'Sext Me If You Can' artist turns your naughty texts into paintings

Text-speak may be the downfall of language, but it seems sexting can now be high art.

In Karen Finley's upcoming performance and installation at the New Museum in New York titled, "Sext Me If You Can," participating volunteers will have to see their indecent texts turned into artwork hung on the walls of the museum.

The piece is presented as part of NEA 4 in Residence, which revisits four artists whose funds were revoked by the National Endowment for the Arts for their transgressive content. Finley famously had her NEA grant revoked in the nineties for a piece called "We Keep Our Victims Ready," a comment on rape that featured a "nude, chocolate-smeared young woman."

To participate, a volunteer can commission a work from Finley for between $200 and $500, and during a specified performance time they will be directed to a private room with their cell phone. The patron will send their "sexts" to Finley, who will then create a painting or series of paintings in a temporary studio set up in the New Museum Lobby.

The paintings will be displayed for the duration of the installation, and at the end of the show, participating patrons will take home the paintings inspired by their sext. Although the NSFW art will be on display for all to see, participants do have to be 18 or older to to send Finley any risque text messages.