Buying, hanging and living with erotic art

Notes from the studio

Buying erotic art and not sure where to start? Honest answers on choosing a painting, where it goes on your wall and what arrives at your door.

59 articleswritten in the studio in Boekel

Where to start

The newest

A slim dark frame with a wide paper mount, the opening empty and the wall showing through, the empty opening in the mount struck through with a black marker cross, an arrow from the handwritten words printing stops here, by Willem van der Krieken Prints and editionsOpen edition vs limited edition: the only difference that matters One old paintbrush lying on a worn wooden table, its bristles splayed and stiff with paint dried hard into them, the dried bristles circled in open black marker, an arrow from the handwritten words weeks, nothing, and then, by Willem van der Krieken How the work is madeHow long one painting takes A plastered corridor with an open doorway into a small empty side room, the doorway into the empty room circled in open black marker, an arrow from the handwritten words same room, new name, by Willem van der Krieken How the work is madeA short history of erotic art, from Pompeii to Instagram A small stack of uncoated printmaking sheets on an oak table with a graphite pencil across them, the pencil on the stack circled in open black marker, an arrow from the handwritten words whose hand, by Willem van der Krieken Prints and editionsAre signed prints worth buying? A contemporary living room at dusk, lamplight across a walnut slatted wall, the empty wall circled in open black marker, a marker arrow running to it from the handwritten words still looking for a wall, by Willem van der Krieken Living with the workWhere to hang a nude painting: a room by room guide A Mediterranean bedroom with pale ceiling beams and arched plaster niches, the wall above the headboard circled in open black marker, an arrow from the handwritten words two thirds of the bed, by Willem van der Krieken Living with the workWhat size painting works above a bed? Four stretched canvases of the same size standing in a row, all turned face to the wall, one of the four canvases circled in open black marker, an arrow from the handwritten words four times over, by Willem van der Krieken The women in Painted IdolsPainting Riae four times A lived-in living room with a walnut slatted wall and a deep brown rug, amber globe lamps lit low, the empty wall circled in open black marker, a marker arrow running to it from the handwritten words give it room, by Willem van der Krieken Living with the workHow to display erotic art at home A wooden bench standing at viewing distance from a completely bare plaster wall, the bare wall the bench faces circled in open black marker, an arrow from the handwritten words would you sit down twice, by Willem van der Krieken Buying erotic artErotic art or pornography? Where the line actually sits A flat cardboard shipping box leaning against a wall, still taped shut, the shipping box circled in open black marker, an arrow from the handwritten words one sticker, nothing else, by Willem van der Krieken Buying erotic artHow your painting is packed and shipped, and what the box says A paint-stained studio table with oil paint, brushes in turpentine and a canvas standing edge-on behind it, the canvas at the back circled in open black marker, an arrow from the handwritten words this one actually exists, by Willem van der Krieken Buying erotic artWhere to buy erotic art online without ending up on a print farm

What is holding you up?

  1. I can't tell whether this is art or pornography.
  2. I want to buy one, but everything I find online looks mass-produced.
  3. I'm not sure I'm the kind of person who buys something like this.
  4. I don't dare hang it where visitors can see it.
  5. I don't know how high to hang it, or what belongs next to it.
  6. I don't know whether it will fit above the bed.
  7. I don't want the delivery driver to see what I bought.
  8. I recognise the woman in the painting and want to know how she ended up on a canvas.
  9. I don't know what I actually get for 35 euro.
  10. I want to know whether one person really paints all of these by hand.

Paint Your Idol

Break one open yourself.

The painting of the day sits behind a wall of stone, and you break it open a cube at a time. Everyone who plays gets 20% off any painting, and every canvas you play builds up credit for the shop.

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