There will be a live performance of classical music on a baby grand piano, oboe, and violin
by acclaimed musicians Sabina Rakcheyeva, Carolyn Landau, and Shzr Ee Tan.

At Sartorial's magnificent new 6000 square feet gallery in Kings Cross.

Tuesday 18 November to Saturday 13 December

SARTORIAL CONTEMPORARY ART
26 Argyle Square, London WC1H 8AP
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7278 0866
www.sartorialart.com / art@sartorialart.com
Press Enquiries: philip@sartorialart.com T: 07971 268093
Open Tues - Sat 1:30 - 7pm or by appointment

ADVISORY: SOME PEOPLE MAY BE OFFENDED BY THE EXPLICIT
SENSUAL CONTENT OF THE PAINTINGS ON SHOW

please RSVP art@sartorialart.com

---

Jasper Joffe's
"Does the Royal Family like Poornography"

Background
There is a tradition of male artists making pornographic art, from Courbet's original, through Jeff Koons producing his own, to John Currin's recent renaissance version. As Currin himself said "In every art school in the world there's a guy doing porn."

 Feminism
"I am a citizen of the United States, and in this country where I live, every year millions and millions of pictures are being made of women with our legs spread. We are called beaver, we are called pussy, our genitals are tied up, they are pasted, makeup is put on them to make them pop out of a page at a male viewer. Millions and millions of pictures are made of us in postures of submission and sexual access so that our vaginas are exposed for penetration, our anuses are exposed for penetration, our throats are used as if they are genitals for penetration. In this country where I live as a citizen real rapes are on film and are being sold in the marketplace. And the major motif of pornography as a form of entertainment is that women are raped and violated and humiliated until we discover that we like it and at that point we ask for more."
Andrea Dworkin testifying to the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography on January 22, 1986 (www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/WarZoneChaptIVF1.html)
In 1986 there was no internet.

Freedom of Speech
"While messages reflecting sexism pervade our culture in many forms, sexual and nonsexual, suppression of such material will neither reduce harm to women nor further women's goals. Women are exploited and harassed in all fields; some are in pornography. Exploitation will stop when it is vigorously prosecuted everywhere it occurs…..When the National Organization for Women considered launching a campaign against pornography, women in pornography protested saying that a ban against it would create a black market of exploitation. Some said their work gave then independence and a sense of accomplishment; banning it would worsen their lives. NOW abandoned its proposed campaign"
Extracts from Feminists for Free Expression (http://www.ffeusa.org)

Jasper Joffe
The show continues themes of misogyny, status, aesthetics, and desire from his "Beauty Show" at V22 Gallery London in 2008, where he showed painting of 80s lingerie models with paintings of Himmler. He requested guests at the opening to identify themselves as either ugly or beautiful and assemble in one of the galleries accordingly.

The Show
Poornography (sic) is everywhere and Joffe ponders whether it is now enjoyed in the highest echelons of society. The Queen, Prince Philip, and their heirs may now be the carefree consumers of an endless stream of hard couer poorn (sic). The poorn (sic) images on show are all drawn from free mainstream websites with guaranteed over 18 models. Joffe signs the paintings with the site from which they have been generously donated. The paintings are billboard size confronting the viewer, whether royal or commoner, with poorn outside the intimacy of his/her computer screen. The dignity, properness, and clothedness of Royalty are contrasted with the women in poornography (sic), stripped, penetrated, and covered in sea-men (sic). The absurdity of the juxtaposition marks Joffe's uncertainty about the subject matter, throwing the viewer off course, and out of their indifference to paintings of poorn (sic).

Classical Music and Poorn
The opening party will include a performance of classical music by acclaimed musician Shzr Ee Tan on piano, Sabina Rakcheyeva on viola, and Carolyn Landau (TBC) on oboe. They will provide a baroque counterpoint to the poornography (sic) and royals on show. Most masterbators (sic) will not have had this auditory experience during their self-pleasuring.

Joffe Bio
This continues a provocative series of exhibitions including 24 paintings in 24 hours at the Chisenhale Gallery in 1999, 72 paintings in 72 hours at Brno House of Arts, Czech Republic in 2003, and Buck Naked Painting at Sartorial Contemporary Art in 2007.
Jasper Joffe, educated at The Ruskin and Royal College of Art, is a curator, writer, editor, and mainly a painter. He is founder of London's The Free Art Fair, the art fair where all the work is given away at the end. He recently sold a painting of Himmler to Charles Saatchi causing a minor controversy. He has had solo exhibitions in Milan, Brno, London, and Rome. He is the author of novel, Water, published by Telegram books in 2006 and co-editor of The Rebel art magazine.  He is now 33 years old.