Notable Dirty Show artists through the years

Eric Kroll, 2008

This photographer and subject of the best-selling Taschen photo book was a superstar of erotica. Eric was a handful — a one-man tornado bouncing off walls and creating disruption with every step. The idea of him giving a daytime lecture was a spontaneous decision after he unexpectedly showed up. It happened in the afternoon after opening night. He filled the stage with every fetish model he could rope in, grabbed the mic, and gave a talk bordering on insanity and genius. He talked about his life, sex, cameras, sex, models, and more sex. It became clear his rambling lecture was not rehearsed or structured and was barely planned before it eventually imploded.

H. R. Giger, 2006

Although we did not know it at the time, H. R. Giger became our first special guest artist. This was before we did juried art calls and the exhibition was mainly a local invitational with a smattering of bigger national artists. We had already promised a spotlight to a photographer whose main claim to fame was nude photos of a pre-famous Madonna he had sold to a men’s magazine. Giger was much cooler and way more important. Giger’s manager Les Barany delivered a variety of signed erotic prints and drawings since Giger was too ill to travel to Detroit (and likely too costly for our budget).

Bunny Yeager, 2008

Famous for the most iconic vintage Bettie Page photos, we jumped when we discovered Bunny was still alive. She wasn’t well enough to travel up from Florida, but had a huge library of Page pictures she could send. When the photos arrived we discovered most of them were not actual photos but offset printed on glossy paper for sale in the back of old skin mags. Fortunately there were enough actual photos to create her section. It wasn’t the treasure trove of vintage Bettie we had been drooling to get, but did the job.

Clive Barker, 2009

We approached author and director Barker about his paintings, and he let us know he was now concentrating on photography. He emailed pictures and they were all nude men, colorful, and harder (pun intended) than the typical black-and-white homoerotica trailblazed by Maplethorpe wannabes. The Dirty Show was the world premiere of these photos and our opportunity to showcase the work of our first openly gay special guest artist.

Viva Van Story, 2010

Viva is one of the greatest pin-up photographers of all time. From immaculate vintage sets to perfect lingerie and stunning models, she is the best. We were so blown away by her work we had to showcase her contribution.

Rick Castro, 2011

Rick Castro is a filmmaker and renowned photographer. His work dwells into the world of fetish leather and hot men, usually kinky. His stint as special guest artist included a showing of his underground film Hustler White at the Burton Theatre.

Marne Lucas, 2012

Model-turned-photographer and contemporary queer artist Marne Lucas brought her (and Jacob Panders’s) classic underground movie The Operation to Detroit for the first time in 2012. Shot with infrared stock, the weirdly wonderful film blurs the lines between porn and art perfectly. It brought the house down when projected on stage. In addition to the movie, the strength of her photos show the former model surpassed her teachers.

Gregory de la Haba, 2013

There are some pieces of art that, once seen, can never be forgotten. We heard about erotic taxidermy horses with huge sculpted beavers and boners being shown at Art Basel Miami and knew we had to display it. And it took months of sleuthing to discover Gregory de la Haba created it. Once uncovered it took years to convince him we could and would feature it — even if it required taking down a wall to get in the venue (Bert’s Warehouse). “Equis Maximus” is the most exciting piece of art we have ever had in the exhibition, and still consider it the best erotic contemporary art piece we’ve ever seen. We loved it so much we broke our rules and displayed it again after we had relocated to the larger space at the Russell.

Pat Oleszko, 2014

This performance artist created the first major installation by a guest artist. Her walk- and crawl-through inflatable sculpture was perfect in the giant grounds the first year at the Russell after leaving the hopelessly crowded confines of Bert’s. Photographer Naomi Harris (America Swings) also gave a lecture on the second weekend while filling the role as a second special guest for the year.

John Waters, 2015

After seeing a Waters solo art show in L.A., we became obsessed with getting his contemporary art in the show. His sense of humor comes through work that is clever, biting, and often dirty. In addition to having him be the special guest artist, we were also able to book his stage show by starting Dirty a day earlier to merge the exhibition with his one-man show, This Filthy World: Filthier and Dirtier. Waters stayed after his show giving VIP access to the entire crowd by taking countless selfies and signing hundreds of books.

Colin Christian, 2016

I was enamored with Colin’s work after seeing pictures in Juxtapoz. His sculptures are beautiful, beyond cool, and he dominated every art show he was in. He was in our earlier shows going back to the Tangent. His work always stops viewers in their tracks. He is my favorite artist. In Colin’s own words: “I love taking part in the Dirty Show, none of us would be here without the feelings that the work on display can generate, of all the shows I’ve done the Detroit crowd is the warmest, most open-minded and diverse in nature, the city should be proud of this wild event.”

David Cerny, 2017

Rick Manore from C-Pop gallery was always more than helpful in landing artists for the exhibition. He moved to the Czech Republic where David Cerny is the biggest artist — their national treasure. Most of his work is outdoor sculpture and too big to ship — especially from overseas. He located a piece in NYC that was owned by a friend and let us put it in the show. It was a life-sized model of Eve — complete with the frames and tabs that let you know it is a glue-yourself model like you’d make as a kid. Luckily that year we had an entire art show coming in from NYC so we were able to ship it all in together in a step van as it was too delicate to ship by typical transit company.

Glenn Barr, 2019

Glenn was in the Dirty Show before it was even the Dirty Show. He helped invite artists as we only had 35 our first year and helped hang up art in the offices after it became a sure thing that was gonna happen. I had avoided choosing local artists for the special guest artist. But when Cerny was sick and couldn’t make it to Detroit, we realized it doesn’t matter how famous the artist is in the art world. Barr is more famous in Detroit and loved by so many. We needed a painter and Barr is as strong as anybody in the nation. So it is like The Wizard of Oz: no place like home.

Niagara, 2020

Niagara was the first female artist to sign up for the original Dirty Show and the most famous name in that first exhibition. Art was dominated by men, as was the lowbrow scene and the entire art world. Twenty-one years later, The Colonel, her husband/manager called us up and asked when Niagara was gonna headline. Great idea. How about next show? Niagara was a friend and a personal fave. The exhibition almost didn’t happen because of the pandemic, but we beat it by a few weeks before the shutdown. It seemed no one caught the virus except for Niagara who got sick before they could even test for COVID. So if it had reached Michigan by that time, it reached her first. Despite getting shots and washing our groceries, we had to cancel the following year’s show.

Tristan Eaton, 2022

Drove out to California during the pandemic to catch Tris’s retrospective at the Long Beach art Museum. He said yes to the special guest artist spot at the next Dirty Show. So we opened with proof of vax and masks in the brave new world. It was at his show that I realized Tris was likely gonna be the most successful artist to ever come out of Detroit.

Mitch O’Connell, 2023

Mitch is the most fun artist I know. Even when he is in a show he can be as big as the headline artist, from his life-sized Dolly Parton painting to his stint having the immersive “Dirty Needle” tattoo shop showcasing his flash work (with others). His puffy covered art book World’s Best Artist explains this gem of a guy. So when he was the chosen one at Dirty he decided to go black-light as always. When MOC is involved expect amazing. In his own words: “The Dirty Show is a massive art happening where you can let your hair down, your pants down, and let it all hang out! I’ve been thrilled to participate in The Greatest Sleazy Show On Earth over the last dozen years! If you delight, like I do, in decedent debauchery while being immersed between sultry sexy performers and walls of pleasingly perverse paintings, this is your Shangri-La! I hit my artistic peak when I was flattered to be the featured artist in ’23 … a fact that I still try to shoehorn in every conversation I have. Thank goodness for The Dirty Show, the erotic expression emporium, for making the world a better place!”

Sas Christian, 2024

Massive talent with a unique style have made Sas one of the best known lowbrow painters in the world. Seeing her work in art magazines and having a connection through her spouse — Colin Christian, our guest artist in 2016 — made her a desirable must-have for the show. Erotic without revealing any naughty bits, most hint at sexuality which makes her work uniquely erotic. Nobody paints better eyes, and the big eyes on her portraits suck you into a mental erotic narrative that, like a still frame from a movie, is beyond the depiction on the canvas.

Other notable artists

A legendary fetish photographer, Steve Diet Goedde is one of the biggest names in erotic art. Working with the best models and shooting only in natural light, never cliché and usually surprising, his latex always astounds. A master with enough books featuring his work to cement his name in history. Pablo Davis would be the first special guest. Was in his 90s when he joined the show at Tangent. Fetish painter Tom Porta would be second as he came in from Italy to Tangent.

Lady Pain, retiring resident dominatrix

“As the first performance artist to participate at the Dirty Show 25 years ago, I got into erotic art and kink with the mission to help make society more sexually enlightened,” she says. “This 25th anniversary will be my last year of creating an interactive installation because I feel that my goal has been accomplished. The attendees are all pretty comfortable in their kinks. One can easily observe this by just looking at the women in the crowd. Some of the ladies are dressed so scantily that it is hard to distinguish them from the performers. I even see men walking around with bondage equipment in an effort to entice others into the lifestyle. So my work here is done; it’s time for me to retire from being a professional pervert and set new goals for myself.”