Rubens and His Legacy

Rubens and His Legacy: Van Dyck to Cézanne
Royal Academy of Arts

"The triumph of Rubens's nudes is his magnificent evocation of the texture of human skin, represented in such a way it feels almost palpable. We see blood coursing through the veins of the voluptuous flesh. The delicate mother-of-pearl complexions of the female bodies radiate with light. Their soft skin suggests vulnerability and invites you to touch it. ... Rubens's nudes were, as per tradition, drawn from mythological, literary and sometimes biblical sources." [... in Gallery Guide...]

Let's be honest! Every art work is about sex! Pure and simple sex (homo- and hetero-) veiled under some other subject matter, like politics, religion, science, race, the exercise of power, etc. or the human body sensuality and sexuality while posing and interacting with those dynamics and conditions ruling contemporary life.

Lutz Bacher: Black Beauty

Lutz Bacher
Black Beauty
Institute of Contemporary Arts

«Lutz Bacher () has drawn upon disconnected information from popular culture and her own life, producing works that play with the inter-changeability of identity, sexuality and the human body. Bacher uses images and objects in a physical, sometimes visceral manner, conducting arrangements of seemingly disparate entities and allowing them to interact in new ways. The artist's expansive work explores human identity as it is defined through gender, sexuality and the human body. Lutz Bacher is as elusive as her work is ambiguous, perhaps preferring not to dictate how her works should be viewed.» [PR]