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I’ve been circling this article for several days now, burdened by sudden changes and life’s commitments, but also a bit blocked by a sort of fear that makes it difficult for me to concentrate. Fear of what? Well, not everyone, but some people find life a bit scary: not knowing what will happen tomorrow, finding yourself starting all over again. Let’s face it, life isn’t exactly a walk in the park, and all the beautiful and memorable events are almost always the result of effort, uncertainty, decisions, jumping through hoops and begging for things to go as planned.

So, floating among these thoughts, I put off the confrontation between myself and the keyboard; but today I could no longer avoid it, I had to sit there, patiently, in my Sunday pyjamas, uninspired, and with the hope that, once I had finished writing the text, some of the anxiety would be diluted.

The present as a technique for dealing with reality

When I don’t know what to do, I use a technique: clinging to the present, clinging to the moment, to the here and now, because talking about how I am now, about what I am living in the immediate moment, about the recurring themes of the last week, is perhaps the smoothest way to let the words slip out.

So today, before forcing myself to write, I was working on a set design for a short film that revolves around the story of a porn producer whose studio I find myself having to set. Just so you know, I spent the morning googling ‘body lamps’, ‘penis statues’, ‘leather whips’ and so on, to find ideas and possible suppliers. So I browsed the world of porn, not with the intention of indulging in its pleasures, but with the external, analytical eye of someone who has to put the elements together and find creative solutions. Looking for prints and paintings that a hypothetical porn producer might hang on the walls of his studio, an artist suddenly appeared, who, like a flash of lightning once again, shattered my ideas and beliefs about the history of art. If you don’t know him, go find him, because he is probably an indispensable figure in the history of pornographic visual arts, so here he is, I introduce you Paul Avril.

Erotic art in France in the 1800s

Being quite ignorant about the history of porn, I discover that since the 1800s in France, there was an important fruition of erotic literature, of which Avril was the undisputed illustrator.

From what I understand, Paul Avril is a descendant of the erotic culture derived from the French Ancient Regime, characterised in fact by personalities such as Queen Marie Antoinette, and which had continued, albeit more modestly, during the French Revolution, until it reached its peak in the early 19th century with the Marquis De Sade and his racy sexual practices. France is still today, a nation with a strong secular preponderance, where the bigotry of the church has not managed to scratch the playful and frivolous spirits with which eroticism and sexuality can be experienced. French humour is full of sexual jokes, porn jokes and double entendres.

Paul Avril and his secular eroticism

When I look at Avril’s works, I think they are a very concrete symbol of this secular eroticism, the same that can sometimes be found in modern pornography. The artist is undoubtedly more delicate, because it is the medium he uses that is more delicate: drawing, as opposed to video, is a medium that stimulates the viewer’s imagination and allows them to project themselves into the story at their own pace. Video porn, on the other hand, is often far too detailed, making the body look like a collection of anatomical pieces and losing the sensual aura that emanates from two bodies that desire each other. This is why it is easier to recognise an artist in Avril, whereas it is more difficult to recognise an author of porn films. 

If we look at “De Figuris Veneris” we realise the majesty with which he interfaces with the themes of carnality, materiality, the fantastic worlds of the human dream that bring with them erotic archetypes such as the mermaid, the faun and Venus herself. And despite the presence of the ‘child’ Cupid, all the mythological elements serve to frame the little red curtain where two women abandon themselves to the spectacle of sex. Myths and beliefs, religions and characters, are children of the flesh, of the pleasure that drives man to forget the whys of life and enjoy the present: that drives man to live.

This is somewhat the characteristic of sex: it makes us forget the past and the future and lets us live in the present. Exactly the formula for overcoming the fear I mentioned earlier.

And although it may seem very reductive, sometimes it is sex itself that moves people, stories, journeys, relationships, facts …

Why is porn important?

So looking at Paul Avril’s work reminded me that eroticism and “pornography” have always existed, are obviously important parts of our culture, and respond to the real needs of human beings, or at least those of some of us.

It makes me wonder, why is porn important? Again, the idea that sex immerses us in the present seems to me a valid reason, and also that, a naked and erotic body is stripped of any social and mental superstructure, so naked we are all the same. After all, we all come from sex and sex belongs (theoretically) to everyone.

Unfortunately, however, the excessive spectacularization of much of today’s pornographic content distances people from the vision of sex as a liberation and makes it for some people yet another social construct of power, for others yet another standard to deal with, and for others still, a taboo.

The beauty of the naked body lies in its simplicity, and Paul Avril told stories in a simple and uncensored way. His works become historical testimonies of the sexual practices of 200 years ago, where sex toys and whips were used, women had sex with each other, men also and in groups or with animals. Nothing new today, but it is clear the gigantic social removal that has been perpetuated over the centuries against these human relational and sexual practices. It is evident how direct sex, in words or images, has been forbidden, while subliminal sex is now more than ever used to move masses and consensus, proving that yes, we are sexual animals.

Sexual transparency as a practice of freedom

I think that the beauty of Avril’s visual art is precisely the explication of human need, which fills his art with truth and makes it a transparent and realistic means of communication. Just another facet of our identity, another part of our story, which serves to break down the mask of those who deny the sexual and animal instincts within us.

Although I am aware that too often nowadays, the porn industry promotes a sexuality that is indiscriminately violent, chauvinistic, unrealistic, sleazy, it is true that I prefer those who openly narrate sex (and Paul Avril immediately jumped onto the podium of my favourite narrators), to all those media that sexualise anything in order to sell and make a profit. Two sides of the same coin, only in one, we are choosing to look at sex openly, while the other, tricks our brains into exploiting its instinctual side at will.

Sexual transparency is ultimately a practice that can make us more aware and free people. It is not a matter of spurting sex from every pore, but of finding a language to be able to communicate that part of our desires and needs that are intimate, private and different for everyone. Porn is like one of the letters of the alphabet of this language, it is not the only one, so we just have to understand what kind of discourse we want to compose with it.