The female artists who make erotic work, in past and present, are well represented in the genre. But there is one compelling voice working within the sensual ‘idiom’ that is difficult to ignore. The name of this mysterious self-taught artist, whose ambiguous black-and-white universe we, the viewer get sucked into, is Apollonia Saintclair. She chose this pseudonym to separate her personal life from her public life, as she considers privacy one of the last true luxuries.
‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.1)‘ (2015)
Instant Sensation
Since 2012, when Saintclair’s work appeared for the first time on the World Wide Web (mainly Tumblr and Instagram before censorship), it was an instant sensation. Before, she still worked analog and mainly for herself but from that moment on she started to use the digital medium for an ever increasing audience. Despite the step to this new medium she tries to keep the look and feel from Indian ink engravings, that she fancies a lot. Her use of ink is often, strongly, incited to define even more explicitly the sensual tension assumed in those pictorial images.
‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.3)‘ (2018)
Imaginative Filter
Saintclair’s sensual fantasies are presented from a realistic perspective, but observed through a imaginative filter. The depicted women are not an object of male desire, but mostly of herself. Aside from the astonishing intricacy and detail in her work, the pure artistry with which she creates her art in pictorial, neo-noir, amazingly inventive ways, is that she captures the significance of what sexuality means for each of us.
‘La rencontre dans le vurt II (John Barleycorn’s strange poison)‘ (2013)
Influences
In an earlier interview Saintclaire describes herself as an omnivore, her influences range from classic European comic including artists like Milo Manara, Moebius, Guido Crepax, Stefano Tamburini, Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri and Enki Bilal. She is also very fond of the pulp fantasies of Virgil Finlay, the Art Nouveau of Aubrey Beardsley and Gustav Klimt, and of course classic masters like Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci. There is also a strong affinity with early surrealism, literature and cinema.
‘Le regard de l’escargot (The fertility)‘ (2014)
Ink Is My Blood
Due to Saintclaire’s popularity on Instagram (240,000+ followers by 2022) and the limitations of the small computer and phone screen, in particular because her illustrations became more complicated, she and her publisher started a crowdfunding project on Ululu in 2017 to create her work in book form entitled ‘Ink Is My Blood‘. Over the years four volumes were published.
From ‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.1)‘
‘La fille cruelle (Alice in furs)‘ (2014)
‘La fleur tranchée (As sharp as a razor)‘ (2014)
‘The back room lesson‘ (2020)
‘The Guest in the Bathroom‘ (2021)
‘A Toast to Victory‘ (2019)
‘L’amante romaine (Peace and seclusion)‘ (2020)
‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.4)‘ (2018)
‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.1)‘ (2013)
‘La visite galante (Enjoying the visit)‘
‘La lune de chasse (Two went in – I came out)‘
‘Les contours du plaisir (Nephelococcygia)‘
‘La mère des monstres (Dreaming of snakes)‘ (2021)
‘La fringale (Marguerite’s craving)‘ (2021)
‘La fossoyeuse (Angel of death)‘ (2017)
‘La louve capiteuse (The Twins)‘ (2017)
‘Le soulagement (Totally out of control)‘ (2020)
‘La brise de l’été (Summer breeze)‘ (2020)
‘La prise de guerre (The spoils of war)‘ (2020)
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‘Unknown Identity‘ (2018)
‘Ink Is my Blood (Vol.3)‘ (2018)
‘Et in arcadia ego‘ (2020) — A tribute to the Australian model Stefania Ferrario
The Latin title and subject in this design are a reference to the painting of the leading Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665).
‘Le sang d’encre (Octopus blood)‘ from the series ‘Ink Is My Blood (Movie Images)‘ (2018)
‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.1)‘ (2015) (Honesterotica)
‘Inside II‘ (2017)
‘La collectionneuse (Pinned through and through)‘ (2017)
‘L’abondance (The plenty)‘ (2017)
‘L’étouffoir (The muffler)‘ (2017)
‘Le Rorschach (You Are What You See)‘ (2017)
‘Le Motel Nirvana (The place where sheets never cool)‘ (2020)
‘L’implacable (The Destroyer)‘ (2014)
‘La spectatrice‘(2015)
‘La galerie des contemporaines (At the movie)‘ (2018)
‘Le dégoulottage (I can clench you tighter than a fist)‘ (2018)
‘La technicienne de surfaces (Worshiping my idol)‘ from ‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.4)‘ (2020)
‘Ink Is My Blood’ (Vol.3)‘ (2018)
‘Ink is My Blood’ (Vol. 1)‘ (2017)
From the book ‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.2)‘
From the book ‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.2)‘
From the book ‘Ink Is My Blood (Vol.1)‘
‘La purification (The war paint)‘
‘Le fétiche (My solitary confinement)‘ (May 2021)
‘Le sommeil paradoxal (Inside my dream)‘ (2021)
‘La louve pressée (Adult entertainment)‘ (2020)
(2013)
(2013)
Click HERE for the erotica from Saintclaire’s great influence Milo Manara…!!
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