Sex Sells Culture

A fascinating article in today's New York Times Style section, With Money Tight, Museums Take it Off, about several major European arts institutions mounting what could be considered risky exhibitions focusing on sex and nudes, expecting and getting blockbuster numbers.

The museums mentioned, the British Museum, Musee Jacquemart-Andre and the Musee d'Orsay all have deep collections of classical sculpture and paintings with erotic or semi-erotic content. The article is an interesting exploration of the marketing, financial and cultural considerations behind these shows. I think it's interesting, given the amount of porn that is easily available, that people still flock to these exhibitions. Why? Appreciation of an idealized figure is almost universal. Maybe it's the fantasy aspect or insight into the the tastes of other eras. I'm sure these shows would be a big hit in the US too.

Below is the video for the Musee d'Orsay's Masculin/Masculin (Warning male frontal nudity). Stay to the end to see model and paintings side by side. The tableau of Mercury and Paris at the end was also used in commercials and posters.



See also: Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art at the British Museum, and Desirs et Volupte: Victorian Masterpieces at the Jacquemart-Andre.

SDCC 2013 - Robert Williams & the Wheel 'O Fangs

Sculpture by Robert Williams.
Photo by Lord Cheez

One of the most stunning pieces of work on the SDCC exhibit floor was this huge wheel of teeth/fangs by Robert Williams displayed at the Gentle Giant booth. They had it situated so that you would be directly confronting it by walking toward it through one of the entrance doors and on the main aisle.

Meyer, Reynolds, Williams, Vitello & Stout

 At Williams' spotlight panel, the right people were there to discuss a whole overview of his career: Fellow cartoonist William Stout; Gwynned Vitello (president of Juxtapoz & Thrasher); Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics, who will soon be publishing the collected Zap Comics) & Karl Meyer (president of Gentle Giant Studios). While everyone got a few remarks in at the beginning, it soon became clear that everyone wanted to know what was up with that sculpture on the floor. The panel became a conversation between Meyer and Williams about his goals and the process of creating the sculpture.

Williams said "My goal was to do something no one has seen before. Action & color to attract attention and get a reaction. The wheel is about that momentary feeling of not wanting to stand in front of it."

Sculpture by Robert Williams

Williams continued on, talking about the painstaking process of creating it. He plotted it out with a computer tech from his drawings. From this they generated a scale model. Williams worked on the model, revising. They scanned the model and generated a full size version out of foam. Williams revised this one, adjusting and adding pieces. The foam model was cut into pieces, cast and reassembled. Williams perfected the sculpture and began painting. Williams talked about the importance of underpainting, and how he built up transparent layers of color to give in depth and immediacy.

Here's a good interview by Kenny Scharf about Williams' sculptures on Juxtapoz.