Drawing back the curtain: X-rated art makes waves in Miami

David Nolan Gallery of New York showed a number of erotic works on paper in a mysterious, secluded room within its stand at Art Basel Miami Beach earlier this month. Fairgoers seeking an X-rated experience savoured works by William Copley whose naughty images, including La Grande Bouffe (X-Rated Series) (1973), were made during a particularly productive period in the 1970s when the artist had a predilection for pornography and peep shows (all in the name of art, of course). Sandra Vásquez de la Horra’s piece Playgirls Don’t Play Longer (2010), which found a buyer, also made waves. “She draws the figures first in charcoal and then dips the entire sheet in wax. It gives the sheet a manuscript-like, classic look,” Nolan noted. “The collector who acquired the De la Horra said it was like Goya and the Chapman brothers.” Apparently sex really does sell...