Human furniture is furniture in which a person's body is used as a tray, foot stool, chair, table, cabinet or other item. In some cases a sculpture of a human body is used instead. Examples of human furniture have appeared in modern art. Forniphilia is the paraphilia relating to human furniture, including that seen in fetish photography and bondage pornography.
A model used as human furniture may be nude or semi-nude to add to the erotic or aesthetic appeal. A classic example of the depiction of human furniture as art is the set of three sculptures Hatstand, Table and Chair made in 1969 by British pop artist Allen Jones which show semi-naked white women in the roles of furniture. [1] Allen Jones' artwork was the subject of a feminist protest when it was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2012. [2]
Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard created a sculpture called Chair which has the same shape as the Allen Jones' chair but depicts a black woman. [3] In 2014 art collector Dasha Zhukova, the partner of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, caused controversy by appearing in a photograph sitting on Melgaard's chair. [4] Zhukova apologized for the photograph saying that she "utterly abhor[s] racism, and would like to apologise to anyone who has been offended by this image". [3]
The Japanese fetish artist Namio Harukawa depicted voluptuous women, who dominated and used men as human furniture. [5]
The term forniphilia was coined by bondage artist Jeff Gord [6] [7] who specialized in the subgenre and maintained the website "House of Gord" on the subject. [8] Forniphilia as a form of bondage usually involves the subject being tightly bound and expected to stay immobile for a prolonged period. [9] Gord said that the maximum period he used depended on the bondage techniques involved but it did not generally exceed two hours. Gord also warned that the dangers inherent in forniphilia meant that it should only be carried out by experts. [10] Gord used gags in some of his creations. [11] A forniphilic gag is a type of gag that has the primary purpose of sexual objectification or erotic humiliation.[ citation needed ] Proper safety requires frequent checks of the submissive's well-being.
The 1971 film A Clockwork Orange includes a scene of a gang sitting in the Korova Milk Bar, which is furnished with tables shaped like naked women. [12]
In Episode 7 of the 2021 Netflix Original Korean Drama, Squid Game , the anonymous VIPs invited to watch the show's blood sport are surrounded by human furniture, which are seen wearing elaborate body paint. [13]
Bondage, in the BDSM subculture, is the practice of consensually tying, binding, or restraining a partner for erotic, aesthetic, or somatosensory stimulation. A partner may be physically restrained in a variety of ways, including the use of rope, cuffs, bondage tape, or self-adhering bandage.
Erotic art is a broad field of the visual arts that includes any artistic work intended to evoke arousal. It usually depicts human nudity or sexual activity, and has included works in various visual mediums, including drawings, engravings, films, paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Some of the earliest known works of art include erotic themes, which have recurred with varying prominence in different societies throughout history. However, it has also been widely considered taboo, with either social norms or laws restricting its creation, distribution, and possession. This is particularly the case when it is deemed pornographic, immoral, or obscene.
Bondage in BDSM is the activity of tying or restraining people using equipment such as chains, cuffs, or collars for mutual erotic pleasure. According to the Kinsey Institute, 12% of females and 22% of males respond erotically to BDSM.
Erotic furniture, also known as sex furniture, is any form of furniture that is designed to act as an aid to sexual activity. This includes furniture and harnesses designed to aid positioning, assisting with comfort, penetration level and stimulation. Other types of erotic furniture are constructed to be an aid to erotic bondage. The functionality may be obvious or the erotic furniture may be designed to appear as conventional furniture. Some conventional items of furniture such as the four-poster bed and the chaise longue traditionally have erotic associations, but they are not considered to be erotic furniture as their primary use is not erotic. Erotic furniture can also be furniture decorated with erotic art.
BDSM is a variety of erotic practices involving dominance and submission, roleplaying, restraint, and other interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged in by people who do not consider themselves as practicing BDSM, inclusion in the BDSM community or subculture is usually dependent on self-identification and shared experience. Interest in BDSM can range from one-time experimentation to a lifestyle.
Allen Jones is a British pop artist best known for his paintings, sculptures, and lithography. He was awarded the Prix des Jeunes Artistes at the 1963 Paris Biennale. He is a Senior Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts. In 2017 he returned to his home town to receive the award Honorary Doctor of Arts from Southampton Solent University
A gag is a device used in sexual bondage and BDSM roleplay. Gags are usually associated with roleplays involving bondage, but that is not necessarily the case. The person who wears the gag is regarded as the submissive partner, while the other is regarded as the dominant one. People may wear gags for a variety of reasons. Some people derive erotic pleasure from a gag, either in a submissive or dominant role. When combined with other physical restraints, the wearing of a gag can increase the wearer's sense of helplessness and anxiety level within a BDSM scene by rendering them unable to speak during sexual activity, which some people enjoy.
Erotic humiliation or sexual humiliation is a consensual psychological humiliation performed in order to produce erotic excitement or sexual arousal. This can be for either the person(s) being humiliated and demeaned or the person(s) humiliating, or both. It is sometimes performed before spectators, including through pornography and webcam modeling. It may be part of BDSM and other sexual roleplay, or accompanied by the sexual stimulation of the genitals of one or both parties in the activity.
Fetish art is art that depicts people in fetishistic situations such as S&M, domination/submission, bondage, transvestism and the like, sometimes in combination. It may simply depict a person dressed in fetish clothing, which could include undergarments, stockings, high heels, corsets, or boots. A common fetish theme is a woman dressed as a dominatrix.
Animal roleplay is a form of roleplay where at least one participant plays the part of a non-human animal. As with most forms of roleplay, its uses include play and psychodrama.
Rope bondage, also referred to as rope play, kinbaku, shibari or fesselspiele, is bondage involving the use of rope to restrict movement, wrap, suspend, or restrain a person, as part of BDSM activities. Japanese bondage is the most publicly visible style of rope bondage. An alternative style, "Western bondage" is about achieving restraint; the Japanese style is more concerned with the artistry of the process. String bondage is the wrapping of rows of string around a body area for arousal. String bondage is also known as constrictions.
Clothing fetishism or garment fetishism is a sexual fetish that revolves around a fixation upon a particular article or type of clothing, a particular fashion or uniform, or a person dressed in such a style.
Bjarne Melgaard is a Norwegian artist based in New York City. He has been described as "one of Norway's most important artists" and, following the 2014 publicity about his sculpture Chair, "the most famous Norwegian artist since Edvard Munch."
Facesitting, also known as queening or kinging, is a sexual practice with one partner sitting over the other's face, sometimes allowing for oral–genital or oral–anal contact. The sitting partner may face in either direction.
Hatstand, Table and Chair are a group of three erotic sculptures by British pop artist Allen Jones, created in 1969 and first exhibited in 1970. They have been described in retrospect as "emblematic of the spirit of the 1960s" and an "international sensation." At the time they were met with angry protests, particularly from feminists who saw them as an objectification of women.
Studio Biederer was a French studio for photography in the time of Art déco, managed by the brothers Jacques Biederer and Charles Biederer from Moravská Ostrava, presently in the Czech Republic.
Namio Harukawa was a pseudonymous Japanese fetish artist best known for his works depicting female domination ("femdom"). Common subjects and motifs of his art include erotic asphyxiation, facesitting, voluptuous women, and men being used as human furniture.
Jeffrey E. Owen, better known by his alias Jeff Gord, was a bondage artist, photographer and filmmaker. who specialized in the forniphilia subgenre, a form of objectifying sexual bondage which involves the subject being tightly bound and expected to stay immobile for a prolonged period. He described his work as being for women's pleasure, saying "I feed on women's pleasure".
Robert K. Bishop (1945–1991) was a bondage artist, author, photographer and bondage rigger best known for his images of restrained and gagged women published by the House of Milan, for which he also worked as production manager.
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