Lena - Playboy centerfold, 1972
Janet AllingerJanet Allinger reconstructs the history of the male gaze by hand-tearing vintage Playboy pages into a tactile, layered portrait of Lena. This work turns mass-produced paper into a singular, varnished figure that feels both familiar and fragmented.
Lena - Playboy centerfold, 1972
Janet Allinger reconstructs the history of the male gaze by hand-tearing vintage Playboy pages into a tactile, layered portrait of Lena. This work turns mass-produced paper into a singular, varnished figure that feels both familiar and fragmented.
A meaningful share of this purchase goes directly to Janet Allinger.
Every Arthaus piece supports a living artist.
Art Analysis
Reconstructing the centerfold through fragments of vintage paper
Allinger’s "Porntraits" series uses the very material of vintage adult media to rebuild the icons it once defined. In this piece, Lena is rendered through a meticulous collage of cut and torn magazine pages from the 1950s through the 1970s, all fixed to a sturdy wood panel. The physical texture of the paper creates a mosaic of skin tones and shadows, where the ink of the past becomes the brushstroke of the present, giving the flat page a new, tactile life.
By repurposing these specific archives, the artist invites a closer look at the construction of beauty and the enigmatic nature of the centerfold. The organic shapes emerging from the background disrupt the original commercial intent, placing the figure in a space that feels more intimate than the source material. It is a study of how color interactions and paper fragments can coalesce into a human form that carries the weight of its own history.
The artist builds the image entirely from 100% vintage magazine pages, using the original ink and paper to create new depth.
Lena is presented as an enigmatic figure, her likeness assembled from the very media that originally commercialized her image.
The use of torn edges and floral-like patterns suggests a movement toward organic design, softening the rigid lines of the original photography.
The piece relies on the interaction of aged paper tones and varnished surfaces to define the subject's form.
Free Shipping
On all framed orders
100-Day Guarantee
Love it or return it
Gallery Quality
Museum-grade materials
Artist-Direct
Fair pay, every piece
More to Discover
More from Janet Allinger
ArtistMore of Janet Allinger’s work, hand-picked from the collection.
