The Erotic Ink of Apollonia Saintclair

 

Apollonia Saintclair-Les Grandes découvertes (The Age of Discovery)

The rather evocatively named Apollonia Saintclair (presumably a pseudonym that conjures up  images, in my mind, at least, of a Bond villainess and a vixen of a heroine in a French libertine novel) provocative and very erotic illustrations have gathered a huge and obsessive following on Instagram and Tumblr for the mysterious, secretive artist.

Saintclair’s veritable pornocupia of fantasies, kinks and fetishes locate sex and desire as the nexus of a wide range of human emotions. Her black and white images are suggestive of pulp, noir and, on occasion, the gleeful decadence of Beardsley and Von Bayros; while shot through with a delightful insolent wit that ranges from the mischievous to the macabre.

In her interviews Saintclair has expressed her admiration for the pioneering photographer and artist Man Ray who was noted for his use of visual puns and rhymes, which quickly became a hallmark of early Surrealism. In drawings such as La Bonne Poire (The Juicy Fruit) and La Trouvaille (There you are), Saintclair expands (in conjuration with their disingenuous titles) the potential of the visual pun that elicits the shock of suppressed recognition from the viewer. The startling La Mort Douce (The Sweet Death) with its inversion of the Biblical tale of St John the Baptist and Salome has, however, far more sinister connotations.

Although obviously well-versed in art history in general and erotic art in particular, and while her work contains echoes of everything from Clovis Trouille’s sultry, sapphic nuns to the ceaseless caresses of octopi in Japanese shunga, Saintclair has developed a unique style with a distinctive contemporary take on eroticism from a vantaged (and still a rarity in erotic art) female perspective.

The English philosopher Francis Bacon is quoted as saying the job of the artist is to always deepen the mystery. While there is nothing more mysterious in human experience than sex, involving as it does the body, mind and soul in conjuration like no other comparable activity, the erotic artist is placed in a paradoxical position. After all, the role of erotic art is, by its very definition, to show and tell. Revealing too much strips away the mystery and the initial charm is soon lost. Revealing  too little, however, means it isn’t erotic art. Apollonia Saintclair performs that miraculous balancing act of showing us just enough to deepen the mystery and leaving us longing for more.

Apollonia Saintclair- Le silence des cigales (The midnight lights)

Apollonia Saintclair-Les cinq âmes soeurs (The five soulmates)

Apollonia Saintclair-La rencontre rapprochée ( The close encounter)

Apollonia Saintclair- La mort douce (The sweet death)

Apollonia Saintclair-La Trouvaille (There You Are…)

Apollonia Saintclair-La Bonne Poire (The Juicy Fruit) 2016

Apollonia Saintclair-L’Itaphalle (Can’t Get of your love, Darling)

Apollonia Saintclair-L’invocation (The summoning)

Apollonia Saintclair- L’affût (Lying in wait)