Word Index
“A person’s art is often their heart on their sleeve.”
Click on a letter to view the alphabetized index page:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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An Introduction:
Thank you to those who have given kind words and blog suggestions. I believe sexuality is a very good, pleasant, important, and healthy part of life. The art herein is mostly the work of many talented artists. I make no claim to any of their artworks. Where artists’ websites could be easily found, I have linked to their websites to promote their artworks and ideas. If you are a copyright holder of anything on this non-revenue-generating personal blog, and you don’t want your work referenced here, please let me know and I will remove it immediately. My email is snoopy_jump at yahoo.com. Some of these artists are not famous and may be willing to do art commissions – which I encourage anyone to do. If any of the information on this blog is inaccurate, or if you’d like to tell me about some artworks I have not yet mentioned, please email me and I will investigate.
A person’s collection of artworks, and how they perceive those artworks, may tell you a lot about that person - maybe even things they don’t fully understand. This blog aspires to show visual, linguistic, definitional, thematic, cultural, and therapeutic artistic connections across time and mediums. Thank you.
I created this blog because I tend to visit websites where there’s at least a remote possibility I might find something worth remembering. And as easy as that criteria may sound, I’ve not found it very easy to find regularly. So, I search most days for signs of intelligent life: well expressed ideas and artworks that remind the human spirit of what might matter and what might be noble. I created this web resource to try to be one more place where people might occasionally find something worthwhile to remember.
When deciding what to post, I have several really smart people in my life and a couple key people from my past. A primary question I ask myself is: Is the information or imagery good enough that many of those knowledgeable people might find it new or innovative? Would it be worth their time to read? And I also try to find material that’s primarily intended to speak toward the feminine side in both men and women.
I try to focus light on “Sexuality & Love in the Arts,” the important aspects of an artwork that are too often ignored, belittled, or mischaracterized. This blog suggests the sexual aspects may be the best thing about a work of art. The sexual aspects are not perverse or obscene. They are not incidental or accidental. They were intended for excellent and universal reasons.
I think “sexuality in art” is often a love story. Artists have often included intimate, candid, and open sexual ideas in their art as a loving communication to their familiars and to future generations.
I call myself OneMoreOption because that’s an important cognitive lesson I learned from one of my original muses. She taught me that many of my problems, and many of the world’s problems are caused because we choose from too few presumed options. She and I used to argue regularly about all the big issues, and she’d almost always point out that my problem was not being willing to even consider some of the possible solutions.
I suppose the archteypal example of a cognitive framework where too few options are given would be someone saying, “You’re either with me, or you are my enemy” – George W. Bush’s famous State of the Union mentality that was parodied in the final Star Wars film by the young Darth Vader. But I’m not trying to focus on such an absurd example as Bush. He’s too easy of a target. Consider any major question in your life’s past. When it was posed to you, were you given only a finite number of options, and were you told you could only choose one? If so, the answer, happily or tragically, may have been an option that was not discussed or considered. A better option may have been a continuous or intermittent combination of other options.
About 4 years ago, I was re-introduced to the problem solving systems of TRIZ. You can find sample lists on the internet at Wikipedia and other places. I think it was originally a Soviet engineer’s checklist of methods for redefining and improving the possible number of solutions to any given engineering problem. The TRIZ methods can be used for solving any type of problem. And when I rediscovered them, several years later, it clicked in my mind that many social problems are sadly created because people have poor problem-solving skills and poor social training. And often better solutions are found outside of the original options given.
You know how sometimes you tell a child: “You can only choose A or B.” And then the child says, “Hey, what about C?” or “How about A and B?” Too often, adults forget to inquire about “Option C,” and even more often they frustratingly don’t consider the option of “A and B.” The often berated option of “having your cake and eating it too.” That saying never made much sense to me. Just who is giving out cake and asking people not to eat it?
I was watching Jon Stewart clips on YouTube after midnight last night and he joked about all the places he’d been fired from and that he was almost unemployable at anything else besides what he does. I’m kind of like him in that if anything stupid is going on around me, I have trouble keeping my facial expressions from revealing my informed dissent.
I find and point out elephants in most rooms. Most of the time, I don’t say anything. So a blog works for me because there are so many things I don’t like to be silent about, and an anonymous blog is the least confrontational way I’ve found to somewhat complexly . . . is that a word? . . . discuss, and address in a small way, so many different controversial and important issues.
I’m constantly looking for encouraging signs of ethical and smart decisions. A lot of time I’m doing research for the blog posts, finding the best available artwork samples for a given topic, doublechecking factual information, and looking for insightful contextual information. Other time is spent reading smart bloggers, news stories, and Wikipedia.
I change the blog slightly all the time. And I regularly am going back and updating old blog posts if better information becomes available. But I don’t have major format changes planned. As new blog topic ideas come to mind, I use them. But trying to find something worth reading or viewing on a regular basis is very difficult.
The idea to word index and image thumbnail for this blog came from the influence of a very smart friend of mine, who is very good at categorizing and organizing her thoughts. She still influences me with her intellect. I try to only post on topics that might have some merit several years from now. So, I thought giving people an index and thumbnail index would do several good things: It gives them a quick overview of the tone and content of the blog. It gives them a sense of just how many important and brilliant artists have cared about topics of sexuality in art. And it helps people scan and find available comparative content. Like so many other good ideas I get from my friends, I think the indexing has made the blog more intuitive, inviting, and enjoyable for many readers.
I don’t know how long I’ll continue writing this blog, but I’ve found regular inspiration to write for over 4 years (began in December 2006). As with any demanding creative process, there are nights when I think I’ll slow down the frequency of posts. But then a burr gets under my saddle and I’ll end up finding more content than expected. Alice Walker has struggled with the same question. At different points she has thought about retiring from writing. But for some of us, creative forces are some of our most compelling drives, giving us (as Ms. Walker describes) some connection to a “Source.” I don’t feel connected to “a source,” but analogously I believe I am my best self when I am sharing the best ideas I am lucky and fortunate to have encountered. I have appreciated when others have done the same for me, so I try to give back in return.
I’m lucky to have found something I am passionate about. I think art matters, and so I try to support that concept a little each day. I am an idealist, and I am not ashamed that I aspire to try to make the world a little better each day by sharing great artworks.
the art that you’ve posted here really added something beautiful to my day. thank you.
thank you Irena.
I’m loving the works by Georgi
Sargent – well yeah! amazing, but we all know that !!
Nice blog, I like the way you are mixing established aretists and new ones
Cheers!
Simon (aka Crescent)
thank you Crescent (Simon) for the nice comments.
You have a very interesting blog, I am enjoying checking it out
Thank you Phil.
HI there – are you studying art at all? would make a great contextual reference if you are.
Cheers, MasterMistress.
I study art as a part of my life. I don’t know all the reasons why, but it is important to me personally. Thank you for your comment mastermistress.
.. because it helps explain to us who we really are and makes sense out of it all?
Keep up the good work.
Thank you for your encouragement. It means a lot coming from you mastermistress.
Very nice collection. Deep, like you. I always enjoy your posts on 43T. Would love to see you include some work here by French photographer Bettina Rheims (see: http://www.43people.com/profile/view/1239020 and ). Also, I think much of the work you’ve got here is sensual rather than sexual, but I appreciate the eye you have for what impresses as well as what arouses.
Thank you TajLV. I always appreciate your kind and regular feedback on 43Things.
Yes, thank you very much for suggesting Bettina Rheims. I have saved some of her work previously and she is on a list of “to post” artists.
In recent dates, I found here in your blog, some photos I want to show to my older son. He is 8 years old and wants to be a soldier but I would like to show him how war affects this soldier life you recently posted:, his body, his fiancé and his relatives. I know he is too young but I consider it’s important to destroy such fantasies about glory, action and honor, closer to video games than to real life.
The fact is that I tried to search the photos without any success. Could you please send me the link?
Like a lot your blog. I teach history of art and I really enjoy it. Thanks in advance
María
Maria,
Here is the link to the photos by Nina Berman of Marine Ty Ziegel and his wife Renee Ziegel:
http://sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2007/09/07/nina-berman-more-than-just-a-marines-wedding-ty-and-renee-ziegel/
I have really enjoyed reading your blog and selected images. You select really interesting stuff and I like the way you put together the images. You definitely have a future as an editor (if you’re not one already that is).
I went through your whole blog in one sitting.
Superb website with some excellent artwork. Well done
its all fabulous to know bout sexual artwork… its impressive and needs ro be more visionary
This might be somewhat suprising but I don’t think O’Keefe is sexual. Lots of people say it’s vaginal but if it is, then it is for a disinterested viewer. It is from someone who does not have any interest in form. As a lover of form, the most beautiful of forms is the female form, O’Keefe’s 2-D representation is rather cold and not sexual.
I just want to say that your blog has many attributes. It is very complete, very professional and, overall, very sincere. I am a photographer and many of the pictures, paintings and comics you have selected have become inspiration to me. Keep it up.
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OneMoreOption: Thank you Daniel. I appreciate your kind encouragement.
Wow, its a big pleasure to find a blog like this. The material its very rich, and theres a lot of inspiration.
I share with you my things, maybe you will like my orgasm series:
http://www.diegobeyro.com
And thanks a lot!
great stuff
A lovely blog. You’ve obviously put a lot of thought and time into this – well done. I like how you’re making connections from the things you come across in the media, and on the web. I’m very impressed… so it was natural to add you to the blogroll on my blog!
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OneMoreOption: Thank you for the kind thoughts and words.
Thank you. I’m touched by the thoughtfulness of what you’ve brought together. There is a real sense of warmth here. This is an accomplishment, especially in these times. My days, both yesterday and today, have been made richer because of it.
best wishes,
antonia
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OneMoreOption: Thank you for taking to express well written thoughts. Best wishes to you.
I found your blog while surfing for E.J. Bellocq. I’m so happy I did.
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OneMoreOption: Thank you.
splendidly done.. great source of inspiration now!
Who are you? How did you get permission to post the Magritte Lovers images? I want to use them in a book (so far, to be self-published) and would like to attribute the published source to you, if that is the right thing to do, plus your blog is great, and I’d like people to be directed to it if anyone ever reads my book.
Also, my brother is a writer who studied Medieval History and went on to write for Hustler, and then broke free to write on a variety of subjects, often sexual. These published essays (in Vanity Fair, LA Weekly “My Life in Porn,” etc) were recently published in book form, “Hella Nation.” His first book was “Generation Kill.” Anyway, I think his work would find something kindred with your own production. It is too easy to say that my brother’s assessment of porn is negative or favorable, for example. He does not judge except to observe his own relation to it and the surprising expressions of loneliness that compel Hustler readers to write letters to the nude models in an effort to create a more true, intimate connection that deviates from the culturally expected behavior of people who like porn… In any case, I am passing this on to you, and have enjoyed reading your Amazon postings, as well.
N. W.
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OneMoreOption: Thank you for taking the time to write kind feedback and to share some very interesting thoughts.
On copyright: I don’t know much about copyright, but I suspect if you want to use an image in a book that you intend to sell for a profit, then you should consult a copyright attorney and investigate if Magritte’s work is still under copyright protection. Attributing image sources to anyone other than the art’s creator, current owner, or copyright holder would be of little referential value.
On the online writings: Thank you for complimenting the blog. No need to point anyone my direction, but the thought is kind of you. Thank you for complimenting the Amazon reviews. I work very hard on them.
On porn and loneliness: Loneliness will drive men to do extraordinary things. Many people, even in modern times, still want to disassociate from or criticize “porn.” That’s fascinating to me.
A person privately enjoying images of sexual activity for the purpose of quietly and pleasantly sexually arousing himself or herself seems like it would often be one of the most genteel, calming, and cathartic activities they could regularly participate in. I do not understand why there still are people out there who are against men and women using sexually explicit imagery (showing other people being kind and arousing to each other) to emotionally and chemically arouse themselves to the point of orgasmic release.
Discussing “porn” is like discussing “writing” or “art” or “movies.” The discussions are so varied and the artforms so diverse that the discussions should work to avoid over-generalizations, stereotypical groupings, and overstatements.
Thank you for the blog
I was losing my faith in ever finding a blog with integrity and a mild air of humanity.
( I hope you dont mind me saying that but i get a sense of human warmth in your posts)
I love what you are doing i think i have just found a blog to keep coming back to.
Inspired.
j
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omo: Thank you James.
Hello!
I just found your blog and I must tell you I love what you are doing. I too, write a blog about sexuality; I am an artist, but also a mom, who feels that sexuality is less often treated as a love story and more often is shamelessly exploited.
I draw scenes of loving sexuality and write about my own experiences.
Thank you for what you do! Victoria
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omo: Thank you. Best wishes.
have you ever listened to mirah’s music? she would be optimal inclusion material for your blog.
Love your intelligent site.
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OneMoreOption: Thank you
very interesting and varied blog – You might be interested in adding your thoughts/opinions on the artist Anders Zorn (Swedish) to your blog – images easily found on www
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OneMoreOption: Yes, I would. Thank you very much for introducing him to me. I will investigate further.
Hello!
I thought perhaps your followers/artists might be interested in learning about a current open call opportunity for artists to submit sexually themed artwork to an exhibition in London, England called TRANSGRESSION, at Beers.Lambert Contemporary Art.
Details can be found at http://www.beerslambert.com/TR.htm including images and a full prospectus.
THank you!
Your site is very informative and fits my mind like a glove. Thank you.
This may be a dumb question, but how does one post images, or send images for review?
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OneMoreOption: Thank you for the positive feedback. I don’t know that I understand the context of your question. People don’t generally send me images or artworks for review. I tend to share what I find in my independent searches. I don’t know if that answers your question.