Sarah Fox
Dark sexual symbolism | San Antonio, Texas | she/her
SARAH FOX
HOUSE OF THEODORA CHATS TO EROTIC ARTIST SARAH FOX
Texas-based artist Sarah Fox draws inspiration from Schiele, Goldin and Minter. Her sexy and dark “Bad Bunny Series” centres on her alter ego, a brazen curvy bunny exploring her desires. Read our interview with Sarah below.
What are three words you would use to describe your art?
Sexy, playful, political
How did you come to be an artist creating erotic and sensual works?
I distinctly remember pulling over a chair to pull down an Egon Schiele book off a high shelf in my artist mother’s studio at a young age. I flipped through all the sensual, bodily drawings and felt such a rush. The female figures were luscious, vulnerable and strange to my young American eyes (armpit hair and thigh-high stockings!). But his self-portraits were the first instances of nude males (and erect nude males at that) I had ever seen. I would sneak off and flip through that book over and over again. Since then, I think my sexuality has always been tied to art. I later fell in love with other artists making sexually charged work, Nan Goldin, Marilyn Minter, and Sarah Lucas. I think I’m always chasing the rush I got when I first saw those Egon Schiele drawings and subsequently got when looking at these other artists’ work.
I love your Bad Bunny series! I read on your website that you centred this series on a “curvy pink bunny alter ego”. Will you tell us about this alter ego?
Thank you! The bad bunny character really came into play after a divorce 4 years ago. I was dating again and really exploring myself sexually for the first time in 15 years. She was a way to step out of myself, and process everything I was going through. I did drawings exploring what did or didn’t turn me on, what I found beautiful and seductive. She also served as a way to express myself politically after so many incredibly restrictive laws about women’s bodies passed first in Texas. She was the loud, angry, sexy, brazen anti-hero I needed in my life.
“She was a way to step out of myself and process everything I was going through.”
When I look at the Bunny series, I see stunning shades of pink, red, and purple. How did you go about choosing the colour for this series?
I love the vibration that happens when bright red and pink are placed next to each other. Pink is also such a sensual, feminine colour…it just felt appropriate.
interview continues below images
We talk a lot about reframing and shifting from the male gaze to a feminine perspective, which is more representative of a holistic view of pleasure. What role does this shift play in your creations?
The history of the nude figure in art has been a chronicling of male desire. It’s such a one-sided, limiting view. I think it’s so important to have other voices in the conversation. I hope my work is playful, soft and sexy. I like to think I am creating safe spaces for all to revel in the erotic that feels safer, more fun and even nurturing.
You live in Texas, which we know to be restrictive regarding sexual expression and bodily autonomy. What’s been your experience of being an artist pushing boundaries in Texas?
It’s been pretty intense. I made a piece of video art in response to SB8 (an anti-abortion bill passed here in Texas before the Supreme Court followed suit and overturned Roe v. Wade). The work was later censored from a museum show in which it was supposed to show. The whole incident exploded, with the art community really backing me and coming to my defence and others calling me ungrateful, a pervert or disgusting.
I get artwork outright censored or soft censored often. Curators pull specific pieces of art that are too bodily (I used to make work about miscarriage) or getting passed over for opportunities because of the work I make.
But there has also been a ton of support from my community. There are many people who are progressive and open-minded in Texas, but they aren’t as often in positions of power as many of the very conservative voices here.
“When we are our loud, sexual, creative selves, we take up space and hold power.”
We're hellbent on elevating sexual expression. What does freedom of sexual expression look like to you?
To me, sexual expression is a lot about power. People in power (in this country) are shoving down people’s sexual freedom in an attempt to make them silent and smaller. They use shame, politics, and religion as tools to keep people quiet and unempowered. When we are our loud, sexual, creative selves, we take up space and hold power. As women, we are allowed to really come into our own. I’ve never felt more empowered than when I’m embodied and joyful in my sexual expression.
I also just think sexuality and sexual expression are a really healthy part of self-care and relationship care. When we are free to explore and express ourselves, sexuality plays a joyful and integral role in fulfilling lives.
interview continues below images
What would we hear, see and smell if we were a butterfly on the wall and watched you in your artistic element?
You would hear Erykah Badu and Beyonce, most likely. See open windows, plants, crystals and walls filled with art, sketches and photos. You’d smell incense, candles and weed smoke.
If you could invite any five people to dinner (living or past), who would they be?
Louise Bourgeois, David Wojnarowicz, Erykah Badu, Guillermo del Toro, Dolly Parton
