I took Betty Tompkins’ ‘Fuck Painting #26’ and translated it into an A4 sized, coloured oil painting to capture the individuality and euphoria of the sexual experience. The female artist has taken the male, graphic industry of pornography and appropriated it to completely change the meaning. She had softened the image with acrylic airbrush techniques, making the action more beautiful, and increased the scale to create a dramatic impact when looked upon.

In my appropriation of Tompkins’ appropriation of pornographic material, I introduced gaudy colours through vivid oils. This was to provide a sense of ecstasy in the erotic encounter, capturing the emotions of the moment through colour. I realised that I wanted to use a complimentary colour palette so that the image flowed in an aesthetically pleasing way; therefore, capturing how the bodies naturally intertwine through the natural action. The addition of colour adds a more escalated shock value to the work. As a female artist, that works such as these are highly taboo and looked down upon by more established male artists and critics- less so in contemporary society, but this would have been the case at the time Tompkins began working (the 1970s).

reference: http://www.neoimages.com/artwork.aspx?nid=2021074, accessed 7 November 2017