Contemporary Erotic Drawing
May 1—August 7, 2005The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and DiverseWorks of Houston co-organized Contemporary Erotic Drawing, an exhibition by thirty-four artists encompassing the subject of sexuality and erotica. Exploring and defining what is erotic and titillating on their own terms, these artists display a diversity of sensibilities and approaches that range from the humorous, raunchy, and abstract, to fetishes, the personal, and intimate.
The personally-charged process of drawing, combined with the subject of sex, follows ancient traditions in both Western and Eastern art. Expanding and commenting on these traditions, artists in the exhibition offer works that are personal, political, beautiful, startling, reflective, and biographical. The artists, who work on paper, animate hand-drawn images, and utilize other nontraditional materials, are Stephen Andrews, Alice Attie, Joseph Biel, Ion Birch, Cecily Brown, Scott Burns, Jacqueline Cooper, R. Crumb, Simon English, Heyd Fontenot, Leon Golub, Juan Gomez, Tom Knechtel, Joan Linder, Cristina Lucas, Gina Magid, Georgia Marsh, Ruth Marten, Kim McCarty, Jean-Francois Moriceau + Petra Mrzyk, Tracy Nakayama, Chris Ofili, Danica Phelps, Chloe Piene, Paul Henry Ramirez, Huston Ripley, Anita Steckel, Scott Teplin, Lynne Woods Turner, Mark Dean Veca, Ruth Waldman, Su-en Wong, and Gang Zhao.
The immediacy and delicacy of drawing allows these artists to express preliminary and often raw ideas, allowing spontaneous imagery or thoughts to emerge. When combined with the subject of eroticism and human sexuality, this makes drawing the perfect site of investigation, as we continue to produce, display, and enjoy images of desire, whether openly or sequestered. For both artists and viewers, Contemporary Erotic Drawing provided a respectful, nonexploitative environment for the exploration of work that might otherwise be marginalized.
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Su-en Wong, Yellow Wall, 2004, Acrylic and colored pencil on paper, 45 x 98, Courtesy of the artist and Deitch Projects, New York
Paul Henry Ramirez, Untitled (Liquid Squeeze Series), 1996-98, Acrylic and Flashe on paper, 24 x 19
Chris Ofili, Golden Touch, 2003, Pencil, felt tip pen, gouache, and gold leaf on paper, 19 1/4 x 14 4/5, Collection of Rebecca and Martin Eisenberg, Courtesy Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York
Joseph Biel, Tongues, 2004, Graphite on paper, 11 x 7 1/2, Courtesy of the artist
Jean-François Moriceau + Petra Mrzyk, Untitled, 2003-04, China ink on paper, 12 x 8 1/4, Courtesy Ritter/Zamet, London
Stephen Andrews, Am I Straight?, 2004, Colored pencil on paper, 6 1/4 x 3 7/8, Courtesy of the artist
Kim McCarty, Yellow Boy with Hands on Hips, 2004, Watercolor on paper, 30 x 22, Courtesy of the artist
Contemporary Erotic Drawing was organized by Harry Philbrick, director of The Aldrich; Sara Kellner, executive director of DiverseWorks; and independent curator Stuart Horodner. A fully-illustrated hard-cover catalogue, distributed by Distributed Art Publishers, accompanied the exhibition. It features essays by noted author Wayne Koestenbaum (author of The Queen's Throat; Cleavage: Essays on Sex, Stars, and Aesthetics; and the Penguin Lives' Andy Warhol) and Art in America writer and Hans Bellmer scholar Sue Taylor. The curators contributed brief texts on each artist, as well as an introduction.
Top of page: Cecily Brown, Animation cell from Four Letter Heaven, circa 1994, Watercolor, ink, and colored pencil on paper, 4 x 4 inches, Collection of Christine and Andrew Hall
