Erotic Pop Art

In the history of Pop Art, Warhol and Lichtenstein are probably the most widely known, but when it comes to erotic Pop Art, it is the female artists that dominated. Evelyne Axell was a Belgian painter and has long since been considered as the country's first Pop artist after studying painting with Rene Magritte. In a male-dominated art scene, Evelyne Axell only used the androgynous name of “Axell" with her erotic paintings pushing the boundaries of both Pop art and feminist art at the time. Throughout the 60s, Axell became known for her suggestive work such as Ice Cream (1964), painting on Plexiglass and for becoming one of the first female artists to create a nude self-portrait in 1970. The sexual revolution of the 1960s saw erotic art from United States to Europe fuel debates about sexual liberation, the nude body, and the gendered dynamics of visual pleasure. Since then, one can argue that such debates continue. On Artsper, Gum uses erotic Pop art to combine sexual liberation with excessive consumption – producing works within a plastic, porno-chic universe. Meanwhile, Beirutmidnight's goal is to empower women and men, break taboos, defy the conventional and tackle sensitive subjects publicly. Using a different approach, she aims to change common misconceptions around sexuality as a female artist from Lebanon.  Through erotic Pop art, the provocative debate can become a liberating conversation.