Art, Pleasure And Sexuality, How Do They Enlighten One Another?

From pre-historic times the body has been a site of inspiration for artists in portraying sensual and erotic pleasure. The objective of this presentation, which is based on an academic study in 2005 at the Universiti Sans Malaysia, Penang, is to demonstrate how artists from diverse cultures have created art forms which are strongly linked to their religious belief systems over the millenniums. The methods will utilise concepts from Sexology, Art History and Cultural Anthropology. In addition post-modern and feminist theory will widen the enquiry and shed further light on the way we look at art images and find multiple levels of meaning with regard to pleasure and sexuality. Selected art works from this Australasian region will demonstrate Indigenous, Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic beliefs about sexuality and pleasure. These results raise questions about the power of art images to impact upon both contemporary sexuality and art on a global level at the beginning of the 21st century.

Conflict of Interest: None disclosed
Financial Support/Funding: None disclosed
Recorded April 2007, Sydney Australia