Henry Monnier (1799 – 1877) A Group of Erotic Miniatures

Henry Bonaventure Monnier, artist and playwright, was born 7 June 1799. After studying at the Lycée Bonaparte, he frequented the workshops of the neo-classical artists Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson and Baron AntoineJean Gros. Aged just 23, Monnier  went to live in London, returning to Paris five years later where he started to encounter and befriend a glittering cast of authors and painters of the time: Alexandre Dumas, Théophile Gautier, Stendhal, Eugène Sue, Prosper Mérimée, Eugène Scribe, Eugène Delacroix, Louis Boulanger and Honoré de Balzac. read more

Lockdown Love Letters

by
An expanding collection of collaged letters, started in the Coronavirus lockdown of 2020. These are mostly large collages made from original envelopes, vintage books, illustrations and some of my own print making.

I am a collage and assemblage artist with a strong interest in storytelling.
I have worked as an artist for 30 years, as well as teaching art and running a gallery in the Yorkshire Dales where I am based. read more

Patpong – Bangkok After Dark

This gallery showcases the faces and bodies inside Bangkok’s infamous Patpong neighbourhood, a street where foreigners and locals alike gather to share in the revelry. These four acres of vice arose in the 1940s around the city’s airline offices and continues in the same tradition to this day. The photography has a unique and candid perspective on a nightlife where all inhibitions have been shed, in an environment where partygoers can feel comfortable exhibiting themselves amongst like-minded hedonists. read more

Abigail Ekue: Men Behaving Nakedly

Abigail Ekue’s Bare Men is showing for the first time outside of her native New York. We take a second look at her work. Why? Because we love it and we just can't get enough of it… read more

Julia Fullerton-Batten’s BOOK: ‘THE ACT’

In our new GALLERY section, Julia discusses her work. "My project, The Act, is a multi-faceted study of women who engage voluntarily in the UK sex-industry, their reasons for choosing this career path, and their feelings about their work. It includes images, and ‘stories’ in text and as well as online videos. During the project, I was involved not only as a photographer, but as a ‘normal’ woman observing other women unabashedly engaging in acts during which they exploit their sexuality and their physicality to earn their living. It was a stimulating experience from start to finish. It took me on an unexpected and daring adventure seeing life from a distinctly different perspective than one I lead. These are my thoughts on my photographic odyssey into the world of the sex industry." read more

AN UNRELIABLE HISTORY OF TATTOOS | PAUL THOMAS

It's the perfect gift for anyone into any of the following: tattoos, satire, make-believe, colour, illustration, poking fun at celebrities, poking fun at royals, poking fun at history, beautifully presented books, life, love, wit, humour, fun. Oh you don't know anyone who likes any of those things? read more

SOFT SILK AND HARD FLESH | VICTORIA ROWLEY

Artists are rarely so comfortable in themselves as Victoria Rowley. Legs that are endlessly elegant (CHIC, two down) and a face of incomparable beauty, it’s a wonder that you haven’t come across her before. Perhaps it’s because she’s been up to her elbows in mysterious dyes, colouring silks and studiously creating undeniably erotic images, mixing images of the botanical with the male sex for the last few years. Now she’s managed to get the stains out from her hands she’s doing more than rolling up her sleeves to bring her creations to life.

Antic Staatsoper: Gods and Myths

If I don't see Art as a way to turn this world in a better place, I strongly believe that the main role of art is to ask us the good questions about it. Artists have to point out the issues and trouble of our conditions that stop us on our way to the spirituality and universal harmony. read more

The art of arousal

One of the most talked about exhibitions at this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, FECK:ART took shape as the area’s emerging artists toiled to answer one question: can art succeed where porn fails: to actually turn us on? Their diverse and dazzling output celebrates ‘beautiful obscenity’ while challenging pornography’s status quo. read more