Last week, while orchestrating a lengthy photoshoot down in Chelsea for one of my clients, I stumbled upon an exhibit at White Box of the work of Tattoo Artists from New York Adorned and photographer Patrick O’Dell. As part of Six Feet Under exhibition entitled Uncharted Waters, a dozen tattoo artists were each given a double-sided poster of a life-sized nude model to adorn with a unique tattoo design. You can read a bit more about the show here courtesy of one of the shows artists Thomas Hooper.

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Scott again with my ongoing four part series of posts, “The Girls of Summer.”

Will Cotton: Part 2 of 4

If a summer sugar coma is good for you, then Will Cotton’s work will put you in a deep, gleeful slumber. Being in a gallery surrounded by his paintings is truly feast for the eyes, you can’t help but smile and marvel at the lushness of it all. When I first encountered his paintings at the Mary Boone Gallery in Manhattan back in the late 1990′s, he was devoted entirely to creating landscapes and hamlets out of every imaginable pastry, complete with swamps of molasses and ice cream falls.

Cotton Candy Sky (2006)

Around 2002 he started to increase this bounty with the addition of nude and scantily clad young women, many succumbing to eating the sweets around them, while managing to remain incredibly svelte. The nudes are as beautifully painted with saccharin grins. Despite the slight pin up quality of some of the poses Cotton doesn’t cross the line into kitsch.

Luilekkerland (2002)

Being a sucker for technique and unusual perspectives on things, I’m very taken with the work. It exhibits an almost photo-realist way of handling paint, that is very smooth, very considered and vacillates nicely between blurred and slightly harder edges. All the while containing a good sense of perspective and beautiful sense of color blending and combinations.

Will Cotton lives and works here in New York City. He is in a group show at the Baldwin Gallery – Aspen, Colorado from July 25th through September 5th 2008.

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Several weeks ago, I was invited to join my girlfriend’s family for an evening at the Bethel Woods Arts Center. The New York Philharmonic performed a special a 4th of July Concert featuring Joyce Yang on piano. It was a joyful evening of Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and other classical greats.

The Bethel Woods Arts Center is located on the site of the famous Woodstock concert which was held on Max Yasgur’s 600 acre dairy farm. The modern concert hall that now stands there is one of the most beautiful outdoor concert stages I’ve seen.

As the sun set, and the orchestra began to play, I took out my pad and pen and sketched the scene before me until it got too dark to see. I was able to get everything but the front seats, which I just finished after a busy few weeks back at the studio.

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Scott here:

This week, the art world was surprised by the unveiling of the identity of Banksy. Banksy, known as a bold guerrilla artist, made a name for himself through satirical and macabre street art that carried his witty social criticism and messages directly to the people. He once said said “modern art is a disaster area” and his role as an anonymous graffiti artist certainly bolstered his Art-World Robin Hood personae. The “unmasking” of Banksy however, should not distract from what makes his work, and the public’s embrace of his work, so unique.

Many of Banksy’s work utilizes the naked body to create an intentionally dramatic effect. For example, this work of a husband coming home to discover his wife’s infidelity, appears on the wall of a sexual health clinic in Bristol. Aside from the humor of the image, which on its own invites narrative, the context of its placement is critical to understanding the full meaning of the social commentary that Banksy typically imbues into his graffiti.

A far more powerful work of Banksy’s is a piece called “Napalm.” The work depicts a vulnerable naked child, screaming, burned by napalm while being happily escorted by Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. Banksy uses imagery of the Vietnam War as a counterweight to the American projection of consumerism. The depiction of naked body here is used as a sharp commentary to evoke our most exposed state.

Whatever you think of him or his work, Banksy has effectively challenged the public into engaging in a dialog with his work. What makes his work so compelling is the immediacy of his graphic imagery as it relates to the human condition. Banky’s work is primal, biting, and naked. He has created a new cultural iconography for the masses without alluding to authorship. It is just this satirical iconography which is his trademark and authorship. Eschewing the limelight has over the years brought the limelight to him. Only time will tell if this limelight will change the reception and the subsequent dialog that his work receives from the public.

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Merrel here:

Tori Amos has always held a dear place in my heart as a performer. One of the things that has constantly kept be me coming back to Tori Amos and her music over the years is her uncanny ability to reinterpret herself through the color of so many different lenses. Much a like versatile painter, she re-invents her foundation while still solidly rooted in what makes her lyricism and musicianship so unique and appealing.

It comes only as a slight surprise that Tori Amos has again found a fresh medium to breathe new life into her extensive song catalog. The forthcoming Comic Book Tattoo, which takes its name sake from a B-Side “The Flying Dutchman” lyric, visually and interpretively expands on the themes and lyrics of her almost 30 year career. Tori Amos has been known on occasion to refer to her songs as her children. Music personified, and embodied. With this in mind, the artists and writers have been given much freedom to re-image the song concepts through their own eyes.

Amos herself has expressed pleasure in the end result:

“I have been surprised, excited and pleasantly shocked by these comics that are extensions of the songs that I have loved and therefore welcome these amazing stories of pictures and words because they are uncompromisingly inspiring,”

The list of contributors to Comic Book Tattoo reads like a Whose Who of the established and up-and-coming comic book world. From longtime friend of Tori Amos, Rantz Hoseley to Kelly Sue DeConnick, Leif Jones, Nikki Cook, and a slew of other great comic book artists.

What prey tell does this have to do with figurative arts? Rounding out the top of the list of contributors is David Mack, creator of KABUKI, and writer and artist for the Darvedevil comics. His work, particularly the covers of KABUKI, are striking representations of figurative art. As with many comic book artists, an academic approach to the figure underlies the quality of the execution, and David Mack’s figures are rendered with a sophistication and sense of design that makes his work appealing to both fans of comic books and lover’s of the figurative arts alike.

You can read more about Comic Book Tattoo and David Mack in an interview at Spinner.  Also check out this interview with Rantz Hoseley

After I shared this with Jeff he was so inspired that he couldn’t resist the opportunity to draw a sketch of Tori Amos from Boys For Pele era. Please, feel free to download a high-res version of the sketch to print out and place on your wall of Tori Amos posters!

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Sunday I had the pleasure of visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the William Turner Exhibit, an immense retrospective that spans the career of Britain’s most beloved painter of the 19th Century. I’ve always been a fan of Turner’s, particularly with his later landscapes, which are notable for their ground-breaking abstraction of the sublime pastoral scene into its most crucial, symbolic elements.

Norham Castle Sunrise (1845)

The show is a must-see, and it is a great way to bolster your art history street-cred. Turner was a pioneer in his visionary approach to the landscape, and burnished his fame in the eyes of the British public with his heroic seascapes featuring British victories at sea against Napoleon’s Navy. Separately, Turner personally lifted watercolors to a level of respect that was not accorded to it at the time. Until then, they were derisively labeled tinted drawings. His development of new techniques to create richly colored rivals to oil paintings won him acclaim and respect.

Also on display at the Met is a wonderful exhibit entitled Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, which explores our modern cultural myths and the importance of costume design in the modern Hollywood blockbuster/museum tie-in. I especially enjoyed seeing the new Batman costume worn by Christian Bale in The Dark Knight and the metal suit worn by Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man.

After seeing these exciting, colorful exhibits, I went into the newly designed room housing the museum’s excellent Roman Statuary collection. To my surprise, I found a familiar figure from Episode 1 of theGreatNude.tv’s Great Nude Project in the form of Venus, The Goddess of Love. There she was, across the room, bathed in sunlight beaming down from the museum’s skylights overhead. Fortunately, I traveled with my pencil box that day, and took out my drawing pad and recorded the scene before me:

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Scott Goodwillie here:

Ah, summertime at TheGreatNude.tv! My thoughts, all artistically pure of course, turn to sun, water and nudes on the beach. Well, perhaps not so much around New York City. So, we’ll settle for some great summertime art which can be found at your local and national galleries and venues. I’ve chosen to focus on artists that use the season of summer as a common denominator. Make no mistake, these are serious artists, very well developed in their craft. Their chosen motifs have found abundant success among collectors and museums alike. Their use of the figure within their choice of motifs and colorful themes make these artists’ works an appropriate summertime excursion.

MEL RAMOS: Part 1 of 4

When you see a painting of a nude woman riding a Toblerone or a pack of Life Savers, it could only mean one thing. Mel Ramos! While I could go on with any number of sugary analogies I’ll spare you. With titles like “You Get More Salami With Modigliani” and ‘Milk Dud Dolly‘, pin-ups have never been this fun or more kitsch. Ramos tosses the classical tonal range out the window. His works are truly Pop and while the pieces are anatomically convincing and well rendered, the colors are vibrant, and playful. There is a sense of coolness even in warmer toned works which comes about due to the graphic nature, hard edges and high contrast. This is Ramos’ signature style and affirms him as a master of the genre.

Ramos was born in 1935 in Sacramento, California and divides his time between Oakland, California and Horta de San Juan, Spain. At 73 years old, he still produces work with a humor and innocence that belies his age. He will be exhibiting at the Louis Meisel Gallery, New York City during Winter 2008.

Additional info:
Mel Ramos Official Site
Mel Ramos: Nude and Pin-up Prints

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Dear friends

This is my first post to theGreatNude.tv blog. I launched TheGreatNude.tv as a Web/Video Magazine dedicated to the Figurative Arts, and as the producer, I’m going to do my best to create an entertaining site for you, rich with imagery and dialog between the lovers of the figurative arts and the artists who are dedicated to this traditional art form. If you’re reading this, you are part of our community, welcome to my blog.

Last night (Friday night, July 11, 2008) was the last night for the Adult Drawing Event held at the CoSM Gallery in Chelsea, NYC. I’ve been going to these “colorful” events for over a year now. This is the only live nude drawing event on the west side of Manhattan, and with my studio in Hell’s Kitchen, well, that’s practically my backyard. So I have no excuse to not show up with a pad and pencils.

Alex Zoppa produces this series held at the CoSM Gallery on 27th street, which brings a handful of amateur porn actors onto a decorated set in front of a large crowd of artists, each of whom pays $20. at the door to have access to 4 hours of provocatively staged poses, drinks, and a vibrant house mix from a professional DJ. It’s a mellow crowd, and the vibe is seriously artistic, even if the models are hamming it up with their props.

The Poses last night were 15 minutes long, and usually consisted of two to three models, so it was an active stage. Here’s several drawings I created during those sessions. I plan to work them up a little more over the next week or so, (check back to see the finished results.)

Jeffrey Wiener

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Woman with Feathers

Portrait of Woman

The Pizza Man

Woman Seated

Woman Standing

Woman Standing 2