Art and Sex

This "no-holds barred" volume surveys the vast array of images of sex and sexuality in contemporary art, finding sex in some surprising places and drawing some fascinating conclusions. Working outwards from the individual to the world Gray Watson looks at the focus on the body in contemporary art and at the important contributions of the feminist and queer art movements, moving on to uncover sex in the city, sex in nature, sex in the sacred and even sex in cyberspace. The artworks discussed range from playful, even "romantic" work by artists such as Carolee Schneeman, Yayoi Kusama and Sylvie Fleury to darker and more overt work by artists as different as Kiki Smith and Kenneth Anger. Looking into representations of "taboo" sexualities including voyeurism and sado-masochism Watson also discovers the surprising absence of "the missionary position" in contemporary art.