Amuse-Bouche Painting

This is part of a new series 'Hunger for Intimacy' exploring sensuality and intimacy - working from graphic contemporary scenes and trying to place them in a wider art history context. It's not my main aim to arouse - which could be said of porn, nor would I say I see these works as erotic art. What interests me is the transformation of material through the change of medium and context - and the questions that arise as a result. Porn is often seen as dehumanising, objectifying, and exploitative. As an artist I tend to use what already exists in the public domain as source material - and transform it so that it reflects back both something about myself and about the world. Even my more explicit work does not have the aim of arousal - not that I judge work that does. I think art has a more open ended goal that is not so easily defined - but ambiguity and dialogue are part of the work itself. Having art history references in my head I often see a pornographic image from the perspective of a painting I know - for example Matisse's 'The Dance' or the Turkish bath paintings by Ingres. Someone with different references will see different things