T
he hands, the face, the feet, the legs; the
bare breasted women prideful and
liberated; the bare bodied men graceful
and unadulterated. Visionary painters and
sculptors of the European Renaissance Period
(14th to 17th Century), brought the subjects of
their art out of their clothes and presented them
to the world sporting their bold divineness. This
introduces a space of transparency between
you and the subject of the art, unmeddled by
any external impersonal phenomena. It is letting
you witness the physical truths of a character,
what civilization has been teaching us to hide.
And there's something magical about this; to let
the world face someone so absolutely free and
comfortable in their own skin.
Art grew in haywire directions in more modern
times. It became more about what people want
to see and lesser about what people need to
see.
But what is art without a bit of rebel? There is an
entire global community of artists (you might call
stupidly courageous), that still believes paintings
and literature can modify thoughts and perhaps
social norms.
Now come to today…
Imagine yourself sitting on a local train, or at
any public place in India, exploring a website
about erotic art or literature; now imagine you
look up from the screen of your phone or laptop,
and look around… What do you see?
It is undeniable that you will be faced with
disgusted stares and unusual reactions. This is
quite “normal”; people fail to find the line
between erotica and pornography in a society
that is already laden with baseless stigmas,
prejudices and a control-freak patriarchy.
Changing this picture is exact reason artists
today are looking towards Erotica. Even though
they might not consciously aim for this change,
any and every person involved in Erotic Art
today is ultimately contributing to this one
cause.
Through erotica an artist enters a personal
space of sheer freedom to express; where they
can feel the needs, the fantasies, or put forth
the pure and truthful feelings felt in intimate
experiences. Yes, the theme of Erotica is
Sexuality but the subject of it transcends
Hedonism and manages to reach beyond.
Sexuality is not only physical; it climbs all the
way up through Maslow's pyramid of Hierarchy
of Needs, from the bottom to the top that is Self-
Actualization. It not only lets you explore your
outer being but
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