Faerber's New Modern Erotic Art With an Ode to Hokusai, Eisen and Banksy
Jeff Faerber has added two gems to his modern erotic art oeuvre. In the first work he pays tribute to two ancient Japanese artists (Keisai Eisen and Hokusai) and one contemporary England-based street artist (the enigmatic Banksy).
‘Aloft on a warm April breeze, cherry blossom pollen dances with WiFi signals in the firmament. Pulses quicken. iOS security updates download and install.’ The above right text reads After ‘Couple on a pleasure boat’ by Keisai Eisen and Hokusai & Banksy (October 2018)
From a Eisen design he mimicked the pose of the couple, Hokusai is present in the back with The Great Wave print falling from the frame, and the shredding of The Wave is a reference to the shredding of Banksy’s Girl and Balloon.
I asked the artist about the influence of Banksy and he replied the following:
JF: “I actually don’t have a great story for the Banksy reference. I was almost done with the painting but felt that the area above the figures was missing something. I felt a Japanese screen would not fit the space nicely so I considered an opened Japanese umbrella.
But again, I felt like it did not fit the space. So in the back of my mind I was just thinking of an object and when the idea hit me it just made me laugh. I had the title already so I considered if there could be a way to alter it slightly to include a reference to Banksy, but then I figured I’d just have it be an extraneous tangent to the rest of the piece. ”
‘Dust motes, suspended in the sunlight, dance and pirouette in a silent waltz, as a courtesan crossed another item off her bucket list: making the beast with three backs.’ (October 2018)
Intimate Exchanges
The second painting is dominated by the characteristic tattooed legs of the three protagonists who exhange various intimacies.
I asked the artist the following, ‘There’s a lot of emphasis on the tattooed legs of the protagonists in the “threesome” piece (but also in a lot of your previous works). I know tattoos are so commonplace today, and there is a strong connection between ukiyo-e (shunga) and tattoos but I was wondering if there are other reasons for you to add them to your protagonists (and particularly the legs)?’
JF: “Mostly the tattoos are on legs because usually that is where the most flesh is visible. The robes and kimonos usually cover the torsos and upper arms. I have not consciously focused on legs so it pretty much happened by accident. I usually like them just as a visual design and to compliment the designs on the clothing. And they offer another way to show contemporary designs to contrast the traditional clothing.”
Click HERE for more of Faerber’s modern erotic art and an extensive interview with the artist…!!!
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