Stephanie Sarley started with dick dogs, moved on to peach pussies, and now spends her time drawing crotch monsters.
The Oakland-based artist specializes in digital illustration and painting, and depicts human anatomy with a fun, fearless flair. Though she still sells the Dick Dog and Friends coloring book that put her on the map, Sharley is now focused more on her vagina-centered artwork.
"To make women's bodies less taboo is what I'm getting at," she told Revelist.
The artist's Instagram bursts with odes to female sexuality, like videos of her fingers stroking vaginal-looking fruit and sketches of personified pussies. She wants the characters she draws to be relatable for everyone, not just women.
"The characters are dealing with emotions, sex and relationships, hygiene, masturbation, beauty standards, addiction, disease, consumption, bodily functions and fluids, which are natural parts of everyone's lives," Sarley said.
The illustrations usually fall into one of three categories: The sumptuous drawings of colorful orchids placed between two splayed legs are "Orcunts." The fiendish faces and devil horns sitting atop fanged-labia lips are "Crotch Monsters." Striking lifelike faces transposed onto vaginas who are smoking or drinking beer make up the rest of the illustrations.
Sarley doesn't shy away from the crude nature of some of her drawings. She told Revelist that she thinks vaginas are "often targeted as obscene or overwhelming and vulgar." Her characters unabashedly embrace this reputation, laughing in the face of those who would censor them.
"Women's bodies and artistic representations of them are always so sexualized, and are more often censored than of representations of men," Sarley said. "These characters are touching on censorship of women's bodies… Many of the drawings are uplifting and serve for acceptance of the vulva."
Censorship and copyright are especially important to Sarley, since she's an artist who specializes in uncensored female anatomy. She told the Guardian that her Instagram account was removed, and then mysteriously restored two weeks later. She also gets flack from other Instagrammers when she asks them to credit her artwork.
"Today someone made three hate posts about me, posting my email. On the comments there were gangbang rape threats between guys…" Sarley told Revelist. "This is over a copyright infringement report! He was hosting an edited version of my uncredited work I didn’t want out there."
Despite these social media skirmishes, Sarley has seen considerable success from her work. Her Instagram boasts over 37,000 followers, as well as a comment from New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz: “You. Are. Genius.” Her art has been featured in publications like Bustle and Vice Munchies, and galleries like the Superchief Gallery NYC.
But perhaps most importantly, Sarley gains a sense of pride and meaning from her work.
"I believe it is really important in this state of society for me to be a vagina artist…" she told Revelist. "I am proud to be a woman artist and to assert myself in the art world with a purpose in mind."
Check out 21 of the vaginas as orchids, monsters, and generally cool cats below:
