We’ll never fully understand sex or art. But is either form of expression meant to be completely understood anyway? Does one make art or make love because they want to be understood deeply? With the exception of certain prose, most art forms are created to be seen, felt and grab us emotionally, not be intellectually recognized for a singular purpose. Each of us is free to respond with our own perception.
Art and sex are meant to be lived viscerally, chocked full of multiple emotions and bravely open to heartfelt, moving interpretation. The silence in a gallery, museum, or bedroom is fundamental as each participant lives, breathes, and senses their own reality throughout the action or piece. Seen from a multitude of angles, art and sex look different moment to moment, day to day. Each of us senses and feels something personal. Either might evoke a mix of romance, love, and connection with fear, jealousy or erotic passion.
For me, a curvaceous, carved-wood daybed can bring up warm emotions. The cushions invite while the arms and legs remain strong and shapely from hours of honing and polishing. Hand-rubbed exotic woods make for sensual furniture beyond compare. Lounging within, I feel the artist wants the same resolution from me, when treated lovingly.
Maybe it’s dancers that move you. Their sensual movements most closely resemble actual love making and eroticism as they emote and entwine themselves with their partner on the floor. Or when they fly together, leaping freely with no restraint. The beauty of dance: speaking without words.
Perhaps this luscious abstract painting from John Platt turns you on. The color red always ignites my senses and emotions. Are these shapes begging you to touch them or calling you as if they were parts of your lover’s anatomy nearing to mesh together with yours?
Or perhaps it is music and sound that move you and draw you in. Why do certain sounds grab our enthusiasm, appeal to our heart or incite us to escape? Some sounds can be traced back to moments of our childhood that were appealing or terrifying. Many say we are drawn to beautiful art as well as extreme art in its vulgarities.
Oh, the appeal of seeing and feeling sex as art. Curious, questioning, moving, and emotionally stirring: it’s the combination of strokes, moves, and all senses playing and interpreting together.
Messy and misunderstood, deep and chaotic, beautiful and filled with grace. Artistic and sexual endeavors create some of life’s greatest moments and sensory pleasures. Art makes us step out of ourselves, to feel and participate in a world shared from another’s perspective. Go beyond being solely an observer. Create and feel the beauty in sex as a true art form.
