Wasted Pleasures: Erotic Illustrations by Luca Sorice
While scouting for the Liberator Artist of the Week, I stumbled upon Luca Sorice--a mysteriously ungoogleable illustrator and graphic designer behind the Instagram @Wasted Pleasures. Thank god for Instagram! But for many artists producing and posting erotic art, Instagram is both a blessing and a curse. The App, known for its wishy-washy "community guidelines" --where a nipple is verboten and an erect ejaculating penis is completely acceptable does not always appreciate fine erotic art as we do. So, this week enjoy some Wasted Pleasures.
More Than Eye Candy
The Wasted Pleasures is eye-popping, to say the least. Frame-by-frame is electrifying, bubble-gum pink backgrounds expertly punctuated with black line-art drawings. According to Sorice, the pink is a representation of his meaning of unconditional love and understanding. By combining lust (red) with purity/goodness (white), Sorice is potentially casting the bright pink color as a behind-the-scenes character while leaving your mind just enough room for filling in the gaps.
Too Hot To Handle
Wasted Pleasures has a substantial following. Although 18,000 fans is not considered massive in the world of 111 Million users--it is just enough for garnering the attention of the invisible Instagram police. Much to the consternation of Sorice, the page was flagged recently and put into temporary lock-down. The reason. Yes..you guessed it, a nipple! He's pretty lucky though. Most notable erotic artists have had their pages are completely stripped from the App, thus
Not necessarily X-rated, I was confused as to why Wasted Pleasures was being punished. Simply type in #eroticillustrations and you will find a variety of "art" clearly not "community standard" material. I get that Wasted Pleasures may occasionally push the envelope with slightly graphic imagery, but come on! It's too bad the nipple-hating overloads just can't handle the boob.
Three Dots on the Right Side of the Screen
For a lot of talented erotic artists like Wasted Pleasures, Instagram is a double-edged sword. The App known for helping boost the careers of erotic artists does allow the posting of nudity. However, there are risks for those not following the nipple-free guidelines. But is Instagram really policing the imagery? Who decides what stays and who gets relieved of
The issue of policing images is not so black and white. From what I've gathered, it's the viewers who do most of the reporting. The ones that feel provoked or triggered by a nipple can simply push the 3-dots on the right side of the screen and report the violation!
That's where the other side of the coin comes in. Erotic art (or any art for that fact) is meant to provoke, make us think, bring up discussions, have us talking. And just because someone does like something or deems certain images offensive, does that give a site like Instagram the right to make an artist completely invisible again? In my opinion, it gives Instagram too much power in determining what is artistic and what is not.
I'm So Wasted
Based on the intel gathered from Instagram stories, the creator of Wasted Pleasures is not a formally trained artist. Not like any classroom training matters. Some of the most brilliant artist's have been self-taught. What I love about Wasted Pleasures is that the pleasure of looking at the work is not wasted. One minute it can takes your breath away and the next you're giggling like a school girl---willing to share the work with others.
One thing is for certain--Wasted Pleasures will continue provoking those who do not understand the value that erotic art plays in our society. And that is something an art class cannot teach!
See more of Wasted Pleasure by clicking here.
