Yes, I got it in! Unfortunately, I had to hide the cover and its contents for about 7 hours since it came to my office (I thought I had changed my amazon.com shipping address, guess I didn't). Juxtapoz Erotica is yet another title in their series of books.
The title says it all. I knew it would be erotic art, but Lawdy!!
I really liked the part where they made a very powerful argument on the distinction between pornography and erotica. Warning: Flashback circa 1996 coming your way....
As a freshmen at VCU arts program, I had this asshole professor. I really loathed this dude. He was pretentious, stuck-up, thought his shit didn't stink; just an overall douchebag with a capital 'D'. One of his favorite forms of entertainment was to embarass all his newbie art students and make them feel like AFO (Arts Foundation) students were too wet behind the ears to yet be considered artists.
One day, he put on a slide show. Some of the pieces were well-known works by reputable artists like Salvador Dali, Van Gogh, Schiele, Frida Kahlo, etc, etc; but, every once in awhile he'd throw in a noticeable picture straight from a porno movie. Dead on crotch shots, hairy gum drops wrapped in 550 cord, very detailed penetration scenes. At the end of this slideshow he paused and asked, "So are these sexual scenes art or pornography?" Now I just felt, as I looked around the room at my fellow classmates, that this dude was a pervert on a power trip who wanted to terrify these 17-18 year old girls who were out on their own for the first time. Some of these chics had never seen a pair of testicles before in their life, let alone a pair so violently restricted!
Everyone knew by now that this question was a set up and didn't want to answer outloud. He continued, "Anyone?!" getting noticeably agitated that no one was falling into his trap. Me being the outspoken type, I answered, "I thought it was pornography. Art, even sexual art can arouse and even sometimes shock, but there is a creativity to it, a skill, an appreciation for human sexuality, a message. These pictures are snippets from pornos and are not art...they have one function, foreplay."
He waved me off, rolling his eyes very dramatically and stated, "What do you know? You're not an artist until I tell you are!"
I couldn't believe this shit. I couldn't believe that someone would ask a question and then wave off a response. I couldn't believe he was telling me that he was the god of art and I wasn't in his "book" yet.
But I digress. This book is art. Now don't get me wrong. I wouldn't say this is your typical coffee table book. I wouldn't let the little kiddies peruse the pages. There are pieces where one artist paints herself in very erotic, sexual and completely nude scenes with past presidents (in chronological order of their presidency). One was Abraham Lincoln as never seen before! There are shiny, swollen asses in latex. There are little forest creatures splooging on faces. It is definitely debauchery. But a good, down home, make you laugh out loud, shock you through and through kind of debauchery.
Once you get past the subject matter, take a look at the techniques and ideas of these artists. Very unique. Each artists' section has a small interview about why they do what they do (I believe only one admitted to being a disgusting pervert too!). The rest just had a fascination with human sexuality or other completely normal, innocent questions they were answering through their art.
Can't wait to collect yet another book from this series!
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