Customer Reviews

Art: A Sex Book

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Taste is, of course, a concept to be ridiculed in the world of John Waters. But because this publication reflects his taste (or deliberate lack of it), the concept is relevant in discussing the book. In Waters' world, sex is dirty (filthy is his preferred term), sneaky, subversive, and/or boring. These are not my evaluations; he states all these things quite clearly, either in his words or films. So if you think art and/or sex(iness) is represented by photos of a woman defecating on the floor, you might be delighted by this book. Or if something as scintillating as a blank sheet of paper strikes you as sexy, this is for you.

But even if the illustrations bore you or turn you off (as many of them do me), you might still find the text--a series of dialogs between Waters and Bruce Hainley--to be of interest. He has some very interesting and worthwile things to say, and should not be totally dismissed by those who have other ideas about art or sex.

Amazingly informed and intelligent art discussion between two bright, subversive gentlemen; Bruce Hainley, writer, curator and art critic and John Waters, director of such great cult classics as Female Trouble.

Their conversations introduce the reader to wide range of artists working in many different media, many of them well informed by LAs seedy past and gay culture.

For anyone looking for a sharp witty overview of the names to watch in contemporary art, this is incredibly accessible yet never dumbs down its subject.

The only problem? Now I want to collect works by everyone they described...

Though Waters is more celebrated as a film maker, his touch is clearly visible in these intervened photographs. I simply Adored Waters here: without the usual hanky panky the art intelligentsia loads upon us, common folk, his photos are a breath of fresh air in the toilet bowl that is the contemporary art scene.

Salut, roger!