Erotic art is the subject of a show in Melbourne this month set up to challenge what is being described as ambiguous and stifling rules about sex in art. The show will coincide with the decision on whether confronting local artist Paul Yore is guilty of creating child pornography.
By TIFFANY KORSSEN
A competition that celebrates erotic art opening this month in Melbourne is a response to child porn charges filed against a local artist.
Melbourne artist Paul Yore faced court last month on charges of producing child pornography, over images he created that feature children’s faces attached to naked adult bodies.
The works were part of a large-scale art installation in St Kilda titled Everything is Fucked, which also featured the head of pop star Justin Bieber superimposed on to an adult sex toy.
After the hearing in Melbourne Magistrates' Court, Magistrate Amanda Chambers reserved her decision until October 1. The charges carry a penalty of up to 10 years in jail.
In retaliation against what it describes as “stifling restrictions on the creative potential of sex in art”, the Melbourne-based FECK: ART company will host an erotic art competition, titled Feck This from September 19 to October 4.
The show’s producer, Hannah Miller, said it was an attempt “to cultivate a sex-positive space for artists so that their work can be celebrated instead of shot down by the Government’s moral regulations”.
Ms Miller said the rules surrounding erotica in art were highly ambiguous in Australia and that overall, they were “stifling”.
“Yore’s installation was supposed to be a creative response to how youth are sexualised in the media,” she said.
It was meant to “create a dialogue and to get people thinking”, but was subjectively interpreted as being offensive, Ms Miller said.
Feck This judge and Australian Sex Party co-founder Robbie Swan said Yore’s experience was among the 10 per centof “artistic straightjacketing that reaches the newspapers” and that “in reality every month a piece of erotic art gets taken down because it is offensive”.
The Feck This competition, which will showcase the winning pieces during the Melbourne Fringe Festival in East Brunswick this month, has placed no restrictions on submissions.
The intention of allowing this freedom, according to Ms Miller and Mr Swan, is to enable artists to explore the diverse potential of artistic expression.
Mr Swan said they wanted to encourage viewers to “reject the notion that sex is dirty”.
“Sex in art should be seen as a worthwhile subject for creative endeavour”and a means for political and social inquiry, he said.
FECK: ART also hopes to revitalise the art community’s passion for “making art that turns us on”, despite the fear and negativity experienced in the aftermath of Yore’s public shaming, Ms Miller said.
Both Mr Swan and Ms Miller encourage people to use their own discretion at exhibitions and if offended to seek other galleries.
Entries are open until this Sunday, September 7. http://feckthis.com/erotic-art-competition/