There are seasons in an artist’s life when a muse exposes an awkward cognitive dissonance. Such is this artistically invigorating series of magazine centerfold style, pin-up inspired paintings. Creating these cheeky, sassy, and playful paintings is simultaneously fun and disquieting. It’s hard not to ask, what does this say about me, besides overthinking everything?

The paintings are a nostalgic look back at pin-up art and centerfolds that once adorned male dominated mechanics shops and lunchrooms in the 1900s. It was a time when the discovery of “centerfolds” in Playboy magazines was an adolescent boy’s delight. They were the “viral posts” in an era of paper social media, ostensibly targeted at a male audience. And that’s where the cognitive dissonance emerges, at least for me. Juxtaposed against the sexy pin-up art were women rightfully fighting for equality, and a place in the post WW2 workforce.

Arguably, drawings and photos of scantily clad or nude women on the lunchroom wall suggested that the men of the day thought the place of women in the workplace was an object of sexual delight. We have come a long way from that, but it is a lingering cultural issue. In fact, it may be worse today. Do you really know what the guy across the room is looking at on his phone? Are women still fighting sexual inequality and objectification in the workplace? I could hear the resounding yes long before I typed it.

So why create this style of art? Am I not perpetuating the problem?

The short answer is yes and no. One must enter into the genre to explore the dissonance between who we are as sexual beings who enjoy eroticism (male and female), and people who embrace equality and respect in the workplace, the home, and the community. The paintings are intended to evoke a certain awkward dissonance between the two. The fun and disquieting.

To explore this a little farther, I am drawn to painting the human form (nude, implied nude, and draped). People are fascinating and beautiful. Yet nudity, in particular, is loaded with societal and cultural shame. Both men and women fall victim to it. How ironic when porn is a billion dollar industry. Yes, I know porn is more than nudity, but one can not isolate the shame of nudity from porn driven over-sexualization of the human body, especially women.

On the flip side, there is an equally powerful push back from sexually conservative influences, with notable gender imbalance. If you don’t believe it, try posting fine art nudes on social media. Show the female nipple and you risk having your social media account suspended. The rest of the breast is okay, or so it seems from the beach shots people share from their favourite vacation resort. Truth is, the fashion industry thrives on over sexualization, especially of female bodies. Nudity is profitable. Hiding it is even more profitable. Not that I am against the fashion industry. I like to be semi-fashionably warm when it’s minus forty and the wind is driving snow in your eyes. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.

So I ask, how can you overcome the twin foes of shame and over-sexualization of sexual beings? I don’t have an indisputable answer, but I am convinced we need to have the conversation. Talking about the cause of shame subdues its power. Likewise, talking about the over-sexualization of the human body may help tame the beast by exposing the attitudes that have shaped us. So I am painting these centerfold style pin-up images to spur on the conversation…and because it’s fun.