Ah, That Special Layering

As I feel it is for many of us, the intersection of sex with music, live theatre, film, literature, and illustration (art in general) is where I find the most exciting stuff. I have always been a cross-genre kind of a guy, and when hard-pressed, know most adults enjoy a little mashup, some not-so-easily defined layers to things, and the occasional surprise in the Cracker Jack box of life.

We are getting a double whammy of this kind of layering, as we often get pretty good complex layering (and who doesn’t like a good hard complicated layering?) presently from the folks down at Las Vegas’ Erotic Heritage Museum.  For those not familiar with this venerable sex-positive institution, existing one block off the famous ‘strip’ (ironically right under the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas), the EHM houses more than 24,000 square feet of permanent and featured exhibits, championing the wonders of erotic imagination, as depicted through artistic expressions of sex and love. The museum’s ethos is that sexual pleasure and its depiction are natural aspects of the human experience and that such celebrations of individual human sexuality (i.e., pleasure) must be made available to all, regardless of gender, race, or belief.

Simply put, it is a hell of a place.

Recently, the EHM installed a new exhibit, which will run until August 2024, featuring the artwork of illustrator Luis Royo and his son Romolo. Luis, born in 1954 in Olalla, Teruel, Spain, has seen his illustrations and comics grace the pages and covers of magazines like “1984,” “Rambla,” “Cimoc, Cómic Art,” “Ere Comprime,” and most notably “Heavy Metal,” created book covers for such prestigious publishers as Tor Book, Berkley Books, Avon, Warner Books, and Batman Books During and designed video cases for such iconic video games as “Game Over,” “Turbo Girl,” and “Navy Moves.” Luis’s son Romulo, an artist in his own right, produces work across various mediums, and his pieces often feature fetishism and fantasy.

Layered stuff indeed from both dad and son making it a well worth a visit through the EHM’s gallery space.

Adding to the exhibit, in another type of layering to one’s senses, are two songs from Salt Lake City multi-instrumentalist/Composer Mitchel Johnson’s Murder of Fireflies project, “Safe Words” and “Nocturnal Dysthymia,” are featured as the soundtrack to the Royo gallery exhibit, both songs currently enjoy over twenty thousand downloads on Spotify.

Here is the Erotic Heritage Museum’s website; check out the exhibit for yourself, and if you are down Las Vegas way and are looking to stop the flow of money leaving your pocket, come down to see the new exhibit. It contains (as does the museum) what lots of us love about the layered complexities of life.