Presenting the Preservationist Journal of Hick Erotic Folklore
By Mike Kelley. Excerpt from the book ‚Sex to Sexty'
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"Big shot" artist Mike Kelley here to introduce you to the wonderful world of the SRI Publishing Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, producers of gag books,"he-man" daily diaries, joke sex dictionaries, hillbilly comedy record albums and off-color drink coasters, among other products. The pride of the SRI stable, however, was Sex to Sexty (the title a pun on the supposed all-age erotic appeal of the magazine - as in "from six to 60"), an adult humor magazine consisting entirely of jokes and cartoons. I suppose I was asked by Benedikt Taschen - avid art collector as well as book publisher - to write this opening statement because he was introduced to Sex to Sexty by way of a series of paintings I made that incorporated old issues of the magazine. Luckily, Benedikt has a dual love for art and smut (he seems especially drawn to low-end American erotica of the '50s and early '60s: men's girlie, adventure, and fetish publications). I say luckily, because without Benedikt chancing upon these works of mine, he probably would never have seen Sex to Sexty and you would not be holding this book in your trembling hands. He would not have seen Sex to Sexty because it is not held in high regard by the current aficionados of vintage smut, or art, for that matter.Why? Because it was unapologetically low, silly, and - most importantly - geared toward lower-class rural Americans living far away from the sophisticated urban sin centers. My decision to reference Sex to Sexty in my own artworks was not a random one. I won't go now into the specifics of what I was trying to do, but I will say that the magazine holds a special place in my heart. It is a truly unique publication, one that I responded to - even as an adolescent - because of its contrary aesthetic. It stuck out on the liquor store magazine rack, unlike anything else there. Sure, there were plenty of other joke books and men's magazines - but nothing as purely "off" as Sex to Sexty. That's why it continues to interest me to this day.
A number of years ago I went to the offices of my hometown newspaper in Wayne, Michigan, a suburb on the western edge of Detroit, and went through the bound copies of old newspapers.My primary reason for doing this was to examine the milieu that I grew up in, relative to the cultural influences that shaped my art production. I concentrated on cultural and countercultural activities that were covered in the newspaper between the years 1968 and 1972 - from the year that I discovered "fine art" (when I was in junior high) to the year I left home. In the letters section of the October 22, 1969, issue I discovered a letter written by a Mrs. E. Thomas that had been headlined "Pornography Blasted by Upset Citizen." It is worth quoting:
"I went to a small neighborhood grocery store a few weeks ago and I saw laying on the counter (within easy reach of little hands) a pile of magazines that appeared to be coloring books. I opened one and I was shocked. It was one of the filthiest books I have ever seen. (...) The name of the magazine is Sex to Sexty."
She ends her letter by appealing to contemporary youth to resist such nonconformist material and assist in the fight against pornography. Interestingly, this letter was printed right above one by another concerned mother who rails against a local "head shop," which she describes as the headquarters of the anarchist White Panther Party and a hangout for LSD users. The pairing of these two letters explains a lot about the social milieu in which Sex to Sexty existed - a milieu in which pornography and radical politics/drug culture represented, to middle-Americans, the fearful twin poles of assault on mainstream values.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
"Big shot" artist Mike Kelley here to introduce you to the wonderful world of the SRI Publishing Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, producers of gag books,"he-man" daily diaries, joke sex dictionaries, hillbilly comedy record albums and off-color drink coasters, among other products. The pride of the SRI stable, however, was Sex to Sexty (the title a pun on the supposed all-age erotic appeal of the magazine - as in "from six to 60"), an adult humor magazine consisting entirely of jokes and cartoons. I suppose I was asked by Benedikt Taschen - avid art collector as well as book publisher - to write this opening statement because he was introduced to Sex to Sexty by way of a series of paintings I made that incorporated old issues of the magazine. Luckily, Benedikt has a dual love for art and smut (he seems especially drawn to low-end American erotica of the '50s and early '60s: men's girlie, adventure, and fetish publications). I say luckily, because without Benedikt chancing upon these works of mine, he probably would never have seen Sex to Sexty and you would not be holding this book in your trembling hands. He would not have seen Sex to Sexty because it is not held in high regard by the current aficionados of vintage smut, or art, for that matter.Why? Because it was unapologetically low, silly, and - most importantly - geared toward lower-class rural Americans living far away from the sophisticated urban sin centers. My decision to reference Sex to Sexty in my own artworks was not a random one. I won't go now into the specifics of what I was trying to do, but I will say that the magazine holds a special place in my heart. It is a truly unique publication, one that I responded to - even as an adolescent - because of its contrary aesthetic. It stuck out on the liquor store magazine rack, unlike anything else there. Sure, there were plenty of other joke books and men's magazines - but nothing as purely "off" as Sex to Sexty. That's why it continues to interest me to this day.
A number of years ago I went to the offices of my hometown newspaper in Wayne, Michigan, a suburb on the western edge of Detroit, and went through the bound copies of old newspapers.My primary reason for doing this was to examine the milieu that I grew up in, relative to the cultural influences that shaped my art production. I concentrated on cultural and countercultural activities that were covered in the newspaper between the years 1968 and 1972 - from the year that I discovered "fine art" (when I was in junior high) to the year I left home. In the letters section of the October 22, 1969, issue I discovered a letter written by a Mrs. E. Thomas that had been headlined "Pornography Blasted by Upset Citizen." It is worth quoting:
"I went to a small neighborhood grocery store a few weeks ago and I saw laying on the counter (within easy reach of little hands) a pile of magazines that appeared to be coloring books. I opened one and I was shocked. It was one of the filthiest books I have ever seen. (...) The name of the magazine is Sex to Sexty."
She ends her letter by appealing to contemporary youth to resist such nonconformist material and assist in the fight against pornography. Interestingly, this letter was printed right above one by another concerned mother who rails against a local "head shop," which she describes as the headquarters of the anarchist White Panther Party and a hangout for LSD users. The pairing of these two letters explains a lot about the social milieu in which Sex to Sexty existed - a milieu in which pornography and radical politics/drug culture represented, to middle-Americans, the fearful twin poles of assault on mainstream values.
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Sex to Sexty
Hardcover, 20.5 x 27.8 cm (8.1 x 10.9 in.), 420 pages
$ 39.99
$ 39.99
The ultimate collection of America's most salacious humor launched by the former cult magazine Sex to Sexty
