Mixing erotic Japanese woodblock prints from hundreds of years ago with works in a variety of media by contemporary artists who have a sexy slant, Images from a Floating World: 18th & 19th Century Japanese Erotic Prints and the Echo in Modern & Contemporary Art at New York’s Fredericks & Freiser presents an amusing overview of art that should be putting viewers to bed rather than providing an afternoon delight.
Japanese Ukiyo-e masters Suzuki Harunobu and Utagawa Kunisada offer couples vividly doing the nasty, while their latter day American counterparts appear tame by comparison yet still pack some humor into the act. John Wesley portrays a pair of screwing squirrels; Mickalene Thomas captures the beauty of a black temptress in a low rent boudoir; and Carroll Dunham imagines a giant tarantula mounting a well-endowed white woman in an exotic locale.
