a fine line btw ART and EROTICA

[Maricel Evasco]

Gustav Klimt is one of my favorite painters. I have several posters of his works hanging in my bedroom. He is a master at dealing with erotic in any detail and his subjects are often controversial. I consider him a great artist. Yet, others may feel his works are skating the fine line between art and pornography especially since his public depiction of women tend to be uninhibitedly erotic. His painting Danae is of a naked lady doing something indescribable to herself...lol..... Danae by Gustav Klimt

So, at what point does art become pornography and vice versa?
Which artists skate that fine line?

[ZenDog]

Mona Lisa with a mustache?

ooo, sounds like sacrilege!

[Maricel Evasco]

Nude Mona? ughhhh...she's very manly in this piece. to borrow ZenDog's words: ooo, ... sacrilege!

[Dave]

Schiele and Klimt most certainly must have influenced Lucian Freud who also has an erotic quality. Albeit a sometimes unattractive side of sensuality. I don't believe an artist creates pornography. I believe the viewer creates pornography.

[ZenDog]

so then there is not one thing within the realm of the porno that is universal and by which it may be known?

[Maricel Evasco]

Yes,the universal is the pornographer's intent: to cheapen and exploit sexuality and the human body or other things of beauty. I am not dismissing pornography's place in culture....heck, I first learned about the mechanics of sex through watching pornography. lol But, I don't think it should be mentioned in the same breath as art.

Yet, on the other hand, what if Frida Kahlo were to use body paint to create art on her husband's lower region to groin area as a way of expressing herself. Would her example of body painting be classified as high art or pornography?
I guess if the tree were towering on her canvas, it would be pornography,
but if it remained in the bush, it would be art.

hahahhahahahahha I just kill myself sometimes....lol

[Maricel Evasco]

I think the distinction between art and pornography is the viewer's moral compass in appreciating the artist or his/her work.

What I'd like to know now is what constitutes the difference between high art and regular art like the ones exhibited in libraries and hallmark greeting cards.

[Maricel Evasco]

"I like the idea that art is a conversation - between the artist and his/her audience, not a one-way street. The audience doesn't have to agree... but they have to react or respond in some way. Or IMHO it's not art they are looking at, it's home decor."

I really like your statement.....lol @ home decor.
My mom is rather fond of "home decor" art. Not to disparage her tastes, but her selection is Blah.