On painting pornography – the eye of the beholder

By using my own pornographic stills as a starting point, I produced a series of explicit paintings as part of my PhD practice-based research, the Red Square Series. Using Laura Marks’ haptic visuality framework and applying it to my own artistic practice, I set out to explore the pornographic potential of paint as a medium. From the creation of the Red Square Series to their exhibition, haptics have been a guiding principle in my quest to create a static pornographic image. This article explores some haptic qualities and what characterizes them when it comes to paint – and through them, the potential contained in the gaze of the pornographer as both artist and model.