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January 8, 2002 THE BEST OF EROTIC ART THIS FEBRUARY AT CITY ART SAN FRANCISCO - The CITY ART Gallery will display and sell numerous erotic art pieces in February as part of its Third Annual Back Room Erotic Art Show. Members of the public are invited to attend the Erotic Show exhibit opening at CITY ART - Friday, Feb. 1, from 7 to 9 p.m. The opening will feature the original art of more than a dozen San Francisco artists, who will be present to discuss their work. The erotic art pieces will be available for purchase and make great Valentine's Day presents. "Our show works with the broadest definition of erotic in mind, including explicit photography, thoughtful political stuff reflecting on questions of sexuality, and beautiful pieces with an erotic edge," said Katie Gilmartin, exhibit curator and co-owner of City Art. "We even plan on displaying some abstract work that we consider very hot." Gilmartin said the show is expected to include S & M-oriented art, as well as pieces that represent all sexual preferences and orientations. Gilmartin holds the annual exhibit to have fun, flirt and bring together openly and enthusiastic erotic people. "I'm sure we'll have at least one piece that will offend somebody," she said. "But I do think it's important to have this type of show, because a lot of venues that show art get skittish about showing explicitly erotic art. If erotic art in general is difficult to show, working with provocative, edgy, or non-vanilla sexual work is harder, so I'm especially happy that we push the envelope. "Some of the CITY ART artists do a variety of work, and this is a chance for them to display erotic work that they would not otherwise show," she said. "Other artists, like Beth McCoy, work almost completely in erotic art and has a growing reputation for her pussy boxes. She is known for offering well-attended workshops in the East Bay called, Honor Your Sacred Triangle, at which women can create their own pussy boxes and even mold and cast their own pussies." Gilmartin personally will display her lingerie prints, as well as her masturbation piece, "Divinity Unexpected," in the show. Gilmartin describes her "Divinity Unexpected" piece to be "very sweet, very spiritual, earthy and even wholesome. "I'm always surprised to remember that in most people's eyes my piece, Divinity Unexpected, is explicit, but that gets to the heart of what makes this show interesting," she said. "Erotic work tends to be lumped together under the image of a thin, stacked, conventionally attractive woman photographed in the woods or indoors in dim light. But this show demonstrates that there are just as wide a range of approaches to the erotic, visually, as there are to any other artistic theme: serious, flirty, provocative, dark, edgy, threatening, celebratory, sacred, reflective and earthy." As in previous years, Gilmartin said exhibiting artists will be asked to dress sexy. "Two of our artists last year transformed themselves into total sexual beings, and covered each other's necks with hickies for the exhibit opening," she said. "I encourage everyone to dress provocatively. I like the idea that we are all performance artists for the night. We usually aim to have sexy food too, such as chocolate-dipped strawberries." CITY ART - a cooperative art gallery - is owned and managed by local artists, operating in the Mission District from noon to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, from its 828 Valencia Street gallery. CITY ART also operates an art annex from the Oxygen Bar, 797 Valencia Street. The gallery's objective is to make artwork accessible to a greater spectrum of society, while at the same time, promote creative awareness and expression in the community. Individuals attending the erotic show will experience a large and diverse art inventory available for sale at a reasonable price. Most of the art sold at CITY ART fall within the $100 to $500 price range. CITY ART is located at 828 Valencia Street between 19th and 20th streets and easily accessible by BART and MUNI. City Art can be reached at 415-970-9900. |