12″ of Sin, a Juried exhibition at Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas, Nevada

My piece titled: “It’s an acquired taste” was chosen as to be in the following exhibit!

12″ of sin,a juried exhibition featuring 25 artists,  Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas Nevada, February 2-26, 2012

“Featuring 25 of the most sophisticated, intelligent, and clever erotic artworks from around the world,
Sin City Gallery presents original artworks that are– at most 12 Inches in a given direction–
a design competition limit, compressing exhibition boundaries while expanding artistic challenge.

Edmond Bouciaous, CACOC, Erik Christiansen, Ankha Desh, Larry Domsky/KD Matheson, Kai Eckhardt, cola Fillipo, Susanne Forestieri, Natasha Gornik, Doug Johns, Sharon Leong, Teresa Maharaj, Daniel Martinez,Mark Mellon, Gary Mitchell, Daniel Olek, Debi Oulu, JP Rakehorn, Patricia Pastore, Bradley C. Rader, JK Russ, H. Samarel, Scott Sandoval, Tiffany Selig”

American Art Awards Names Best Galleries in Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada And Wyoming, Highlight Hollywood World Exclusive: 

“Best Gallery In Nevada 2012 is Sin City Gallery in Las Vegas. “We felt that even though the famed casinos have extraordinary galleries, their art is almost lavish just for the point of being lavish, so we decided to go against the overpowering Vegas stimuli and we chose a very alternative-feeling Sin City. It is owned by Dr. Laura Henkel, with a PhD/Doctorate of Human Sexuality and certificates in sex education from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. Laura’s dissertation was the artistic and academic programming for the Erotic Heritage Museum. This 24,000 square foot facility embraced her vision of sex education through the arts, in Vegas. The Museum opened in 2008 and within two years she developed the Museum to become the Best Pick for Culture by 944 Magazine and received the honor for Best Museum by the Las Vegas Review Journal. Sin City is edgy and timely and earthy and full of the life that comes in early passion. Just look at the painting which is on their homepage. It’s crazy – weird – grotesque – and oddly pleasing. I think it also makes a statement about facing monster-size Vegas. They really have astoundingly interesting artists and very fresh images.”” –

Photos of the show and works:

Jurors of the show: (taken from 12″ of sin web site)

Christopher Ball, BA (Hon’s) MA

Christopher John Ball is a widely exhibited, published and award winning London based, fine arts photo-grapher, playwright, writer and lecturer with over 30 years experience as a photographer. His work is shown in public and private collections worldwide and he, together with Paul Woods, is co-founder of the ‘Association of Erotic Artists.’ Ball has contributed articles on photography for various publications and has acted as an external moderator for several photography courses in London. His images have been showcased in Italian, German, Spanish, Hong Kong SAR, British and mainland Chinese publications and exhibited internationally. He has also been interviewed and filmed at work for various Television programmes that have been transmitted in Europe, the USA and Great Britain. Ball also acts as a fine art/photography advisor, international photographic competition juror, portfolio consultant and exhibition curator. He has experience in facilitating and advising on art based/lifestyle TV programming, particularly in fine art photography and the erotic arts. In addition to his fine art work Ball has also produced several photographic projects of a socio-documentary nature that have attracted Arts Council funding. Ball is also a writer and performed playwright. The play “Throwing Stones” was co-written by Christopher John Ball and Dean Sipling and first stated at the Greenwich Playhouse in London.www.classicnudes.co.uk

Betty Dodson, PhD

Betty Dodson is an American sex educator, author and artist. Dodson held the first one-woman show of erotic art at the Wickersham Gallery in New York City in 1968. She left the art world to teach sex education to women and is widely known as a pioneer in women’s, and to a lesser extent men’s, sexual liberation, having sold more than 1 million copies of her first book, “Sex for One”. Much of Dodson’s fame has come from her work not only advocating masturbation, but conducting workshops for more than 30 years in which groups of about 10 or more women (and at least once a group of men) would talk, explore their own bodies, and masturbate together. Dodson’s books include Liberating Masturbation, a self-published book that became a feminist classic“Sex for One: The Joy of Self-Loving” and “Orgasms for Two: the Joy of Partnersex”. She also produced four videos: “Selfloving: Portrait of a Sexual Seminar”, “Celebrating Orgasm: Women’s Private Selfloving Sessions”, “Viva la Vulva; Women’s Sex Organs Revealed” and “The Orgasm Doctor: Two Private Hands-on Sex Coaching Sessions”. Dodson is a founder of the pro-sex feminist movement, having left behind the more traditional feminist movement because she considered it banal, anti-sexual and over-politicized. Dodson considers too much is made of sexual labels and embraces them all by calling herself a heterosexual, bisexual lesbian. She looks forward to the day we can all be just “sexual.” Dodson maintains a private practice in New York.www.dodsonandross.com

Allena Gabosch

Allena Gabosch, Executive Director of the Center For Sex Positive Culture (www.sexpositiveculture.org) (formerly known as The Wet Spot ) has been active in the sex positive movement practically from its beginning; producing educational and social events for the sex-positive community since 1990. She is a frequent speaker on many sex-positive subjects at colleges and conferences around the US and Canada, with an emphasis on BDSM and Polyamory. She is the Producer of the Seattle Erotic Art Festival. (www.seattleerotic.org). She is a past board member of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (www.ncsfreedom.org). In her less than mundane non-kinky life she loves good food, walking around Seattle and is working on several books. She is a former commissioner with the Seattle Commission for Sexual Minorities. She is a kinky bisexual, polyamorous switch and considers herself extremely blessed as she has a rich and full poly life, with many amazing and loving people in her “polycule”.

Francois Dubeau

François Dubeau’s work is a delightful paradox. Combining traditional techniques with the most modern of digital tools, François explores the simplest form of expression: black lines on a white background. His artistic exploration is one of simplicity, striving for the elemental. Combining the traditional techniques of the engraver, of the illustrator and of the painter, François’ work is as timeless as it is thoroughly modern. Using a digital stylus, he explores raw, boundless movement on his virtual canvas, a random gesture always serving as the starting point. A single line often translates into hours of work as a stroke is forever repeated — never twice the same way — until he is satisfied with the end result. Once a drawing is complete, it is transferred to paper or canvas. For his canvas work, François picks-up traditional paints and brushes to create unique free-flowing pieces with exceptional depth and movement. François’ mastery of digital tools as a creative medium gives him complete freedom over his work. His combining of traditional and modern techniques allows him to bridge past and present, authenticity and simplicity in a truly unique, original way.

François work has been featured in several major shows, including the Seattle Erotic Arts Festival, The Dirty Show (Detroit and Los Angeles), Unclad (Portland, Oregon) and the Erotic Heritage Museum (Las Vegas, Nevada). His work is also part of the Permanent Collections of the Exodus Trust and of The Kinsey Institute. François’ work has been shown in several publications, including Erotic Signature and Hors Série Décoration.
www.francoisdubeau.com

Steve Diet Goedde

Steve Diet Goedde (pronounced ‘die-it geddy’) has been a fine art erotic photographer for nearly 20 years. He is known for his subtle approach to photographing alternative fashion in a very ethereal, down-to-earth style. His attention to composition and black and white tonal quality has given him the title of the Ansel Adams of erotic photography. Steve established his photographic style in the early 1990s in Chicago where he photographed the contents of his first book “The Beauty of Fetish” (Edition Stemmle) which was released in 1998. That same year, Steve relocated to Los Angeles where he continued to define his evolving style. This west coast work was later compiled in his second Edition Stemmle book “The Beauty of Fetish: Volume II” in 2001. In 2006, Slish Pix released a DVD compilation of his work entitled “Living Through Steve Diet Goedde”. In 2009, Steve collaborated with French composer Robert Waechter on a CD entitled “Goedde Concerto” (ReadyMade Music) in which the Concert Master of the Philharmonic of Nice, France interprets 21 of Steve’s photographs in to 21 mini-concertos. More information and photographs can be found at Steve’s website:www.stevedietgoedde.com.

Alexander Donskoi

Alexander Donskoy is an entrepreneur, a politician and a visionary. Through 1990 and 2005, he was a successful entrepreneur of sex shops.   In 2005, he decided to run for Mayor of Arkhangeslk. In 2006 he ran of President of Russia.   Alexander is man who believes in his convictions by advocating the right to follow your heart.   Taking on the political establishment is no easy fete; however, his journey has led him to his newest project:  an erotic museum.   The museum, subtly titled Tochka G (“G Spot”) opened in Moscow, Russia in July 2011.  The museum is opened 24 hours a day.  It includes the museum, sex shop, bar and restaurant.  Moscow, despite its hyper-sexualized nightlife, has very few platforms that discuss sex in terms of its role in culture, politics and society.   The museum is meant to enlighten and encourage its patron to be more open about sexuality as a whole.   http://www.tochkaG.net

Hans Van der Kamp

As a photographer, Hans van der Kamp always struggled with labels of erotic art and portraiture. In his vision, a nude was also a portrait. His motto: “If a nose tells us something about the person portrayed, why should any other body part be less informative?” It was a motto that was not very popular in the 1970s when Van der Kamp started to exhibit and publish his photographs. At that time, most artists were quite busy stretching sexual and moral conventions. Looking at their works, Van der Kamp soon learned that his old motto was irreversible. A picture of a body without a face tells us very little about the personality of the person depicted but often very much about the artist. As much as he admired those works, because he understood the needs of other photographers to create reflections of themselves rather than the people they photographed, Van der Kamp remained a very traditional photographer, persistent in his goal to understand the personality of the people he photographed by reading the expressions and forms of their faces and bodies. These thoughts on photography brought him closer to classic art and when he founded AMEA World Museum of Erotic Art in 1996 it seemed a logical step to put emphasis on historical art. Over the years, however the site became more interactive and artists of all disciplines, using all possible techniques, joined the site. Van der Kamp’s fascination with contemporary erotic art grew and became a permanent part of his life, while at the same time he started to struggle with labels once again.

In the first year, many visitors of the site e-mailed him stating that the erotic art exhibited on AMEA was pornographic. So, Van der Kamp promptly answered with his first disclaimer on the front page: “Although much of the material presented here is considered to be pornography in many countries, it is the strong conviction of the founders that looking at imagery concerning the act of love will do no damage to your health.” Van der Kamp’s response to those who kept on debating issues as the difference between erotic art and pornography was always very concise. “As a rule good pornography is put to better use than mediocre art.” Adolf Loos wrote an essay in 1908 stating that all good art is erotic. Van der Kamp strongly believes that art stimulating our libido cannot do so without equally stimulating our minds and following that train of thought the division between art and pornography seems obligatory to him. What counts in making distinctions in art is always the quality of the works – nothing more and nothing less.
www.hansvanderkamp.com

Lisolette Gilcrest

Lisolette Gilcrest is a Charter Member of the Society of Erotic Art and the Founder of the Society for Women in Erotic Art Today (affectionately called “S.W.E.A.T.”). Gilcrest began publicly exhibiting her work in 2006, making her debut at the renowned Dirty Show in Detroit, Michigan. In just five years, Gilcrest has been featured in nearly three dozen erotic art exhibits throughout California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
Several pieces of Gicrest’s work are already featured in the permanent collection of the Art, Artifacts and Photography Department of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.

Gilcrest’s work is particularly noteworthy, as she was the only female artist in 2009 to be featured in international anthologies compiled by two erotic art sentries: the Erotic Signature’s “World’s Greatest Erotic Art of Today – Volume III” and the Erotic Review’s Photographer of the Year Prize. Gilcrest was also selected as a “Winning Artist” for the second time in a row in the 2010 Erotic Signature competition – one of only seven women selected to be in the anthology in both of the last two editions – with her most recent appearance in the Erotic Signature’s “World’s Greatest Erotic Art of Today – Volume IV”. In addition, her work is also featured in the 2011 book “Visions of Eros: A Midwest Perspective” and in her solo book “Expeditions: A Compendium of the Erotic Photography of Lisolette Gilcrest 2006 – 2008″, as well as Filament Magazine’s June 2011 issue and upcoming December 2011 issue.

Gilcrest’s erotic work is noted for a distinctly feminine style that she calls “Romantica,” which she describes as being focused “less on ‘the deed’ and more on the delicious intangibles of romance, attraction, desire and lust fighting against the expectations of social restrictions, gender roles, and personal inhibitions.” She hopes that her art and her activism in the community through S.W.E.A.T. will help to strengthen the legitimacy of erotic art as a “real” art and to encourage more women to be involved in this genre.
www.sweatartists.com

Fang Fu Ruan, PhD, MD, ACS, ABS, FAACS

Fang Fu Ruan graduated from Peking University Medical School in 1959 in China, and earned his Ph.D. in Human sexuality at The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in 1991 in the US, the first Chinese holding PhD degree in sex field. He was one of the pioneers and founders of the medical logic, medical sociology, sexology and sexuality education in contemporary China.

Fu Ruan is a diplomate, on The American Board of Sexology, a Certified Sexologist, The American College of Sexologists, and a Founding Clinical Fellow, The American Academy of Clinical Sexologists. An advisor for The China Sexology Association (CSA), and for The Society for Scientific Study of Sexuality in Taiwan (SSSST). The initiator & organizer, honor president and Chief Supervisor of The World Association of Chinese Sexologists (WACS). Currently, a Visiting Professor at Graduate School of Human Sexuality, Shu-Te University, Taiwan, and Professor, The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, San Francisco, CA, USA.

The author of Sex in China: Studies in Sexology in Chinese Culture. The contributor of Encyclopedia of Birth Control (2001), The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, Socio-Legal Control of Homosexuality: Some International Comparisons (1997), The Handbook of Forensic Sexology (1994), Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia, (1994), The Third Pink Book: A Global View of Lesbian and Gay Liberation and Oppression (1993), Studies in Homosexuality (1993), Building a World Community: Humanism in the 21st Century (1989); and the author of 17 books, the editor-in-Chief or Co-editor of 74 books, and the contributor of more than 35 books in Chinese, including the most famous Chinese sexological books Handbook of Sex Knowledge (1985, 1988), and Report of Sex: the 21st Handbook of Sex Knowledge (2002); and a translator (from English to Chinese) of 4 books, including Asimov’s Guide of Science, and author of more than 500 articles in about 70 journals/magazines and 20 newspapers in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the USA.

Julian Murphy

Julian Murphy was born in Bristol, England in 1959 and completed his art education at Brunel Technical College studying Design for Print. Although spending over twenty years in the advertising industry, Murphy has always pursued his art as his first love, he has achieved an extraordinary level of technical competence as to be masterly, this has paved the way to international fame in the world of erotic art; with his work even hanging in the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris. From Murphy’s rich and sophisticated imagination springs a seemingly inexhaustible parade of astonishing images that provoke and excite, images whose velvet-clad fingers caress the cerebrum rather than the groin. Murphy’s Tantric Pop Art images are all meticulously hand drawn using airbrush and gouache paint on fine line art board. With over 350 paintings and sculptures to his credit, Murphy is one of the most prolific artists working in this genre.

Murphy was Art Director of the World Erotic Art Museum (WEAM) in Miami Beach, Florida for three years before moving on to create EroticSignature’s, World’s Greatest Erotic Art of Today competition, which is now enjoying its 5th year. He is currently working on new paintings at his studio in the USA. He is the creator and co-founder of Erotic Signature. His works are part of the following permanent collections: Moulin Rouge, Paris, France, Musee de l’érotisme, Paris, France, Museum Erotica, Copenhagen, Denmark, Museu de L’erotica, Barcelona, Spain, Erotic Art Museum, Hamburg, Germany, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Paris, France, Venusberg Museum, Berlin, Germany, World Erotic Art Museum, Miami Beach, USA, The Eros Foundation, Sydney, Australia, Robbie Williams, Musician, AMEA, The Online erotic museum, British Museum of Erotic Art, London, UK.

Murphy’s works are featured in the following books and magazines: Singular Art of Julian Murphy, Erotic Print Society, London, UK, Objects of Desire, Iconia, Somerset, UK, Sex, edited by Stephen Bailey, Sex Design, Harper Collins, New York, USA, Aphrodesia, Volume 2, Ars Erotica: The Best of Modern Erotic Art, Carlton Books, London, UK, Guild of Erotic Artists Book: Volume 1, Erotic Signature: Volume 1, Vogue, Elle, Design Week, FHM, GQ, Cosmopolitan, New Statesman, Erotic Review, Vanity Fair, Domus (Russia), The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Playboy, Skin Two and Marquis.
www.julianmurphyart.com

Jerry Vile

Jerry Vile has worn many hats in his over 30 plus year career. The first was of a charismatic (albeit slightly unhinged) lead singer of a legendary Punk band, another as a writer publisher of innovative and witty entertainment magazines, as well as a successful promoter and curator of one of the biggest single art exhibitions in the world. Not to mention his most important one, the hat of mentor, first editor and Art Director to a multitude of successful painters and editors, and a Pulitzer Prize winner too, who all owe their first chance to the man who has continually provided some form of cultural outlet. Be it as a singer, writer, publisher, or an artist, with Vile, the medium has always been The Message.

A dilettante to some, a visionary to others, Vile is, regardless of your stance, the most influential figure in Detroit subcultural history, as he helped shape not only the cultural landscape of journalism, but art and humor as well. Whether giving first chances to soon to be famous artists like Glenn Barr, Niagara or Tristan Eaton via his Orbit and Fun Magazine covers, or to future influential editors and writers, many who would either
create or helm major mainstream periodicals such as Vibe and Film Threat. Vile’s editorial style was not unlike that of SNL’s creator, Lorne Michaels, who was able to convey his irreverent wit and style to the writers, while still giving them a great creative berth to push the envelope, and push it they did.

Vile burst, or better yet, stumbled and fell onto the nascent Detroit Punk scene as the acerbic and volatile lead singer of the late 70′s band, The Boners, who suddenly found themselves atop of what Vile has referred to as “the greatest scene that never was”, the Detroit Punk scene, a dubious self-referential distinction indeed. So when it came time to document the local musical environment, Vile along with fellow writer, Paul Zimmerman conceived White Noise, a spartanly produced zine that highlighted the musical landscape in an irreverent yet loving manner. White Noise brought attention to some Detroit icons in the making, most notably Destroy All Monster’s chanteuse/painter, Niagara, whose photo graced WN’s first cover.

In 1987, Vile channeled a National Lampoon sensibility to the local scene and Fun Magazine was born. Predating The Onion and Spy, for two years Fun and it’s irreverent Detroit-centric lifestyle were the template for an approach which Vile would perfect in 1990-91 with the decade long run of Orbit Magazine. Orbit combined a more national feel with an entertainment /Lifestyle format that now encompassed national releases in music, movies and trends. Orbit’s legend was cemented when then upstart Director, Quentin Tarantino rewarded Orbit for their early support, by wearing an Orbit t-shirt during his scene as Jimmy, in Pulp Fiction. Orbit lasted 9 years spanning the 1990s and documenting the social scene with a rapier wit and satirical brilliance, dished out by the cadre of Orbit writers who would craft the Vile Infotainment aesthetic with cleverness on every page. It was so good that one would even read the band listings – which were minimalist literary works of love and critique in less than 30 words. Hell, even the ads were works of art with incredible illustrations by Glenn Barr, now a major Cartoon Surrealist who was also Orbits first cover artist.

Having cited Larry Flynt as a hero of First Amendment rights, it shouldn’t be surprising that Vile’s next foray would be into the Flynt’s other main interest- sex, as in the exhibition of Erotic Art. In 1999, Vile asked the best Detroit artists to create erotic themed art for a group show in the erstwhile offices of Orbit, the result, The Dirty Show heralded in a new Valentine’s Day ritual. The Dirty Show has grown into a two-week spectacle, even overshadowing St. Valentines Day itself in Detroit. The Dirty Show, now in its 12th year has hosted work by both erotic and fine artists of international repute and still continues to grow with satellite exhibits in Chicago and Los Angeles making The Dirty Show, the worlds largest Erotic Art exhibit.

In 2013, The Wayne State University Press gives Vile and Orbit a fitting retrospect, publishing the coffee table book, “Re Entry: The History Of Orbit Magazine, an anthology which highlights the magazine and the incredible roster of writers and artists who would go on to prominence after cutting their teeth at Orbit under Vile’s tutelage. Vile spends his spare time on his paintings and Media Dada art, and doting on his 10 year-old daughter.
www.dirtydetroit.com

Sharp

Sharp studied Fine Arts, Art History and Design at several Midwest schools and managed the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has worked in design for film and television for over twenty years and fell head-over-heels for Tom of Finland Foundation over a decade ago. He chairs the Foundation’s board, serves as vice president as well as curator of its permanent collection. Tom of Finland Foundation was established by Touko Laaksonen (a.k.a. Tom of Finland) and his friend Durk Dehner. As Tom had established worldwide recognition as the master of homoerotic art, the Foundation’s original purpose was to preserve his vast catalog of work. Several years later the scope was widened to offer a safe haven for all erotic art in response to rampant discrimination against art that portrayed sexual behavior or generated a sexual response. Today the Foundation continues in its efforts of educating the public as to the cultural merits of erotic art and in promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality. Sharp says of art, “I’m impressed by integrity, wackiness, resplendent candor and all those things you want to revisit when you close your eyes at night before you fall asleep.”
www.tomoffinlandfoundation.org