A HINT of sex is usually enough to attract attention. The advertising and fashion industries have long exploited this Achilles heel of human nature, as has the art industry - from 'the nude' of ancient art through the perversions of Picasso to the barefaced cheek of today.

Artists have long been savvy to the fact that sex, or just the hint or promise of it, does sell. It's a fact not lost on Stella Lai, a San Franciscan artist who's closing her three-month residency at Chinese Arts Centre with an expos' of work she's produced here.

“Sex” is how Lai summarises her art. Naturally, there's more to the story.

“The work is a combination of different elements: flowers, architectural patterns - those two elements are very Chinese - and then the naked girls which are subliminally embedded in the painting,” she explains.

Naked girls?

Porn magazines

“All the images are from porn magazines. They're in suggestive poses. In some of them, the clothing is coming off but they're in a silhouette style so you can't really see this until you get really close or spend some time.”

The skimpy clothes are used well by Lai (eg bikinis fall like petals), and they offer a savvy, humorous update on art history's use of drapery to reveal the body.

“Sex is intriguing,” Lai says. “Basically it's to do with the Chinese upbringing where sex is bad. As a girl you don't talk about it. You're supposed to marry as a virgin. But then, growing up, you have feminism, where sex is good if you're empowered.

"But when you go to a porn shop it's bad because it's not from a female point-of-view. And now it's different again as women go to sex shops. Obviously women are intrigued too.”

Stella Lai's exhibition runs until Thursday, October 6 at the Chinese Arts Centre. Call 0161 832 7271 for more information. Tweet