Mal Martel {Fine Erotic Art​}

Artist's Statement

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     Society, no matter how democratic it claims it is, is not prepared to engage in erotic art. This is one of the reasons why artists adopt professional names. There is a social protocol of distinguishing the “normal” from the “deviant,” therefore an artist aware of this protocol separates her “day job” existence from the deep, fantastic meditations of her creative life. Yet it is the compartmentalization of erotic art from all other types of art that gives it its potency. It is well worth the effort to learn the immense difference between pornography and commercial pin-up, and genuine erotic art. Erotic art embodies meditation, emotion, beauty, and ultimately the joy of being alive and human. It is the expression of the connection between the everyday mundane upon which we all survive, and the ultimate reach for immortality where survival is rendered meaningless. The erotic impression on art is the beautiful result of that ultimate reach. Pornography and pin-up illustration cannot attain the same or similar expression as erotic art by intention, perhaps only by happy accident. The two are heavily involved in mass commercial entertainment and marketing and barely makes an effort to meditate on human emotion and beauty. It only benefits society to learn the difference: pornography traps us and, worst of all, may even bore us with emptiness; erotic art liberates us and makes us full human beings.