Work byJohnny Smith

Personally, I am not so casual with my own nudity. However, I love it with other people!

That being said, I have gotten drunk and exchanged photos before (I am a human being after all!). I turned 41 this year and I am surprisingly more confident about my naked body than I have ever been. As long as the lights are off and everyone’s eyes are closed. Kidding/not kidding.

Laughing and sex are my two favorite activities. They both feel good to me and I like feeling good. The world is a scary place sometimes, so I seek levity. I have always leaned to the sillier side of things, so I share this with my art.

My mind can go to a very dark place a lot of the time (I deal with anxiety and depression) and I know that I am not alone in that. I want to create something that hopefully makes you laugh, or blush, or both. And if you hate it, great! I love reactions as long as they aren’t humdrum.

I love creating work that is tongue in cheek, juxtaposing the perverse with the serene and the serious with the silly. Years ago, I started mixing photographs I took with friends as my subjects with other pictures, textures, patterns, deviations.

However, I quickly learned it is a lot easier to search or discover photos online (and manipulate them) to create a design/collage, than it is to go out and take my own photos. Thus, my approach shifted to a more appropriated style, no longer limiting my digital collages to where I went and to whom I was with.

The series started in 2013 when my friend Cheryl told my friend Jess that she had “Barbie titties.” I asked Jess if I could take a photo of her topless and she acquiesced. I then collaged actual Barbie breasts in place of her own as a joke between us. And then I bought Barbie dolls.

It was also a statement in support of the #freethenipple movement on Instagram. I love what Sarah Silverman says about Barbie dolls. Every child who had Barbie and Ken dolls would strip the clothes off to see them naked, so it’s also kind of a joke about that. Or maybe it’s just an excuse to be a grown ass man who plays with dolls.

It was a thought that came into my head and it made me laugh. It was also another way to test the limits of my white cube known as Instagram — to see what I could share that wouldn’t get deleted… what I could get away with.

It’s weird because some of the faces on genitalia have been removed while others haven’t. Pee Wee Herman remains on the grid!

Just that I am grateful for you reaching out to me and sharing my work. Oh, and I have a mirror series that I am currently working on that will debut in a couple of months. Stay tuned!