Meet Armando Cabba: Celebrating Intimacy through Erotic Art

Armando Cabba is a Paris-based artist originally from Montreal. He started painting an intimate series of erotic art initially as a protest against online censorship of artists. By cleverly using the titles of renaissance paintings and catholic hashtags, he managed to slip through the cracks and post his explicit works on popular platforms.

Nevertheless, Cabba has faced censorship online and from the art world, but his paintings have become much adored by the sex worker community. Cabba runs a weekly erotic art show, The JOI of Painting, exclusively on Pornhub.

How did you get into painting erotic art?

I got into erotic art back in 2018 with the infamous “females presenting nipples” ban on Tumblr. Before that I had no interest and very little knowledge of erotic art in general. We did work with nude models back in school, but it was never leaning towards anything salacious regarding the art itself. I had an appreciation for learning how to paint from life along with understanding the body. I can’t say any grains were planted in my mind to explore more erotic themes since 90% of the time I was panicking about my painting.

The very few times I did create anything erotic themed it was to shock the audience more than anything else. It didn’t register to me as erotic art or that this would be an avenue to explore in the future. Looking back on it, these pieces I made in school were incredibly ignorant with half baked ideas at best.

I was too wrapped in the idea of being edgy more than responsibly diving into the subject matter. 2009-2012 art school Armando didn’t think beyond just getting a rise out of people. I didn’t think about what this work could mean to the viewer or even the history I was referencing in regards to certain sexual practices.

My erotic series really did all start due to censorship on social media. My previous paintings weren’t going to be impacted in any way, but I did realise how these unfair guidelines would shape digital spaces for the worse in regards to LGBTQ+ communities and sex workers.

So naturally I decided to paint a vulva and name it after a renaissance painting to prove how unfair social media guidelines are. It is strange to think that if I never heard of this rule, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now. 

These paintings wouldn’t exist. I wouldn’t have The JOI of Painting. I feel I would be a worse-off version of myself since my erotic work introduced me to the sex positive community where I’ve made amazing friends and learned how to be a better person. That timeline is really weird to think about. Maybe if it wasn’t Tumblr it would be another social media platform that would push me in this direction. Who knows?

Do you have a mission?

The purpose at first was just to be a disruptor. I’ve always had a streak of getting into the good kind of trouble. I wanted to prove a point that there is a bias on social media platforms and how unfair the rules can be.

I’m a white cis guy posting graphic paintings and using biblical related hashtags and titles as camouflage. It was working and those pieces are still up publicly on my Instagram page. My main account never got deleted and at most I was shadowbanned which feels like a slap on the wrist compared to how marginalised groups get treated in digital spaces. Most of my attention was put into the online aspect to the point I set up burner accounts under different names and genders that would get reported for the same exact post.

As time went on I became more aware of the sex positive community and people began to appreciate my paintings. I wasn’t getting any form of attention from the art world and this was the first sense of belonging I had to a community. All their posts, information, podcasts, etc I was consuming and I’ve learned a great deal thanks to them. To this day, I’m still excited to learn something new. Hearing positive feedback and how people connected to my work made me want to do more and focus on celebrating intimacy rather than have my entire series be dictated by some tech billionaire who got too big for his boots.

If it’s for The JOI of Painting or just a painting I’m working on the side, a large part of me does it so people can feel included. They shouldn’t feel shame in their identity and sexuality. Each piece is a love letter to intimacy and if my art can make someone realise they’ve always been and will continue to be a masterpiece, what more can I ask for? My mission started as defiance and now it’s a celebration. 

How would you describe your approach?

I approach my paintings as an admirer. Regardless if it’s a portrait or an erotic piece, I’m there in the presence of all that is this person’s beauty. It’s very similar to me seeing a landscape and that overwhelming sensation of being part of something greater than yourself.

Yes, I’m talking about holes and shafts but I’m always in a state of admiration for whoever is in front of me. That goes for people I’ve never even met. If the studio is a place of worship that means I’m at your altar. I don’t believe in all that artist crap about making the model feel like they should be honoured to even be there.

It creates a power imbalance and a negative space. To say “it’s my vision” makes me feel weird and I’d probably sound like a dickhead. I can’t speak for what people think of me as a painter, but I only have love for the person in front of me no matter if it’s a brief or long period of time. You’re the magic and I’m just holding a paintbrush.

Who are you influenced by?

The obvious person is Bob Ross. I know when I say that people tend to have a little laugh but there’s a smile that resonates because they start remembering him and his show. What inspires me the most about him is the idea that anyone can jump in and paint. The art world puts up these intellectual barriers that make it seem too complex for the average person. You don’t need tons of degrees or be incredibly wealthy to enjoy art.

You also don’t have to create in the hopes of being the absolute best in your field or to have hundreds of thousands of followers online. Fuck gatekeeping and making people feel they aren’t good enough to even start. When you watch him, there isn’t a sense of hierarchy, in that he is making it clear he’s better than you and you’ll never be a master. There is literal joy and fun that’s meant to be shared with others. I’m inspired by that and it’s what I try to do in my show when it comes to erotic art. Exploring intimate themes isn’t just about engagement or creating buzz. The avenues are endless and you can go down any you like.

You aren’t supposed to feel little when you create.

Another reason I admire Bob Ross is because we need more positive masculinity. The amount of content on Tik Tok, Instagram, and other platforms promoting this harmful alpha male nonsense is detrimental to all men. They’re all preying on insecurity and capitalising off of it by selling you ignorant courses on what it means to be a “real” man.

I can feel my brain rotting watching grown men sitting around a table talking about “body count” and saying “females” We don’t need anymore influencers that get their power from the expense of others. Society is in a bad spot and this perpetual garbage being streamlined into content isn’t helping.

Can you present 3 paintings of yours?

I’d say it’s a vulva timeline when it comes to these three works.

This first painting being the start of the series titled Resurrection of Christ by Raphael. It felt like the natural starting point and to truly dive into something new outside portraiture. It’s like it was calling to me.

The second piece is Sistine Madonna by Raphael and it was another entry, but it’s the first one where a collector immediately bought it based on the sketch alone. Nothing was articulated and that was the first time someone gave me support and blind confidence before anything was finished. Outside of my own fulfilment I get from painting, this was a marker of success in the art realm. Seeing how much she loved the piece after it was finished made me feel complete. This work meant something more than just an investment or portfolio addition. 

The third piece is the latest piece I completed called Gates of Paradise by Ghiberti. Every time I finish something new I practise celebrating it offline in the sense I won’t post it right away or wait for likes and comments to feel something. The painting is a proper marker of where I’m at with erotic art that it’s about sharing something with the viewer. Inviting them in to see or even paint along if they’d like to. There’s no barriers or minimum requirement regarding skill or knowledge. The piece is whatever you’d like it to mean to you. 

What do you wish more people knew about your paintings?

These paintings are more yours than they are mine. I don’t paint with an intention to show you strictly what I enjoy or have a very airtight narrative when it comes to the meaning.

When you look at the paintings, I want you to have your own story. Maybe it’s a fantasy or flashback? Maybe you think of a specific partner or you see yourself? Maybe you just see a spicy piece of art and see it for only that?

There really isn’t a wrong answer to how you experience them. The possibilities are endless and that’s what I find amazing about these little erotic paintings. 

Have you done any personal custom-erotic painting requests? 

It’s been a mixed bag of experiences. There have been individuals who want me to paint them but don’t want me to see them which makes the project very complicated. There are others who just come into my inbox and feel the need to send 30+ images in one go thinking I’m going to stop everything I’m doing to paint them. 

The truth is I’ve never done an erotic for someone that is of themselves. In the couple times where it was going to happen, the painting ended up being something else that’s also exciting. It has nothing to do with preferences, relationships, or even being paid to do a commission. I work from photo references and the times I’ve been sent images it’s like a whole new universe has opened up to me.

Seeing how this person views themselves and how they explain certain poses feels a lot more interesting. Being a painter means spending a lot of time alone and having someone’s world come into yours is extraordinary. Maybe I’m a giant golden retriever at the end of the day and I’m just happy to be collaborating with someone. 

I’ve experienced a distant form of intimacy due to my paintings. A lot of people seem to be more turned on by the art and want to know what I’m painting than to be painted themselves. That happens a lot more than anything else. It’s like art voyeurs. They want photo updates of the painting and to see parts come to life like they’re reading chapters of a steamy romance novel.

There is a chemistry happening in real time between this person and the painting I’m working on. I don’t even exist to them when this goes on. Next thing you know, I got anxiety because I’m imagining someone wants to fuck my painting and they might smudge it after I spent hours rendering a clit. 

How has your relationship with what you do evolved over time?

I’ve learned to trust myself more while also being open to people around me. What I mean by that is I don’t want to be taking up places I shouldn’t be in. There is a drive to want to comment on everything and make politically charged artwork, but you have to listen to what’s going on from other perspectives.

Not everything is about me. It’s not my way or the highway and I won’t use the cheap artist excuse of “I’m in my own world and you wouldn’t understand” to get out of hearing and accepting uncomfortable truths. There were moments where I would just ignorantly jump into topics and not really take into consideration the voices of others. You have to ask yourself what you are actually contributing. There are others that need to be heard and need to be properly platformed if positive change is the true goal.

In regards to trusting myself, I was scared to even explore certain subjects regarding my erotic art. There was a moment of hesitancy when it came to inclusivity not because I didn’t want to, but what can I add to it that wouldn’t be just another white guy using the wrong lens over a group of people. The last thing I want to do is fetishize a gender, race, or sexuality. I remember anxiously running my ideas by tons of people trying to figure out if it was the right thing to do.

There were even moments on Instagram where random people were asking for more diverse paintings when it came to the erotic series. So I began painting and it worked. I wouldn’t say there’s a major secret because all I did was approach every subject how I always have and continue to do.

I’m an admirer and my goal is to try my best with my skill set to represent your beauty. If I only followed what turns me on or have my personal desires warp someone to fit into my own wants then I’d have a bad series of paintings. Just another horny white male painter because we haven’t seen enough of those in art history. 

How do people react to your erotic work at exhibitions? 

The erotic series has only been exposed once at an art fair in The Louvre. Already getting 4 of them exhibited had its obstacles with censorship. Less than two weeks out from the show with promotion and tickets sales being done on my part, I was asked to remove my erotic paintings due to a curatorial decision. This instance was a classic example of where the art world isn’t as open as you think it is.

When I finally got a hold of the director as opposed to playing broken telephone with underpaid interns, they tried to make me bend by saying I had a bigger booth for the show if I removed my erotic work. If I obeyed them, they’d promise me I could put as much “hentai” as I wanted in the next show in London. After pointing out my contract exchange via email, the promo I did, and the fact these paintings are a combined size of 60 cm on 3+ metre wall, I kept them in.

Explicit work that celebrates LGBTQ+ individuals and stands on the side of sex work makes the art world uncomfortable. If my art was about selling the trauma of marginalised communities and positioning myself as a hero in this narrative then I’d most likely be signed to a gallery already. I ended up being placed in some random hall in the back, but the paintings were displayed under the same roof as the Mona Lisa and that’s all that mattered.

It is fascinating to watch people interact with my art in person. I don’t think a lot of people were expecting to see a trans body at an art fair at The Louvre but there’s a first for everything. Some people felt a bit shocked and they would linger as they continued to not break eye contact with the piece. They’d always begin to walk away with a sense of calmness, but never with that initial sense of surprise. A lot of people were surprised that I painted this series and I heard a lot of “Wait, so a white boy painted these?”

The interesting part when exhibiting my erotic series was how people spoke to me in person versus online. I’d meet them for the first time in front of my booth and we’d chit chat here and there. There was nothing crazy or notable about the conversation, but when they left it would kick off on Instagram. They’d be more open sexually when talking about my work and how it related to them on their story posts. A lot more descriptions of the paintings and how it made them feel which makes sense considering how we are a lot more comfortable and confident behind our screens.

Are you curious about the people who buy your art? 

There’s a natural curiosity that pops up but I respect their privacy. No one is obliged to disclose anything to me. What I have encountered is clients who want to remain anonymous before even engaging in a conversation about acquiring any of my erotic art. It’s gone as far as only wanting to reserve exchanges about purchasing and descriptions to their burner account because they don’t want any record of it in their main inbox for their real account. You’re buying a dick painting here, not a kilo of cocaine on the dark web. 

I would say all my collectors are happy when they receive my work.

There are times I’ve personally delivered paintings to clients and they love to show me the spot where they’re going to hang it. It’s fun to see their universe that ranges from other erotic pieces to even just an all white hallway with my breast painting being the only thing there. What happens after I leave is none of my business, but I’d like to think it’s a good conversation piece when people are over.

Of course I’d be curious to hear the story they attach to my work and what they share with others.

Do you think about your audience when painting?

Rick Rubin said it best about the audience always being there. It’s up to the artist in regards to how much thought you give to the viewer. The times I really think about the audience is when I film. My show is not just for me. I do paint differently in regards to how it’s set up and the time per episode. Trying to narrate properly while also giving my full attention to the painting is a juggling act. I’ve done more than 100 episodes and it still feels like an enjoyable challenge. Overall I try to be as transparent as I can with whoever is watching along with me.

Outside of the show, I do think about what this piece could mean to someone. It crosses my mind if someone will see themselves or a partner. Will they use my art as a way to slide into someone’s DMs and get a hot conversation going? Do they come back to my work every so often or is it a one time thing? Lots of questions, but I don’t let it control how I move my brush around because I still want to create for myself. 

How has your experience been with censorship? 

My spicy little painting show, The JOI of Painting, has gone through quite a bit regarding censorship and even being deplatformed at one point. The idea for The JOI of Painting started as a joke between friends. “How funny would it be if you did a Bob Ross style show but you painted dicks?” Absolutely hilarious but also truly an amazing idea.  JOI meaning Jerk Off Instruction was perfect to make a parody of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross.

The next thing I knew I got a camera set up and went for it. I had no idea what I was really doing at first but I did know I’d be uploading to OnlyFans.  No one was surprised with my announcement about coming to OnlyFans. In fact, some people thought I took too long and that it was a question of “when?” as opposed to “if?” Obviously my friends did subscribe to the show, but the first people who signed up within an hour were sex workers. People I knew on the platform that wanted to support me and that still is the warmest welcome I’ve ever had to anything I’ve done.

It wasn’t artists or anyone from the art world.  It was sex workers who showed me immense amounts of love and encouragement for my painting show. 

The first platform switch happened when OnlyFans had the genius idea to remove adult content or at least entertain the idea of harsh censorship. Their entire empire was built on the back of sex workers, but when you’re in an expensive suit in boardrooms I guess it’s very easy to say “fuck them” So I didn’t want to stick around and I moved to Patreon.

I figured I had a lot more options for people who wanted to subscribe like prints and such plus there was more bandwidth for my show meaning I could go over a certain recording time. The first few months were fine and my audience was happy. I got the hang of filming and got into a solid rhythm every week. Sparks of a community began to form and that’s when the trouble began. 

Subscribers could receive merch every few months and this was all taken care of by Patreon. They’d take a percentage of my earnings to cover costs and I could just focus on painting happy little clits. A lot of time went by and no one received the second round of prints I had up. There were no notifications or support emails asking me to contact someone. The money was deducted and used, but no one got anything.

I contacted Patreon support and weeks later they replied the issue was with their partner Printful that took care of merchandise. Printful, who is never even mentioned in the contract or stated on Patreon’s website, decided to not print my art because it was “obscene”.  It went against their terms of service that I had no idea even existed.

They happily took my money and left me in the dark. The painting in question was a queer scene between two vulva owners and after more delays they finally printed one of my pieces that was a breast. On top of that, Printful was rolling out their pride month promotions saying they want to help queer small businesses. It’s like a bad joke at the end of the day.

Around these printing problems, Patreon was asking erotic creators to sign up to a club where we would all attend workshops and share our experiences navigating censorship. I obviously signed up and got an email within a week due to so much demand they wanted me to become a captain.

The secret code to get to the sign up form was “renaissance”. It truly felt like a sign until I got a message from the trust and safety team regarding my content. Patreon simultaneously wanted me to do 1-3 hours of extra unpaid work a week for the erotic creators club while writing to me that my profile will be deleted since they deemed my show purely pornographic after 10 months of no issues.

Patreon decided my show was porn despite my hands being visible, being fully clothed, and the big fact that I was painting from start to finish. Their main concern to remove me from the platform was due to the payment processors. It had nothing to do with safety or consent concerns of people involved.

It made me wonder how they were even screening content since it’s been 10 months. My page was already listed as 18+ and my descriptions were clear. The JOI of Painting put their money at risk and I had to either change it or leave. Since Patreon uses a third party hosting site for videos that is priced on upload size, I’d have to change my plan to 500 Euros to re-upload all the edited videos to not include nudity. That’s not to mention the time involved to do all that for 53 videos at the time.

I was devastated to be deplatformed due to Patreon’s concerns with Visa and Mastercard, but I made sure to stall with their trust and safety team until I knew where to go. My show was pitched to art platforms looking for a-typical teachers, more feminist lead porn productions, and I even looked into streaming for a brief moment.

I just wanted the show to live and I wasn’t getting any answers so I decided to write to Pornhub. Within 20 minutes they were eager to have me on the platform and sent me all the links I would need along with a tech support member to walk me through the entire process. Even in my 10+ years of working with galleries and exhibiting my work, I’ve never had any entity be that eager for something I created. I’ve been painting happy little clits on Pornhub ever since. 

What do you think about the current erotic art scene?

I enjoy most of the talent out there, but I disagree with a lot of these artist’s values. There are so many wonderful depictions of intimacy and people transforming explicit desires into full blown masterpieces. You can feel the lustful stories in the mark making and the authenticity pouring out of the creators, but it ends up getting lost as they gain more traction. I want artists to make a living off their work, have all their bills paid, put food on the table, and more but when integrity and intersectionality disappear they become sellouts. 

The line between accessibility and brand is blurred so erotic artists lose that personal experience and are replaced with this corporation-esque identity. The art becomes more popular but it becomes diluted. There’s no more evolving. No more risk taking. No more being bold.

Sacrificing a rawness for social media metrics, book deals, and sales. This is not limited to erotic art, but it feels like the biggest loss when it comes to this type of work. The realest artists out there tend to be the ones who haven’t been influenced by commercial success. 

The market for erotic art changes on the scale. Censorship is a challenge and is detrimental to so many communities, but the art world can make it into a marketing tactic. Censored work translates to exclusivity and that creates hype and can bolster prices. Artists have done call to actions saying “I’m too hot for Instagram and if you see this post it means you should get my book/print before I’m gone” Now there’s urgency and making the audience feel like they’re part of a really cool club which means they then buy the art.

If it’s not being presented by a gallery, people consciously or not will act more on puritan beliefs by publicly disagreeing with the work. Being sold or hung on a very expensive wall in a gallery adds some sense of nobility to it for most individuals.  Sure, it’s online engagement  and can be a profitable controversy but it pushes all erotic art into a corner of being nothing more than some blasphemous publicity stunt and we got to start thinking about the children more. It’s absurd because these are the same people who panic when they realise they’re naked underneath their clothes.

Are you involved in any activism?

I’d say I’m an activist regarding sex positivity and censorship but I have my reservations regarding what that means and how it’s practised by others in the art world. Censorship is harming creativity and has flooded us with mediocre and “safe” ideas in favour of engagement and financial value. With that said, censorship in online spaces is putting lots of individuals in dangerous situations and fanning the flames of hate towards marginalised communities.

Yes, it sucks to have your art taken down, but don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. That’s the problem with a majority of censorship activists in the art world. I didn’t wait for it to impact me personally to care about it and now that it’s here I don’t see myself as the centre of it or some kind of hero. 

To make it in the art world means to engage in the white supremacist foundations in which it was built on and continues to operate by. We all dance with the devil, but what differentiates us all is how often and for how long. As much as artists are negatively impacted by outrageous rules on the internet, they aren’t the canaries in the coal mine and nor are they the only victims. Everything you hear coming from the art world regarding censorship has been said by sex workers years before and some artists separate themselves from the sex industry. 

My paintings have been taken down, but I don’t face the same level of discrimination sex workers experience daily. I can still open a bank account and not be interrogated and refused when it comes to housing. I don’t get constantly told to get an honest job or have people reduce my existence down to being less than human. I don’t have to perpetually worry about what new laws are being put in place that are going to make my life even harder than it is.

Removing my art won’t put me in a dangerous situation where I’ll get blamed even if I’m harmed because of misogyny and whoreaphobia. The system is vicious and I won’t be joining the other art activists who will stop fighting once our work stops being censored. An internet that prioritises the safety of sex workers while acknowledging and preserving their humanity is a safer internet for all. 

Erotic artists have to be in solidarity with sex workers. It’s shocking but not surprising to see major figures not speak up considering their work is based on them. You can write as many fancy words as you like in an artist statement, but if you’re an erotic artist not supporting sex workers then you’re exploiting them.

The art world is just like any other industry that loves to profit from sex workers without giving them credit or support. Lots of erotic artists have moved to OnlyFans to avoid having their work removed, but a lot of them don’t publicly acknowledge who made that platform what it is.

How did you hear about OnlyFans? I bet it wasn’t because you heard DJ Khaled was offering music production lessons with Fat Joe. When you tell someone you’re on OnlyFans, do you follow it with a “but I’m not one of those kinds of creators” or even worse do you take advantage of the adult reputation to make yourself seem more charming?

You’re a guest in that space and you should honour the people who made that platform what it is. If you don’t, you might as well be gentrifying a digital space. The same rule went for me when I joined OnlyFans and then Pornhub. All the creators on that platform are my colleagues and I see them as equals. I respect and admire their work.

I personally believe artists won’t be joining Pornhub anytime soon since Google will label your page as “So and So’s Porn Videos” and there’s no way to change that. You can’t speak to the manager and have a tantrum because you don’t want to be associated with something society has convinced you to hate but to always take advantage of when you can. 

I’m aware of how hostile I sound towards art censorship activists, but I’m calling them into a conversation as opposed to calling them out. You can always change for the better. I think you can learn if you just listen to the voices of sex workers. There’s no hero moment where you’ll save the day or that you have to see yourself as some saviour. Fuck all that. It’s a group effort and right now you’re being asked to listen to and amplify voices. 

Any hopes for the future? 

To keep painting and learning. That’s all I can really hope for. Sure it would be cool to be invited to things because of my art, but I’m more focused on trying to make myself proud. I feel like I’ve come a long way in terms of learning about sex positivity and activism and there’s still lots of road ahead of me. That’s exciting and working on yourself doesn’t really end.

As long as you have a tomorrow, you’ll always have a chance to be a bit better than you were before. We’re still going to paint vulvas and dicks together. We’re still excited to be part of something greater than ourselves. We’re still going to be unapologetic with our love. 

Anything else to add?

If you’re an erotic artist at any level, don’t let community guidelines and shame alter your work to be more digestible. It’s a lot easier to say than to do considering we rely on social media to get our creations out there.

I want you to have all the success you can ever wish for and more but not at the cost of your integrity. It’s not easy to resist diluting your creativity in exchange for contracts and steady pay checks. Not every piece has to be an absolute banger or needs to be a viral sensation.

My grandfather used to tell me success was not measured by what’s in your bank account, the car you have in your driveway, the size of your house etc. To live a successful life means to help someone be a better version of themselves. To be inspiring to just one person means you’ve lived a great life. Your work is reaching people and they might not say it to you and they might not ever say anything, but I’m sure you’ve helped them live more truly than before. I’m proud of you for it.

Find out more about Armando Cabba.

Check out erotic artists on Sensuali.

Iso

Author

Iso is a writer and filmmaker based in East London. She is passionate about all things erotic and leads a sexy, shame-free life in hope that she can inspire others to do the same. Originally from a Northern seaside town, she is naturally drawn to the best things in life: candyfloss, trashy karaoke bars and heart-shaped sunglasses.

Armando Cabba

Author

Armando Cabba is an artist originally from Montreal. His body of work primarily consist of the duality of portraiture and abstraction along with everything in between. Armando’s work is held in private collections in North America and Europe. After a few years working independently in Italy, he moved to Paris where he currently continues to create.