“The overall premise is celebration and admiration for the aesthetics of the female form”
A question that I am frequently asked when people discover my choice of creative endeavours is “why did you choose to do erotic art?”
If you asked me this question only a few years ago, I would have given you the simple cliché answer, “women inspire me”.
Today the answer is slightly more complicated.
After a few years of trial and error and vast amounts of self reflection (or chronic overthinking), I discovered that my reasons are rooted in various realms, that when combined, naturally guides towards the erotic.
Sexuality, sexual psychology, the subtle art of seduction (in both our primal senses and social aspects), just to name a few, are some of the subjects that have intrigued my curiosities and fascinated my entire being for as long as can be remembered.
Being naturally attuned to aesthetics in all of its glorious and varied forms, paired with such passion for these curiosities, its clear that I did not choose erotic art, erotic art chose me.
Although I consider my attention to the subtlest details in anything that involves the senses and perpetual need for creative expression a gift (sometimes a curse), I would not label myself as the traditional artist, rather a student of human nature in its conscious elements, but even more so the subconscious.
Mother nature has provided the true art, I merely capture and document it in my own vision. I see erotic art as not just a language, but many languages, that are yearning to be explored and experienced.
My work consists of multi layered stencils, both physical and digital pieces. The way I incorporate these ideas into my stencil style is also more than just a passion for the visual aspects.
The subtle elegance of the female form is suddenly accentuated greatly when you start to experiment with lighting and shadow. The curves, edges and shapes show themselves in divine form. This also depends on your own subjective opinions and perspectives on beauty and what exactly beauty is, of course.
Although the layers tell the physical story of the subject in which you see, there is another aspect at play.
The layers show the concept of a multi layered reality, multi dimensional, that not only beauty, but everything you perceive with your known senses consists of an infinite depth. Most of which I believe is inconceivable to a conscious human mind.
The overall premise is celebration and admiration of the aesthetics of the female form. I believe erotic art is still in its infancy, waiting for us to become less conformed to the status quo of self consciousness and proclaimed objectification
Whatever your ideas of beauty are, belong to you and as with art, it is all subjective to you as an individual. for some its the quaint spring landscapes coupled with the fresh scents of nature in its season of new growth, or a city skyline silhouetted by a deep orange sunset that they wish to express.
For me, I chose to celebrate, admire and express the female essence in its ever divine sexual and spiritual states and creating works that aim to express those aspects as one and the same thing.
My visual style was born through natural development. Being heavily influenced by graffiti culture, stencilling and printmaking in my early art college days, I took these ideas and visuals and created my own visual philosophy around it.
The visual meeting the spiritual, each complimenting the other. The layers showing the form, shadow, curves and feminine features. The layers also conveying the infinite dimensions of human and universal energy, personality and soul.
I see the erotic and all of its aesthetics as a visual dialogue that has yet to be put into words. For me, it lays on the border between hard-wired human desire, in other words, lust (the comprehendible, physical aspects) and divinity (the subconscious, unmeasurable aspects).
I aim to explore the lighter and darker sides of femininity that take heed to my own personal experiences. As well as to bring forth the ideas of creative and sexual freedom for the both the external and internally oppressed, to see such freedoms in terms of a higher respect paired with admiration. Although, admittedly, balancing on the line between classy and seedy can be an unsteady one in todays world.
For example, someone may take a walk down the Red Light District in Amsterdam and see a seedy, sleazy world, one void of class and in doing so, can behave in disrespectful manners both physically and mentally. Whereas in my many trips visiting that amazing city, I see a beautiful, fully live erotic art showcase.
It is only our beliefs and perspectives that differ in what we choose to see with our own eyes, not the events themselves that dictate our perspectives on them.
The goal of my work is to express these ideas of observation in celebratory manners, even with our innate human desires at the forefront of our minds. In my opinion, its a necessary step in human evolution. That sex and sexuality should be celebrated, not oppressed.
I believe that today more than ever, erotic art is of great importance. Not only in the form of my ideas towards beauty and feminine energy, but any and all. The human body and spirit in all of its flaws, imperfections should be celebrated. The sexual essence of all humans should be celebrated, but more importantly, explored without judgement.
I shall be returning with some more in depth thoughts as to why I believe erotic art has become a major importance in todays world, but I will end on this note..
You may be asking yourself why you do the things you do, or why you’re passionate about the things in life that you are. You owe it to yourself to dive deep into these subjects, never stop questioning yourself and what you can offer with your natural gifts and perspectives and delve into your passions with a relentless tenacity. You will discover and uncover aspects of your inner self that you never knew existed and you will find the answers, should you be brave enough to explore your self.
Raine.