WARNING - ADULT CONTENT In high school I painted my first female nude. I was a young kid in a conservative catholic school celebrating the female form whist also exploring my own sexual desire and identity. My art teacher put that painting front and center at our end of year exhibition, I'm sure she did it to create a bit of a stir and to challenge the schools more conservative agenda. I loved that she did! Recently there has been press associated with the ‘scandalous’ work of Milo Moire and her performance art. Moire stands on elevated planks and drops paint filled eggs from her vagina to 'give birth' to her splat paintings. Whether or not the work is good is another debate, what's intriguing is that thousands of years since the first nudes in art, we as a culture still have issues with art that explores sex, sexual organs and sexual identity. Why do we find sexual imagery in art so confronting? Perhaps it's art's rawness that has the power to confront us with our own mortality - after all, we owe our existence to sexual arousal and desire. Always one for a bit of controversy, I thought I’d revisit some notoriously sexual artworks that have caused a major scandal throughout history. [divider] [caption id="attachment_8075" align="aligncenter" width="400"] The Origin of the World, Gustav Corbet 1866[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8071" align="aligncenter" width="514"] Olympia, Edouard Manet 1865[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8074" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Self Portrait Masturbating, Egon Schiele 1911[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8076" align="aligncenter" width="424"] The Visit, Willem DeKooning 1966[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8072" align="aligncenter" width="260"] Artforum Add, Lynda Benglis 1974[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8073" align="aligncenter" width="346"] Man in Polyester Suit, Robert Mapplethorpe 1980[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8078" align="aligncenter" width="262"] Big Blonde Jerking Off, Lisa Yuskavage 1995[/caption]    

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