Art & Porn Collide On XTube; Matthew Barney Safe (For Now)

Art and Porn have always had a torrid, on-again off-again love affair. And some of their offspring--Jean Genet's "Chant d'Amour", Andy Warhol's "Blow Job" and John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus" come to mind--have turned out to be lovely, well-formed creatures. Others? Not so much.

Now there's a new generation of exhibitionist auteurs trying their hands at the artsy wank film, and while none of them have yet cranked out a pornic version of the Cremaster Cycle, some of their efforts are most promising. Pour yourself a glass of tawny port and join us to watch some of our favorite artistic high and low points from the Xtube scene after the jump, won't you?

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Of the several clips we've got here, russdsgn's "All turns to sex" is probably the most conventional. Like a lot of artsy Xtube fodder, it goes on a little too long (okay, way too long), but it works in a modern burlesque sort of way. And we will never think of that Sarah Vowell essay--the one where she talks about playing the recorder in the high school band--in quite the same way again.

• "All turns to sex" (Xtube)

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Xtube user Greenshowers has approximately 13,286 videos on his profile, but we find this one from his "vintage" series among the most interesting. Think of it as a old-timey nickelodeon movie that somehow got by the censors. Or maybe an Old Navy ad for beanies.

• "Vintage homo erotica" (Xtube)

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Remember watching "Last Year at Marienbad" back in college? Remember how you couldn't tell whether you liked its somber pace and stark visuals or whether you were just pretending to like it to get that guy at the video store into bed? That's kind how we feel about many of lkmkjnjhb's videos. That said, they're probably the perfect background stuff to play at your next key party.

• "Aliens" (Xtube)

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Mrsister's "Guitar Hero penis dance" is certainly not our favorite Guitar Hero-themed video, but it's definitely the most artsy one we've seen. We give him an 80% for hitting the notes and a 100% for his minimalist aesthetic. (And tons of extra credit for his cock, which isn't so minimalist.)

•"Guitar Hero penis dance" (Xtube)

Got more crazyartsysexy Xtube finds to share with us? Let us know in the comments. (And thanks to Fleshbot reader Drowboi for the tip which inspired this post.)