The artistic and erotic impulses have gone hand in hand since humans first took up burnt sticks and ctay to express their dreams and desires. Centuries of civilisation have tried to contain this impulse in most cultures, with limited success. It seems that there has always been, and will always be an erotically driven element to human creativity. Ars Erotica takes a colourful look at what erotic art has come to mean today and showcases the finest examples from the worlds of illustration, pin-up, surreal, comic and modern art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It sheds light on how erotic art has developed, its influences, and the cutting edge artists working in the field today, from the 1960s pop art stylings of Allen Jones to West Coast king of cool Coop's notorious devil girls. Ars Erotica brings together some of the very best examples from modern painting, sculpture, graphic design and new media in a beautiful, sexy, challenging and arousing way.