I curated Erotica with Ron Prince. We don't see eye-to-eye on what's sexy, so we went for diversity in media and message. We have gorgeous oils of nudes posed in studios with exotic props -- very French, zay are zo zexy. We have ironic sculpture like Andy Coolquitt's "Wet Dream Weaver": webbed thongs hanging in a ring from the ceiling. There are some classic pin-ups and some explicit illustrations. I have chosen three pieces to detail, although the show features 70 artists each with a very unique personal approach to the theme.

Want to see an erotic photo that doesn't look like a perfume advertisement? Check out Dustin Ogden's hilarious jock portraiture. In his sofa series, a young swarthy football player sits in a lazy-boy absent-mindedly holding a remote control. In another he stands up and gazes out the window with a proud pout. His uniform looks as though the cheerleading squad may have sewn it for him. Instead of sporty (and currently fashionable) nylon mesh, the details of #11 are made of black see-through lace and fancy trim. The All-American stud is not wearing pants, rather a red furry jock strap. This beefcake is comfortable at home with his daydreams. It seems as if he's reliving a moment of power on the field by wearing his lucky jersey. Or perhaps he was kicked off the team and is re-enacting pre-game rituals? The ambiguity of this work is sweet! Who sewed the uniform? I'm tickled that a man would embellish and turn an athletic jersey into a fetish item. In his Artist Statement Dustin says he "finds fascinating the ability of sport to market a product charged with homoeroticism to a primarily heterosexual audience." These photos are funny and approachable.

Sometimes I hear artists say that a 5-foot piece of metal is figurative just because of its scale. Well, I've got another innately figurative criterion: hair. Kimberly Gaul presents a grapefruit sized ball of wax called "Hairplug". It's made of beeswax tinted towards pale fleshy tones and covered in coarse black horsehairs that extend out of it 1/2 an inch in every direction. It's genderless yet manages to get under your skin. Or perhaps on top of your skin -- it's the hair that does it. The texture rather than the form or bright colors make this piece seem so very human. Perky little sprouts can really make you think. It's not that pretty but that's why I like it. It's so familiar. I dare say, most men don't wax their chests like Fabio and most women don't coif their bikini lines into perfect little landing strips. Another piece in the show reinforces my hair theory, "Hippy Girl" by Mark Wade. It's simply a V shape of moose hide above a deer hoof Yoni.

Brian Bartlett has an epic series of digital prints. In "Alyson and Shannon" a naked throng of a brunette and a blond battling out with swords. This is a clever piece with mythical Zena-like proportions. First off, its drastic perspective with girls shrinking into an implied horizon reminds me of the massive animated battle scenes of movies like "Lord of the Rings". Once animators bother making a character, they tend to overuse them. He riffs on this by using just 2 girls as models but repeating, shrinking and layering them. The computer is put to good use as a cloning tool and he avoids adding cheesy Photoshop effects. Bran took over 100 photos of each girl in poses ranging from aggressive to dead and the resulting photographic purity set against crisply cut out swords through their bodies is really funny. There is no fake blood, I like that there is no background -- just white canvas, girls and swords. The lack of setting gives a universal effect, like this scene could happen anywhere. It is a catfight on a magnificent scale.

A controversial performance piece in Erotica was 'Fetish' by Douglas Perkins. The topic was 'twinks' or young boys in gay culture. The setting was a window in the red-light district of Amsterdam. He alluded to Amsterdam by hanging a red-light and screening some homo-erotic films on two TV sets on the floor. He began the piece dressed in tube socks and super-hero underwear and gradually changed into tight black shorts, a dog collar and black eye make-up. Perkins says, "did you ever think that that was once a child, somebody's little boy? ... If so, is that too a part of your fetish?" He displays his growing awareness of his sexual maturity.

I'm no Dr. of Sexology, but curating an Erotica exhibit has taught me the power of sex. The shear energy and vitality of the art is incredible. Austin could support a year round Sex Gallery and it would be packed. In these times of media saturation, where breasts are portrayed to sell everything under the sun, it's about time to show some figurative works that are deeply felt and relate the complexities of our human condition.