L.A. Artist Arouses Interest In Stained Glass Pornography

LOS ANGELES (TNA) -- Stained glass normally invokes images of church windows and holy scenes -- not penises and scenes of masturbation.

But one Los Angeles artist hopes his risqué artwork inspires folks to take another look at the art form. A dirtier look.

Juan Martin del Campo, 35,  makes stained glass artwork showing people performing various sex acts, including fellatio and masturbation.

Martin del Campo began making his own playful version of stained glass pieces five years ago when he went through an early midlife crisis.

A pastoral perversion

Martin del Campo took a class at a Los Angeles community college to learn the basics of creating stained glass and his first works were relatively tame – a sailboat and a hummingbird.

He quickly realized, however, he’d rather create more original, erotic stained glass pieces in order to reflect his impressions of growing up gay in a religious house.

“I had to live a double life, being raised Catholic and going to Catholic school, and I had to listen to the hypocrisy when I knew very well they were not speaking to me,” Martin del Campo said. “My stained glass is a critique on this hypocrisy of scenes of the crucifixion; it’s beautiful glass but completely gory.”

Martin del Campo earns as much as $400 for each piece, but, to him, money isn’t as important as kinkiness. “My intention is to create, distribute and promote perversion for people that are looking for it,” he said.

Although some might find Martin del Campo’s works arousing, he has surprisingly aroused little controversy. He figures that’s because he never explicitly mixes religious images with eroticism.

“I would not pursue that, it is more implied,” Martin del Campo said. “I do not need to attack anyone.”

Each piece takes about three days to complete and, so far, he has 50 artworks, which he displays at his Web site, www.mysecretlifeinglass.com, as well as various L.A art galleries.

His latest piece could be the most perverted of them all. It’s going to be an erotic depiction of one of the stars of the 1980s sitcom “The Golden Girls” for an exhibition called “Golden Girls Gone Wild” which opens August 11th in Los Angeles.

The exhibit, which has works from 30 different artists, features artistic representations of the show’s stars, ranging from Betty White dressed up as dominatrix to Beatrice Arthur bearing her breasts.

But while Martin del Campo enjoys the sexuality of his stained glass, he has a bigger goal than just getting people hot and bothered.

“I want to change the way stained glass is viewed,” he said. “I want the same respect that any typical media artist would get. I don’t want it seen as kitsch; its more humor that I am putting in my art.”