Nearly two millennia after it was first written, the Kama Sutra has been given a sexy new makeover. Francesca Protopapa of French artist collective, SQUAME, enlisted 64 artists from around the world to breathe new life into the sexual positions described in the definitive work on erotic behaviour. Over 114 pages, the publication entitled 64, catalogues pretty much every imaginable way to bump uglies.
But the Kama Sutra isn't just about sex, you perv. Written by Vatsyayana circa 200 CE, the book was intended as a treatise on virtuous living, social conduct and the nature of love. The past 1800 years have, however, rendered most of the ancient wisdom found within its pages completely irrelevant. There's antiquated advice on scoring a partner, maintaining power in a marriage, grooming, and the proper way to do adultery. Not to mention insights into the rigours of the caste system and, even scarier, tips on how to make a gent's chap bigger: you rub stinging insects on it obviously. Yeah, the advice is pretty bad.
So that takes us back to the fun stuff. Artists were given free rein to interpret sexual positions like the crab, the snake charmer and the chimpanzee (a toughie) in any style they desired. The result is impressive: steamy images influenced by street art, classic cartoons, Surrealism, manga comics and Pop Art have given the world's oldest sex manual its mojo back.
But enough foreplay already, the book along with an exhibition of all the featured artworks will be touring Europe until the 13th of April. If you can't catch the event in Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Florence, Naples or Rome, order yourself a copy online and get ready to break out the Barry White.
