A wise man once said: “The major civilizing force in the world is not religion, it is sex.” That man was Hugh Hefner. And this nugget of wisdom was likely on his mind in 1953, when he founded the now-iconic Playboy Magazine.
The spirit of Playboy was, in a way, revolutionary. The 1950s famously framed pornography ― and, more broadly, sexuality itself ― as a dirty, shameful secret to indulge in in private or not at all. Hefner, however, recognized the beauty and power of erotic imagery, and believed it deserved recognition.
Through his Playboy brand, he aligned the qualities of a sexual being with those of a gentleman. He conjured up a newfangled American dream for the heterosexual male ― a dream of being cultured, sophisticated, educated and face-deep in naked women. Sex went from being something reprehensible to something cosmopolitan, classy and progressive. For straight men, at least.
Today, everyone knows the word Playboy and all that's associated with it: smoking robes, mansions, grottos, blondes, Brazilian-waxed centerfolds, a decapitated rabbit in formalwear. Playboy certainly has its pitfalls ― objectifying and fetishizing women, enforcing impossible beauty ideals and heteronormativity ― but I digress. Like it or not, Playboy is an institution that has altered the way society at large sees sex, porn, and, most regrettably, bunnies.
A new art exhibition at Slow Culture, a gallery and retail bookstore in Los Angeles' Highland Park, is honoring every part of Playboy's lasting influence, as well as the magazine's new direction ― which no longer includes fully nude photos. The show is called “Playboys & Girls.” The show builds upon Playboy's iconic brand while imagining the possible manifestations of its new direction, one aimed at appealing to women as well as men.
“A big part of this project was inspired by one of our artists, Jay Howell,” Slow Culture's Frederick Guerrero explained in an email to The Huffington Post. “When the magazine started rebranding, Jay was one of the first artists they started working with. We thought because of the updated approach to the magazine, it made sense for us to put together an art show that celebrated the direction it was heading. Playboy is such an iconic figure, we thought it would be fun to try and shape that into a group show.”
The gallery enlisted 20 artists ― from photographers to tattoo artists ― to create new, original works inspired by the culture of Playboy. The images riff off the magazine's provocative breed of sex-positive hankering, from Molly Steele's voyeuristic photograph of a young woman eating strawberries in the backseat of a car to Brook Power's surrealist collage of a nude woman surrounded by floating flamingos. The visual theme uniting the images? They both depict blondes. For as Hefner famously said: “Picasso had his pink period and his blue period. I am in my blonde period right now.”
Lustful, playful, and classy AF, “Playboys & Girls” aptly communicates the Playboy state of mind ― that the boundaries between sex and art are more slippery than they first appear. The Slow Culture show honors Playboy's past and celebrates its future, which supposedly aims to “bridge the gap” between men and women's understanding of sex.
“We really hope to communicate that art is accessible to anyone,” Guerrero said, when describing his hopes for the show. “The art world can be complex and intimidating, but it doesn't have to be.”
How can one create a space where people who normally feel excluded and disconcerted in the presence of fine art will feel comfortable enough to walk on in, have a drink, and stay a while? Boobs. The answer is probably boobs.
“Playboys & Girls” runs until Sept. 24, 2016 at Slow Culture in LA.
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