Jan van Rijn has a very distinctive style- taking more standard erotic model poses and rendering them in an exaggerated and sexually corpulent fashion. There are no anorexic waifs here- the bodies are fleshy, the breasts are pendulous, there are curves, and a tangible substance to these figures to digest.
The nudes that van Rijn depicts are unashamedly sexual and they glance out at the viewer with knowing, suggestive, or sultry eyes. His figures seem to revel in their exhibitionism and wantonness. The moments he captures are not static- in the same way that they convey physical substance, the viewer understand they are looking at just a moment out of some larger event, almost like a photograph. His erotic drawings cover straight aspects of sexuality, but then also stray into more fetishistic iconography- high heels, long nails, lingerie, bondage, piercing, and transsexuals.
The style of van Rijn’s erotic art is very graphic- just black, white, and grey. While these images may at first seem bold and simple, they are anything but. The quality of the lines and shading is very deliberate and technical- the detailed layering of fine lines in the hair, the lips, and the nipples specifically but also the every so careful rendering of the delicate female and male folds. And the drawings which push the distortion of angle and view, or where the body seems to expand to fill every crevice of the canvas- this attention to detail and keen eye is where the work becomes art.
Article by Kayla
The erotic art of Jan van Rijn
