Risqué {dirty little pictures}

The above image is of the writing on a black wall that obscures what lies within the Kilsby Gallery of the Long Beach Museum of Art: a series of 8″X10″ artworks that comprise Risqué {dirty little pictures}, the brainchild of artists Nathan Spoor and Jeff McMillan, and LBMA executive director Ron Nelson.

I heard about Risqué through a Facebook status update by my co-worker Joe Vaux, one of the show’s participating artists. It grabbed my attention immediately for two reasons: 1) I have always appreciated erotic art ever since I first discovered it in middle school through a book called “Art Nouveau and the Erotic” by Ghislaine Wood at my then-local library in Rancho Peñasquitos, 2) I was curious to see what Joe’s interpretation of the word risqué was, considering his portfolio of surreal, chaotic worlds inhabited by cartoonish monsters, none of which have ever conjured the word, or anything close to it, in my mind upon viewing.

I shared my latter surprise with Joe’s assistant director Mark Covell at the opening reception of Faces over a week ago, asking if he had seen Joe’s submission, and what his thoughts were on it. Not spoiling anything, he simply described the painting as being “gross, even for Joe.” When I finally got to see the piece for myself over the weekend, I found myself in agreement with his assessment:

Risqué, yes, but predominantly gross, and unsurprisingly Joe Vaux, with the childlike innocence of a kid poking fun at adult private parts. It certainly has a charm to it.

Other works that I enjoyed at the show:

Risqué {dirty little pictures} will be up until November 10. Check it out, preferably with a significant other.

For more photos, view the set on Flickr. Due to the explicit nature of the subject matter, some photos have been marked with a “Restricted” safety level, and are only available to Flickr members.