Betty Tompkins, “Real Ersatz”

Since the late 1960s, Tompkins has been creating photorealistic close-ups of male and female genitalia, often engaged in acts of copulation involving multiple orifices. Naturally, the highly pornographic and confrontational nature of her paintings made little headway in the art world, and she worked in obscurity for decades. More recently, however, she’s gained a certain cult status, resulting in shows like this one, featuring past works plus contemporary versions of them, which she calls “ersatz.”