I continue in the early evening until 8.30 pm. I love to work in the evening; time flies.

EroticArtLover:
Biggest ambition for your art?

Bianca van Baast:
When I started as an artist I had big ambitions. I wished to change the world. I wanted to exhibit in the best galleries, the best art fairs and the most important museums. It still would be nice to achieve this, but it is no longer my biggest wish. Right now I aspire to create the things I like to create and to earn enough money to live comfortably. It’s nice if many people appreciate my art, but honour is no longer what I’m wishing for. It’s all about loving what you do and enjoying what you see and experience.

I do have a vision of an art gallery I’d like to run. My project ‘Guest’ is the starting point. But I’m not planning on doing this all by myself. I’m in search of a business partner.
The main goal of this gallery would be to teach people about art and to show them (what I think is) good art.

So far so good, 2007 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Can you describe what you consider good art i.e. the essence of good art?

Bianca van Baast:
I wonder whether art even exists; Is there a difference between art and craft (except maybe the quantity of what is created)? It seems that nowadays everything could be art. 
I graduated as an art teacher, but my education was mainly focus on the pedagogical site. Drawing lessons were limited and many of my fellow students did not feel the need to educate themselves after school. Maybe that is why so many artists paint abstract, saying that they are following their instincts. But if you don’t know anatomy or how to create depth, or even how to use your materials, you can’t make good art.

Will do, 2010 © Bianca Van Baast

That does not mean that abstract art is not good art. If an abstract painter consciously deviates from what he has learned, he can make his art better. But if you do not know the basics, you’re not even able to make that choice. 
Good art is when the artist knows his materials, techniques and tricks to make something look real, without the need of using it perfectly. The artist is free to exaggerate or to leave out what he has learned; All in order to improve the artwork.
 Personally I prefer figurative art and compositions that are in balance. But also (semi) abstract or conceptual art can be great. I love it when art brings a message or a story. Artwork that was made to experiment with materials can be great, but it is not what I prefer.

EroticArtLover:

In good hands, 2010 © Bianca Van Baast

Do you prefer to sell through gallery representation or personal interaction?

Bianca van Baast:
Both options have pros and cons. Gallery commissions are enormous. But I’m willing to pay if they offer enough in return. A good gallery has a nice accommodation, participates in art fairs, sends out invitations, has a good network and knows what’s going on in the art world. Just having a website isn’t good enough. I prefer to work with galleries that really love my work, so it’s easier for them to promote my paintings.
About half of my sellings happen out of my studio. Personal interaction can be nice. You meet the buyers and hear why they love your work. It’s great to have this contact, but it can also be a hassle to finish the deal.

EroticArtLover:
Should art be about innovation or investigation?

Bianca van Baast:
I do not think that one rules out the other. Does investigation not lead to innovation?
And there are so many artists with different ideas of what art should be. I believe that they are all right cause there is no wrong, only preference.

EroticArtLover:
When was your last holiday?

Bianca van Baast:
I can’t remember my last holiday since I dedicate all my spare time to art; visiting museums and galleries. But there’s a holiday coming up pretty soon and this time I’ve decided to spend no more than three days, out of 16 days, to art. Let’s hope I can stick to that.

EroticArtLover:
Biggest achievement to date?

Bianca van Baast:
I’ve been nominated a couple of times, but I think my biggest achievement is a nomination by Glossy magazine ‘Elegance’, saying that I’m ‘one out of 10 most promising artists of the Netherlands’.

Little wonder, 2011 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Fact or fiction?

Bianca van Baast:
I’m a very curious person who is always asking questions. Maybe it’s my way to understand life. But real life feels too rigid for me. I wish reality could be more beautiful. I love artists that show a different world that is full of light, beauty and love! So I go for fiction.

Fountain of life, 2004 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Favourite restaurant?

Bianca van Baast:
I’m a vegetarian, so I probably would choose a veggie restaurant. In 2009 I had my first vegetarian sushi and I love it!  But me and my friends don’t have much to spend, so we don’t go to restaurants very often.

A fragrance of beauty, 2011 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
What would you like for your birthday?

Bianca van Baast:
Good question! My birthday is coming up real soon. If I could ask for anything I would ask for a bigger studio or maybe a second studio so I could start to make sculptures alongside my painting.

Bianca van Baast in her studio © Bert Brands

EroticArtLover:
What is you next project? What does the next year hold for you?

Bianca van Baast:
In the last 2 years I have felt the need to change my posture pertaining my art and the art world. I believe this also affected my artwork. I am not sure whether I want to continue what I have been doing in the last 10 years. So I hope my holiday and the next year will bring more clarity.
I have big plans when it comes to creating, but I feel the need to, first bring all these ideas together, before I take action.

Blind faith, 2009 © Bianca Van Baast

EroticArtLover:
Where can people buy your work?

Bianca van Baast:
People can buy my work  through the Erotic Art Lover online gallery: www.eroticartlover.com and the Exto online gallery: www.biancavanbaast.exto.nl

It is also possible to go to a physical gallery to see my work as I am represented with Kunstraum Ba Cologne in Cologne, Germany:  www.ba-cologne.de

Future and coming exhibitions will be announced at: www.biancavanbaast.nl/exhibitions.html

You can read the interview in article format below or download it here.