Richard Young is a painter who is fascinated with the expressive quality of the human body. The majority of his artwork falls into two categories- nudes and dancers. In some ways I think depiction of dancers is a natural partner to eroticism. How dancers use their bodies to convey emotion, passion, and meaning in a heightened and intense way is closely linked and related to the emotional and lustful expressions that are often looked for and prized in erotic art.
Young’s paintings are soft and sensual. His depiction of dancing couples is reminiscent of the soft and dreamlike covers of certain romance novels. Yet his artwork is not overblown or exaggerated. The figures, though sensual and sexual, are realistic. Young pays great attention to the way skin stretches over muscle, bone, and sinew- depicting it with loving accuracy. He has an acute sense for the way in which a body is constructed and depicts it unerringly.
When Young moves away from his extremely detailed works and into abstraction, his erotic art takes on another level. In these works, the viewer must fill in the blanks and make the connections between the rough paint strokes to create the larger picture. Even though these works are more abstracted, in some ways they are no less detailed or precise and manage to convey the same sensuality as the more precise works. If you like the images below, I encourage you to have a look at the rest of Young’s extensive gallery.
Article by Kayla
