Nationality American | Website stephaniesarley.com | |
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Occupation Artistfilmmakerillustratorphotographer | ||
Stephanie Sarley (born (1988-06-21)June 21, 1988) is a contemporary American artist. She is a multimedia artist known for her surrealistic humor.
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Sarley is best known for her "fruit art videos", which appeared on Instagram beginning in late 2015. Additionally, she is known for creating series of flower-themed and talking vaginas known as "Orcunts" and "Crotch Monsters", respectively. She is also the author of the adult coloring book Dick Dog and Friends, a surrealist publication, in 2013.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, featured by numerous media outlets globally, and has been praised as "genius".
Early life
Sarley was born in Berkeley, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she studied and apprenticed in classical arts, eventually studying print-making at Laney College in Oakland.
Artwork
With a background consisting of traditional fine arts apprenticeships such as printmaking, stonesculpting and tattooing, Sarley has worked professionally as an artist for almost a decade. Starting in 2013, when she began working on her computer, Sarley has been working primarily in the digital medium. Soon after this, Sarley released her coloring book Dick Dog and Friends, a 40-page book of surrealistic cartoons.
Since December 2015, Sarley has been best known for her fruit-art videos, which have garnered media attention. In her videos, female sexuality is recognized as an independent phenomenon of male action. Her fruit videos illustrate the reconquest of female sexuality from sociocultural norms. Noted art critic Jerry Saltz has praised her videos online, saying, "You. Are. Genius."
In early 2015, she became known for two of her illustrative concepts: Crotch Monsters— anthropomorphized vaginas, modern interpretations of vagina loquens and vagina dentata; and Orcunts— florid vagina drawings that have drawn comparison to Georgia O'Keeffe.
Sarley's artwork deals with issues surrounding sexism, censorship, and women's empowerment.
A large quantity of Sarley's work is published digitally. Her primary platform for releasing material to the public is her Instagram account, although the bulk of her work can be found on her website.
Publications
In 2013, Sarley published the adult coloring book Dick Dog And Friends which had been distributed via Last Gasp.
Several prominent publications have featured Sarley's art including Hatezine, art Das Kunstmagazin, and Elle Brazil. Sarely's art has also appeared in the "munchies" section of Vice Magazine.
Reception
Sarley has been referred to as the "patron saint of vagina drawings." Critics have compared her work to Gustav Courbet, Egon Schiele, Betty Tompkins, Andy Warhol, and Joan Semmel.
Instagram has removed Sarley's account multiple times for violating its terms of service regarding sexually suggestive content. Her account has been restored by Instagram after each removal.
Sarley's fruit art has garnered international attention from various news and magazine sources.
Sarley's work has been subject to numerous copyright violations and appropriations.