Important Notice

Sex is a potent theme that recurs throughout Souza???s oeuvre, closely linked with the artist???s preoccupation with religion, particularly the Roman Catholicism strictly adhered to by his family. Souza created a multitude of works portraying men, women and animals enjoying the pleasures of the flesh. Sex and religion are powerful conflicting forces in the art of Souza, who was confused as a youth in Goa, by the juxtaposition of the... Sex is a potent theme that recurs throughout Souza???s oeuvre, closely linked with the artist???s preoccupation with religion, particularly the Roman Catholicism strictly adhered to by his family. Souza created a multitude of works portraying men, women and animals enjoying the pleasures of the flesh. Sex and religion are powerful conflicting forces in the art of Souza, who was confused as a youth in Goa, by the juxtaposition of the sexually repressive teachings of the Catholic Church, and the erotic and sensual Indian art that surrounded him. For Souza, religion and sex became intertwined with the general hypocrisy that he saw elsewhere in society. In his own words: ???As a Roman Catholic youth, born in Goa, I was familiar with the priests bellowing sermons from pulpits against ???sex??? and ???immodesty??? particularly addressing women, making them stricken with guilt. The Catholic men stood cocky in their suits and ties, agreeing with the priests, lusting for naked women inwardly. Hypocrites!??? (F N Souza, ???Naked Women and Religion???, Debonair, April 1992) Souza???s representations of explicit sex scenes are an attempt at exposing this hypocrisy.

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