| When looking at art, is it fair to differentiate between what is erotic and what is not? Erotica is very personal, so trying to establish work as erotic is almost impossible. For example, in a Seurat study for The Echo, it is the curve of an arm and a hand raised to the mouth that is so erotic to me that I cannot look away, whereas Georgia O’Keeffe’s magnificent sexual flowers do not feel erotic to me at all. |  |
Carolyn Weltman has exhibited her work worldwide and has received acclaim for her many solo shows in New York and Europe. Her work is on view at the Kinsey Institute Juried Erotic Art Exhibition through July 25.
Carolyn Weltman, Smokinââ¬â¢ Josie, 2007. Watercolor crayon, charcoal, and gesso. Courtesy of the artist.
I once asked my 80-year-old mother what she thought of my work. She responded, "It’s very honest work, dear," followed by a lecture on shoe fetishism. She told me she’d lived vicariously through me for most of my life. When my mother told me it was ok to do something, I believed her.
The world reacts to my work the same now as it did when I started creating erotica 10 years ago; society really does not change much in a decade when it comes to matters sexual. The reactions cover every human emotion there is: expressions of pure joy to terming it "disgusting" are how people react to sex. Powerful art—whether erotic or not—should cause a reaction, positive or negative. Apparently my work is powerful, as it certainly causes a reaction. People think about it. If they don’t like it, or are uncomfortable it, that’s for them to sort out.
A drawing may take from several hours to several weeks to complete. Paintings take several months. When developing a drawing or painting, I take out as much as I put in, so that what you see as a final work might, as a study, have taken a very long time. I choose to work up only the pieces that talk to me. My process differs for every piece, including experimentation with a variety of media; even paper is carefully chosen because various fibers hold media differently. For example: oil paint, nail enamel, watercolor crayons and spit create a unique effect. There are no rules.
My artwork concerns human sexuality. My perspective begins poetically with me alone. It extends out to the mood of my beautiful models, then to my drawing, my painting, and ultimately to the living spaces of my patrons. I am utterly and unashamedly ecumenical in my fascination with the human form, and the imaginative capacity for loving expressed by its inhabitants.
When looking at art, is it fair to differentiate between what is erotic and what is not? Erotica is very personal, so trying to establish work as erotic is almost impossible. For example, in a Seurat study for The Echo, it is the curve of an arm and a hand raised to the mouth that is so erotic to me that I cannot look away, whereas Georgia O’Keeffe’s magnificent sexual flowers do not feel erotic to me at all.
Unleashing my work onto the world has created a virtuous circle of inspiration that flows back to me in direct proportion to my ability to tell the truth about how things really are for people inside themselves. I give them a glimpse of how they might express themselves if they were as free in the rest of their lives as the subjects in my work.
