Pornhub Commissions Maccarone Los Angeles to Present Feminist Art Show, “The Pleasure Principle”

The Exhibition Will Feature Paintings and Photography, Interactive Performance, Film, and Sculptural Installation from Esteemed Female Artists

 

The Exhibition Will Open on Saturday, September 21st and Run Through Saturday, November 23rd

 

NEW YORK, N.Y. (DATE) – Pornhub, the premiere online destination for adult entertainment, today announced it has commissioned Maccarone Los Angeles, the renowned contemporary art gallery, to present a feminist art show. Dubbed “The Pleasure Principle,” the exhibition will feature artworks curated by Michele Maccarone - paintings and photography, interactive performance, film, and sculptural installation - from a variety of female-identifying artists. The exhibition will open on Saturday, September 21^st and run through Saturday, November 23^rd.

 

“We’re excited to work alongside Maccarone to present ‘The Pleasure Principle,’” said Corey Price, VP, Pornhub. “Here at Pornhub we are very passionate about art and in partnering on this this exhibit we are able to show and support the work of some truly exceptional artists of our time, who are willing to depict their interpretation of sexual imagery. We are thrilled to be aligned with such an esteemed female-owned and run gallery in presenting this work and encourage all of our fans in the LA area to make the trip down to check out this impressive collection!”

 

“The Pleasure Principle” highlights a pan-generational group of artists who have challenged this so-called logic to the censorship of sexual imagery. In a culture that cancels on a whim, these artists carve out space for the profane and the pornographic, the abject and the occult, the sexual and the sexualized. The exhibit centers a variety of feminine sexual subjectivities, decoding erotic pleasure amidst a visual culture so stifled and diluted by concerns of appeasement.

 

The exhibition will feature artwork that comprise satires of voyeurism, abstractions on the body, self-reflexive nods to pin-up models and performativity, and much more. Artists included in the exhibition will include Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Delia Brown, Kathe Burkhart, Nao Bustamante, Cameron, Renee Cox, Martha Edelheit, Mary Beth Edelson, Tracey Emin, Karen Finley, Trulee Hall, Ann Hirsch, Narcissister, Annie Sprinkle, Anita Steckel, Doris Wishman, and Bunny Yeager.

 

A public opening reception will take place on the evening of Saturday, September 21^st, from 7 to 9, featuring live performances, food trucks, a bar furnished by Ilegal Mezcal, and an outdoor screening of film trailers by the pioneering director Doris Wishman.

 

“We wanted to put together an exhibition that highlights the centrality of feminine sexual agency within art-historical tradition,” said Michele Maccarone. “In spite of the long and troubled history of popular sexual imagery being seen as dominated by the male gaze, women have been asserting their own diverse and nuanced expressions of sexuality and sexiness on their own terms for many decades. Pornhub is helping us to a safe space for viewing that work and learning from those artists, at a time when images of nipples and genitalia are considered to be in violation of so-called ‘community guidelines’ on social media. ‘The Pleasure Principle’ celebrates women who have taken a stand against respectability politics, while pushing the limits of the kind of imagery one might expect to find in an art gallery.”

 

This announcement follows Pornhub’s recent exhibit with the Museum of Sex in New York City. The company recently held an exhibition with the museum called “STAG: The Illicit Origins of Pornographic Film.” The exhibit, set in a vintage theatre within the museum, featured films that demonstrate the major aesthetic and thematic trends that shaped the early history of the illicit film industry. In 2018, Pornhub announced its first-ever interactive art installation, dubbed “Pornhub Nation,” which opened in Los Angeles. Designed and executed by esteemed artists, Maggie West and Ryder Ripps, the 3,000- square-foot month-long exhibit depicted a futuristic, utopian society formed by Pornhub and featured multiple exhibits playing on government branches and bureaucratic organizations.

 

In 2015, Maccarone Los Angeles opened at 300 South Mission Road in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Located in an industrial building constructed in 1926 and transformed by Jeffrey Allsbrook and Silvia Kuhle of Los Angeles-based firm Standard, the new space has 50,000 square feet, including a 15,000 square feet vacant lot to show outdoor sculpture.

 

Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am to 6 pm.

 

For more information on “The Pleasure Principal” exhibit, please visit www.pornhub.com/art/pleasure-principle .

 

About Pornhub:

Founded in 2007, Pornhub is the leading free, ad-supported adult video streaming website, offering viewers the opportunity to upload and share their own videos. With over 5 million videos and over 120 million visitors a day, Pornhub truly is the best adult site in the world. Pornhub has built the largest dedicated membership base in the adult community, with over 10 million engaged and loyal members, offering viewers a fun and sophisticated social experience directly in site, complete with messaging, photos, achievement badges and much more.