Sex with nothing new to say

Seventies pornography is the subject for paintings in the Grand Manner in John Currin’s new exhibition, which could happily be titled Veronese with Vaginas or Titian with Tits.

Only the stalest minds will be shocked by these now old-fashioned-looking images of naked grown-ups having fun, but many of us will wonder whether the artist has managed to create images that are anything more than sexy.

Currin, 45, is high in the top 20 of contemporary painters, with major solo shows at the Whitney in New York and the Serpentine in London under his belt. Sex has long been his big theme, and he is said to enjoy painting in the buff.

These new paintings are marvellous, but the problem with this kind of revivalist art is it wants to have its cake and eat it. Gallerists who put on these exhibitions talk about what painting can "do" to photography.

Certainly Currin’s retro style turns these mass-produced magazine images into icons of our culture. He produces something mildy revealing about our past and present — indicating the pornographic impulse behind old classical nudes, and fetishising contemporary obsessions with images of sex with his luscious paint. But for many this will be old news.

Most of the images focus on men giving women pleasure — which might reflect the dawn of assertive female sexuality in the Seventies, but could equally be seen as a male fantasy about female pleasure. I am not very familiar with the artist’s source material, but I suspect he has softened the forced smiles on the women in his paintings. This time, unlike in porn, they really do look like they are enjoying themselves.

Thus Currin’s paintings struggle to rise above being anything more than titillating nudes in the tradition of Balthus — beautiful but escapist.

John Currin
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