Desire in Art
Picasso’s use of powerful flowing curves was something I included as an element in my own artwork, as I also found a certain attractiveness in the shape of the human body. The texture he used for his feminine bodies gave a sense of comfort, something I also felt as a part of the aftereffect of fantasizing. I used this texture in my artwork as a presentation of the female body in calmness.
The tranquil state of mind overlapping subconcious and reality is an idea Picasso explores in Le Reve. I look at this idea in my work by combining the shape of the female body with ejaculate, blending fantasy with reality. However, our approaches are slightly different, as he has actually experienced sexual interourse with his partner, while my lack of experience contributes to a more idealized and less complex version of sexual activity. For this reason I focus on the mind of the male fantasizer, and how it experiences change after ejaculation. I used flow and shape to convey movement of the mind and body, with the tubes of a french horn conveying the motion of blood circulation and synapses in the mind. In my experience the act of releasing sexual desire gives that effect of catalyzing movement in the body.
Cai’s use of allegory to represent male gentalia was very inspiring for me. In my own art, I used allegories to construct physical body structures (genitalia, synapses and a hand). While the outward explosive movement involved in his mushrooms compliments the represented subject, I attempted to use texture as a way to contruct my allegories. In Melting Porcelain on a Windowsill, I further experimented with using certain colors to represent the relationship between two worlds, the unconcious mind taking in the simplified version of reality through the lens of virtual media. The background resembles the screen saver of a Windows computer, the input for my desire-related thoughts.
Cai’s depiction of desire as a mystical and powerful force served as inspiration for Throb. On the basis of presenting desire as intangible and lively like he did with blurred edges and bright colors, I added rhythm in my artwork to display the changes in emotion over time during my first experience of sexual arousal. Each sphere represents the instantaneous feeling during each single throb of the male genetalia organ.
I used colors and allegories as a way to show emotions, something that I learned from Picasso’s use of red to convey lust. The color red is used to signify stimulation and general desire. The sharp contrast between yellow and purple creates a sense of anxiety, arising shortly after I realize something new is occuring. Black represents a sinking guilt, derived from the color of ink staining paper. A pillar symbolizes instinctive fear of retribution. Unlike Picasso, sexual desire was entirely new to me during my first encounter with it, so instead of his embrace of desire, my experience had more opposing feelings. I hope to use this work to convey the contradictory feelings during the awakening moments of adolescence.
In River, I was influenced by Cai’s idea of desire as a mystical force and I aimed to represent desire on a plane seperated from reality. Similar to Cai, I used a combination of triadic colors to create the feeling of hallucination. Due my lack of sexual experience, my representation is not as fierce or powerful as Cai’s work. It consists instead of shapes that follow a smooth comforting flow, which is derived from my idealistic view of sexual activity. The exploding movement still resembles ejaculation, yet overall activity in my work is mellow compared to Mountain in Heat. I considered working towards a more complex understanding of sex, but I decided to remain loyal to my own experiences and feelings while borrowing upon the ideas and techniques of the great artists. While not having the insight of Cai, I aimed to convey my depiction of sexual desire through the lens of an unexperienced dreamer. Hence I presented works that were simplified and lacking the violent side of actual sexual activity.
