NUDES: aesthetic?, erotic?, literal? ... or singularly apathetic?

[StoneNYC]

I think... Hmm...

I think the nude form is the hardest to capture, every nude shoot I do is a challenge, the moment I begin to feel "aroused" or attracted to the model, I end the shoot because I know after that point my artistic mind is gone and only my sex craved mind is there and it's impossible to make something beautiful and artistic.

I also found it odd that though there are many statues of various size and shaped women with big breasts or flat ones, big butts and no butts, the men tend to all have the same "average" or small size members, and none are Increadibly large as to make a normal man seem to feel inadequate. At least when it comes to realistic sculptures. In other cultures with sculptures I've seen all sizes but they aren't the "realistic" form. So I find that an interesting commentary . Though I am not worldly so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hmm what else.. I think that being connected to your own sexuality and being able to incorporate that somehow into your view of nude art can be both powerful as distracting at the same time. It's really the most difficult of all art creation IMHO.

I don't think that art should be censored so I'm of the mind that the artist should dictate what is seen and exposed and what is "left to the imagination" and the kind of dismemberment /disfigurement and destruction of sculpture like replacing penis' with fig leaves is a disgrace to the human race and they should feel ashamed of themselves for destroying something they feared out of ignorance.

It also makes me sad that I can never view it as intended. Just as I'm not sure we know EXACTLY the height of the pedestal that David stood on originally (we may I don't know) but its that kind of thing that just saddens me because it cheapens the experience and leaves me feeling ... Sad for the world. I hope someday we can overcome.


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

[David Lyga]

I certainly have no 'prudish' problem with nudity. But I do have a major problem with the American need to sensationalize it and call it ipso facto 'art'.

Like the Europeans, I see nudity as 'no big deal'. I do NOT, however, see it as something beautiful in and of itself like a lot of Americans do who want to indulge their obsession with being able to 'express' themselves. Yes, indeed, the Puritan ethic is pervasive here in the USA, even amongst people who think themselves liberated from it!

Nudity should be an afterthought, not a necessity in order to make a point. Like left-handedness, it should be not 'thought' about. The Europeans have that 'over us' for sure with their far more mature outlook on the human condition.

But what I want more than anything else at this point is to question SuzanneR, and force her to reveal to me, "just how did you get that proper accent on the 'a' of Pieta"? - David Lyga

[SuzanneR]

But what I want more than anything else at this point is to question SuzanneR, and force her to reveal to me, "just how did you get that proper accent on the 'a' of Pieta"? - David Lyga

Here ya go...

On my keyboard, (I have a mac) I hit the "otion" button and then the "e" at the same time, the accent aigu appears, then type whatever letter you need under there. Not sure which "option" and letter combo will produce the accent grave, but if you are in need of an umlaut the "option" and the "u" will produce it.

And now back to regularly scheduled programming and the nude in the history of art...

[BrianShaw]

Your question reminds me of the first time I visited Florence and saw the David. It was 1980, ... One couple stepped to the side, a few feet away from me. The woman turned to her husband and said, "I think it's beautiful, but why does he have to be nude? Why can't he be covered like a good American statue?"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the comment.

That was my Aunt and Uncle from Boston. Yes, they really felt that way after visiting Italy. I laughed... out loud and in their faces... adn then apologized for being so rude. They also didn't like the un-authentic Italian food either.

[David Brown]

They also didn't like the un-authentic Italian food .

[batwister]

I think the nude, for most serious artists, is always the elephant in the room. It's about both challenging a tradition and adding to it at the same time. For art's sake, but in the most reputable way.

[StoneNYC]

They also didn't like the un-authentic Italian food either.

haha, oh man, stoopeed americaaans... lol

[David Lyga]

it really is stricking to witness how many Italian-Americans (I am half Sardinian) are so (willfully) ignorant of anything authentically Italian. But, maybe with those words I have overstepped my boundary. One is sometimes not supposed to tell the truth if that truth becomes so personally revealing. Yes, indeed, Brian, it truly is appalling.

But, folks, to those possibly offended: Americanism is not a religion. - David Lyga

[BrianShaw]

It's not willful... it just happens. When one grows up in NYC or Boston one gets a certain impression of "Italian". One of my good friends is a NY It-Am who married a Roman girl (actually from Rome). They don't eat Italian food in their house often because they just don't see eye-to-eye. It just happens.

[Poisson Du Jour]

I certainly have no 'prudish' problem with nudity. But I do have a major problem with the American need to sensationalize it and call it ipso facto 'art'.

Like the Europeans, I see nudity as 'no big deal'. I do NOT, however, see it as something beautiful in and of itself like a lot of Americans do who want to indulge their obsession with being able to 'express' themselves. Yes, indeed, the Puritan ethic is pervasive here in the USA, even amongst people who think themselves liberated from it!

Nudity should be an afterthought, not a necessity in order to make a point. Like left-handedness, it should be not 'thought' about. The Europeans have that 'over us' for sure with their far more mature outlook on the human condition.

But what I want more than anything else at this point is to question SuzanneR, and force her to reveal to me, "just how did you get that proper accent on the 'a' of Pieta"? - David Lyga

Your thinking is seriously akimbo, David.

Join the World Naked Bike Ride where we go nude to make a point of vulnerability as cyclists and liberation from the confines of a vehicle. And yes, it is a way to 'express' ones self. And it's not an afterthought.

á = Alt+ 0225 on Windows keyboards