How would our views of pornography change if we were introduced to it in a way that demanded respect? What if we were surrounded by those images on large painted canvases in the colors of soil and earth? What would come of it? How might our visions of eroticism and sex change?
These are some of the questions that inspired artist Tatiana von Tauber to paint the ART PORN collection. That shifting vision and respect for the human body becomes apparent in this series of erotic paintings displaying various and common pleasures, behaviors and fantasies within most erotic relationships. The creation of this collection has transformed the artist’s style, stimulating new visions and inspiring new thoughts regarding eroticism, sensuality, and the nature of sex. Her intentions for this collection are to provoke the audience, and to ask us to rethink how we respond to the human body while witnessing its normal and pleasurable behaviors.
As a body of work these ten paintings express the eroticism and sexuality that influences our modern world. More than money, fame or power, sex is a driving force in everyone’s life regardless of race, class, or religion. Self-ownership of one’s sexuality leads to self-empowerment and sexual confidence, attractive traits and attributes that give the term “survival of the sexiest” some meat on its bones.
Sex is an act to share, not to steal, censor, or shame. When we allow our fears or discomforts, judgments or ignorant claims, to influence our interpretations of the sexual act we do ourselves a disservice. To ban, censor, or otherwise shun specific parts of human sexuality, or access to it, is destructive on the Human Being’s core and eventually takes a toll on society. Sexuality is universal, and pornography acts merely as the unedited documentation of sexual behaviors. With animals we giggle and call it “mating,” but when the subject is humans our pre-programmed reaction is shock and disgust. We call it pornography when it mimics our untamed “animal nature,” and “erotica” when it’s prettied up for the romantic heart.
Before we evolved into Human Beings, we were animals enslaved to primal desires. Sex is primal, ancient, instinctive—part of our basic biology. Sexuality and human nudity began its story in caves and moved on into the great ceilings and gardens of Vatican architectures, proudly displayed and commissioned; yet our world increasingly shuns the value of our fundamental nature.
Humanity’s eroticism and sexuality can never be fully censored, banned, hidden, or controlled. Sex, eroticism, sensuality—“porn” if you will—is necessary to ensure our collective survival. These things will demand our attention until we accept our erotic nature and give it the freedom to flourish in our lives and in the lives of others.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.vontauber.com/artporn2
