Explicit material is more widely available in the internet age, yet the
concept of 'obscenity' remains as difficult to pin down as it is to approach
without bias. This book talks about the work of 20th-century artists practising
at the edges of acceptability, from Hans Bellmer through to Nobuyoshi Araki,
and from Hermann Nitsch to Paul McCarthy.Explicit material is more widely available in the Internet age than ever
before, yet the concept of 'obscenity' remains as difficult to pin down as it
is to approach without bias: notions of what is 'obscene' shift with societies'
shifting mores, and our responses to explicit or disturbing material can be
highly subjective. In this intelligent and sensitive book, Kerstin Mey grapples
with the work of twentieth century artists practising at the edges of
acceptability, from Hans Bellmer through to Nobuyoshi Araki, from Robert
Mapplethorpe to Annie Sprinkle, and from Hermann Nitsch to Paul McCarthy. Mey
refuses sweeping statements and 'kneejerk' responses, arguing with dexterity
that some works, regardless of their 'high art' context, remain deeply
problematic, whilst others are both groundbreaking and liberating.
