Back in 2014, I wrote a “in the heat of the moment” blog talking about what it meant for me to do erotic art. It’s been 7 years since then and my art as well as myself have been through a lot of transition, so I felt that it was time to sit down and reflect on my journey to where I’m at now.
Eroticiscm is still prevalent in my paintings but it’s clearly presented in a different light.
2013 “Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife”
2021 “Souls In Motion 4”
In the past, 20 year old me first started to truly explore my sexuality, it felt natural to have it reflect in my paintings. Most of the time they were pretty in your face, straightforward, and considered by some to be even “objectifying” of women. I didn’t care, as it was my honest expression and I used to hate this stigma of how women erotic painters had to paint a certain way that was deemed more feminine. I preferred loud and proud. To have subtly sensual feminine nude bodies or whatever, seemed like a farce.
Today, 30 year old me has some extra things to tack on to that. Taking this “Souls In Motion 4” painting as an example, the eroticiscm has blossomed into something a little more layered. This is the moment where Adam first lays eyes on Eve as a true woman. His eyes are wide open and electricity must be shooting through his entire body. Although his pose remains calm, his environment embodies how turned on he is. Obviously we have this happy phallic statue man in the center, busting his nuts, but there are also Korean peaches which represent longevity, and Korean sacred mushrooms called “bool-lo-cho” which grant immortality. Zooming out a little more, we see creatures everywhere, some painted directly after Hieronymus Bosch’s original “Garden of Earthly Delights” painting, and others further inspired by Korean folk art. There are some creatures freshly crawling out of their primordial soup, and others about to end another's life in order to survive. Each and every element shown here are the ingredients to life, and sex is ultimately sacred because it propels life forward.
In the end, my views on not just sex but life in general has changed but at the same time, maybe it hasn’t changed that much. Old me and new me both feel that sex should be normalized, and all I wanna do is just be honest with myself.