The Art Of Sex

Just when you thought it was numbing to traipse through another art gallery, here's a show of erotic fantasies by some of the world's most successful artists. The illustrations in this mini-exhibit are from The Blue Book, distributed by Grove Press, New York. Longtime Playboy readers will recognize in the book the styles of Lou Brooks, Dennis Mukai, Robert Grossman, Katsu Yoshida, Jean-Paul Goude, Andy Warhol, Mel Ramos and Allen Jones. The point of the collection is to underscore the fact that when artists think about sex, they're not always wearing straight faces. And no wonder. Sex doesn't always happen between somber people. There's often a lot of smiling going on. And there's even more of it going on in our fantasy lives. Consider the not-so-irrational appeal of really big red lips. You know, wet ones. They set the mind to working. As does a close-cropped view of a wonderfully feminine backside streaked by sunlight and shadowed by Venetian blinds. Or a ballerina who is obviously undaunted by the stress required to accomplish the self-absorption she seeks so passionately. Why do whirling red shoes seem appropriate to a particular torso? Or a hand interrupting an otherwise placid still life? These artists let us in on their unique secrets and, in the process, they help us create our own.