We here at The Great Nude have a great appreciation for the controversial nude. Whether it be Gustave Courbet’s “Origin of the World” or Francisco de Goya’s “La maja desnuda” – there is an alluring and personal quality about these paintings.

Edouard Manet was no stranger to controversy surrounding his 1863 painting “The Luncheon on the Grass” – which featured a typical modern Parisian women nude in a contemporary setting with two clothed men. The naked woman in juxtaposition to the clothed men was ripe for negative interpretation and criticism.

In the spirit of this painting, which was considered by many as “anti-academic and politically suspect“, we’ve put our own spin on Edouard Manet’s “The Luncheon on the Grass.”

Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, John McCain and Joe Biden, ala Edouard Manet's "The Luncheon on the Grass"

Speaking of Asian Art, The second annual Asian Contemporary Art Fair is making its way to Pier 92 on November 7th. The Great Nude didn’t have a chance to go last year, but Jeff and Merrel will be walking the floors on Friday November 7th to take in the unique flavor of figurative art from the East.

Fig. 1 Blue Chinese Rose, Shu Yan. Fig 2. Monument of Triumph, Jiang Shuo & Wu Shaoxiang Fig 3. Opening The Great Wall, He Chengyao Fig. 4 Gothic lunatic, Akio Ohmori Fig. 5 x2, Chen Zijun

I find this show a great opportunity to further expand a view of Eastern art. And there is plenty to see! The show doesn’t just feature art from China and Japan, but also Bangladesh, Vietnam, South Korea, India, United Arab Emirates and Macau. See you there!

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Merrel here:

OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a Japan junky. I’ve always been fascinated with the culture and language and with it I have developed a carnivorous appreciation of Japanese Art. There is a mystical quality to Japan’s historical artwork that is so uniquely Japanese yet worldly at the same time.

When I lived in D.C. — I had a chance to check out the Freer Art Gallery which houses some great historical pieces of Japanese art, such as the Hokusai woodblock print, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.” Noticeably absent though were any of the works of Kuroda Seiki.

A Meiji era painter, Kuroda’s art was an infusion of Western styles painting styles, known in Japanese as Y’ga. (lit. “Western-style paintings”) After studying abroad in Paris, Kuroda returned to his native Japan an accomplished painter, embracing Western styles and ushering a new era of painting in Japan. He was not the first Japanese painter to use oils, but certainly one of the most well known.

Kuroda first public exhibitions in his homeland was during the 4th National Industrial Exhibition in Kyoto. The painting, “Morning Toilette“, was a life-sized nude of a woman standing before a mirror. And though he was awarded a prize for his work, the public decried the painting as an affront to the social and cultural ways of Japan. (Note: Finding image of this painting proved to be very difficult, according the Japanese website for the Kuroda Memorial Hall, “Morning Toilette” was destroyed during World War II.)

"Morning Toilette" - Kuroda Seiki (1893)

By far my favorite Kuroda nude (which is actually 3 nudes) is the namesake of this post “Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment.” The triptych, like “Morning toilette”, featured near life-sized depictions of a nude model.

"Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment" - Kuroda Seiki (1897)

This small picture does not do the work justice. Each panel represents a different emotion and should be examined in detail. On the left is Wisdom, a figure that exudes a vulnerability – as the subject fixes her hair in a downturn gaze. Centered between two demure figures stands Impression, which presents the model in a strikingly honest study, facing the viewer with her arms extended upward. Impression forces the viewer to confront the unapologetic and very-un-Japanese depiction of a woman. The last panel, Sentiment, is subtle like the first panel. The subject appears in a seemingly unstaged contemplative state, and the detail on her face illustrates the subtext of repression of Japanese women during the Meiji era.

It is important to understand the Meiji era was a time of continued subjugation of Japanese women  in the form of strict civil codes that barred any political or social involvement publicly, and further marginalized and prevented involvement in voting, land owning and marriage. Through the lens of this era, “Wisdom, Impression and Sentiment” speaks volumes.

For more about Kuroda Seiki and his life visit Kuroda Memorial Hall Website.

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Scott Goodwillie here…
Like a sampler box of fine chocolates, “realism invitationals” – which are offered up by a number of galleries around the nation each year – provide a window onto the representational art scene and a preview of what some of the finest artists are doing. The current exhibit at the Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe is a stunning offering of some known names and some not so well known. Klaudia has one of the keenest eyes in the field, and has been putting together her annual Realism Invitational since the mid 90’s. Over that time, she has garnered herself a highly respected reputation among galleries and artists alike.

Among over 40 artists on view are several standouts portraying unique takes on the nude. Steven Kenny’s work has a magic realist underpinning with crisp, detailed rendering and a symbolic relationship with the natural world. His paintings work well compositionally as well as graphically and the colors are richly saturated. Emilia Faroâ’s watercolors remind me of a somewhat kinder, but still quirky Egon Schiele-like. And Kaelen Green presents a nicely rendered graphite drawing morphing human and animal.

Most awe inspiring however are the large scale oils from Brooklyn based artist, Margaret Bowland. Like a visceral hit to the solar plexus, her imagery provides the “wow” factor in the show.

Margaret Bowland: Olympia #7, 2007

Even though she is an instructor at the New York Academy of Art, I hadn’t heard of her until this exhibit and I encourage you to visit the artist’s website for some of the strongest artwork I’ve seen in some time, as well as her description of the models and her general philosophy regarding subject matter.

The exhibit is on view at the Klaudia Marr Gallery
from October 17th – November 30th
668 Canyon Road
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone: 505-988-2100

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Host Jeffrey Wiener is joined by Scott Goodwillie in the final of four poses in our Sketch Sessions with our lovely Asian model Amy.

This session has our model standing squarely with her hands on her hips, to create interesting shadows down the length of her body. Note the wonderful way the shadow from her hand is cast on her buttocks. Our model also has a beautiful, strong back, and the definition of her muscles is noteworthy.

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Last week, The Great Nude.TV headed down to SoHo to visit The Painting Center to check out the group exhibition of David Carbone, Nancy Grimes, and Patrick Webb. All artists that have dedicated themselves to the 20th Century American traditions of personal symbolism and magical realism.

Don’t miss the show at The Painting Center until October 25th, 2008.

You can also check this video out on youtube.

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John Ashcroft spent $8000. of taxpayer's money to drape Lady Justices' Breasts

OPINION:

As an artist who often depicts the nude and celebrates the figurative arts, I’m concerned that the Republican VP choice of Sarah Palin represents a renewed and significant effort by religious conservatives to repress the broader culture, yet again.

Do we want to see the clocks turned back to a time in this country when we were all drawn into a cultural battle over these issues through the Supreme Court? If they manage to get Roe v. Wade overturned, we should ALL be concerned, least of all for the sake of a women’s right to control their own bodies.

Think about what else is in store for America should the religious right once again get their hands on the steering wheel. The arts will be attacked along with Hollywood and the “elites” that Palin vilifies in her speeches. We’ll see an effort to punish the arts and a return to a more repressive cultural atmosphere. Sarah Palin has already shown a political desire to control libraries and attack personal enemies.

Sarah Palin is dangerous for our country. She may be a “Hot Mamma” in eyes of the Repuplicans, but she represents a cultural wolf with this “Puss-in-Boots” act she’s playing across the heartland to the “Joe Six-Packs” with their Wife-Beater mentality and the “Hockey Mom’s” who stand by their men, even if they forfeit their rights as Americans.

Sarah Palin is an appeal to a dysfunctional past that most people have rejected – and healed from. Women across this country should be banding together as a political group to assert their status as Americans once and for all. Artists have always supported progressive rights, and that includes women’s suffrage and their right to control their own bodies.

Watch where the figurative arts go and you’ll see the Canary in the Coal Mine. The health of the figurative arts community is a reflection of the health of a Democracy. Study western history and you’ll see this borne out time and again. We’ll be there on the battlegrounds beside you should it come to that, but frankly I think we’d all prefer to live in a culture that respects the contributions of art and offers the Figurative Arts a place of honor.

Jeffrey Wiener, Director
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Merrel here:

This month we here at the studio are working to put out some new video content – new models and poses are coming soon! In the meantime, last month I tracked down fellow artist/photographer and friend Sid Ceaser to talk about some of his recent work and his appreciation for the human form.

Merrel Davis: Sid, we formally met at the Affordable Art Fair NYC in 2003. You were represented by a Gallery in New Hampshire, and your primary work was part of a series of Photographs of life-like PVC figurines. It was striking to see how life-like the bodies of these figurines, which you can buy in Japanese specialty shops, appeared in your photos.

At the time you were struggling to establish yourself, since then you’ve opened your own studio and I’ve seen your work mature. What are you working on these days?

Sid Ceaser: I’ve been doing more commercial and traditional/creative portraiture work since 2003. My “Portraits” series, which was a series of large format prints featuring portraits of anime toys, more or less came to and end in 2006 after I built up enough images to have a body of work. After spending so much time on the toys, I decided it was time to focus more on actual living subjects and finding ways to pay the rent. I’ve found that more commercial photography can help bring in revenue and help me on a wider scale by trying to get my name out locally.

MD: Your ongoing work Plastic Erotica is such a refreshing project. I love the way you use blur and diffusion to soften edges, and create such warm images of the body. It creates a level of realism that some photography with live models lack. Can you talk a little bit about your creation process, and what compelled you to depict nudity in a a non-traditional and rather unique way?

SC: My original “Portraits” series started because at the time the series started, I had a very hard time approaching people to ask them to be my subjects for photographs.

Because I was one of those bashful comic book/sci-fi/video game nerds growing up, [Merrel Note: I was too. Embrace your geeky heritage!] I turned to something that I found important to myself, which were toys. In my portraits series, I photographed these toys like they were people, and then presented them almost as large as life, if not bigger.

The Plastic Erotica series has been continuing on that same direction, but this time its me dealing with sex, the sexual ideal, and objectification of women. Growing up as I did, I was reading comics with buxom women in bathing suits saving planets, or playing video games with buxom women in bathing suits fighting for their lives, and those many years have burned a certain impression on me that I’m trying to deal with and work through. It also is about showing a tender side of the female form through use of light and texture. Its a little titillating and soft at the same time, and the ultimate goal is to show how blatant the objectification is and how absurd these toys are to even exist.

Process wise, these images are all created in my studio using controlled studio lighting. Some of these images are heavily post-processed to achieve the almost washed-out, vintage look.

MD: We here at The Great Nude are seeing a groundswell of artists moving back to more traditional and representational depictions of the nude body. How important do you feel the human form is in your work as a photographer?

SC: I do believe that the human body is the greatest machine ever. Everything is so different from person to person; skin color, texture, shape, etc. that the possibilities are forever and endless. I feel works that showcase nudes are sometimes more about the artist themselves trying to figure things out than they are about the subject. But there are just as many artists that love to simply show how light and shadows work with skin and body to create lines and shapes. That’s what makes the body such a great canvas; it is constantly changing and reacting differently to light and shadow. You can create fluid motion, or absolute stillness through the body.

You can check out Sid Ceaser’s work at:
Sid Ceaser Fine Art
Plastic Camera Studio
Sid’s Flickr PhotoStream

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Jeffrey Wiener here:

Last weekend, I had the chance to spend the weekend in Monticello, upstate New York, where my girlfriend’s family has a lovely cottage. I enjoyed the brisk fall weather, and watching the changing leaves fall. It was good to take a break from the grind of the studio back in NYC.

My girlfriend is a potter, among other things, and I had the chance to work with a large hunk of clay. While I had thrown a few pots as a kid – on my own Italian grandmother’s wheel – I’ve never seriously sculpted before, and was eager to challenge myself.

I worked with a large, silky hunk of China quality clay. Not knowing how to begin, I simply imagined a woman’s truncated torso inside, and began to try to shape the clay into this woman’s figure that I held in my mind.

The first thing I discovered was how naturally I took to the process. Freed from a disciplined approach, I was able to simply push and pull the clay as instinct dictated. Once I got a handle on the physical qualities of this new medium, I was able to focus on physically creating the image I had in my head. This was exhilarating, and I felt energized by the process. It’s the most tactile experience I could think of apart from the experience of touching another person. Certainly more tactile than drawing onto a piece of paper with a small wooden stick filled with lead.

As the clay began to take the shape of the woman, I was drawn deeper into the dynamic process flowing through my hands. I realized that I was channeling a personality that I was creating (I was working without a model) and that this was becoming a strangely intimate experience. Working with my hands, I felt much more connected to the body I was creating. Perhaps the ability to continually manipulate the clay, to reshape the figure until satisfied, to rotate the human form at will, gave me a tactile memory of the subject, much as lovers know each other physically. In any case, I was in better control the creative process and I could easily see a clear path to a tangible end.

I’ve left the figure in a rough form on it’s surface. I used my fingers to shape the textures and you can still see my fingerprints. When this dries, I’m planning to sand this down to a smooth finish. This clay dries to a bone white color, and I’m hoping to get a marble texture to the finished statue.

What do you think?

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My First Sculpture: Female Torso

Merrel here:

After Scott’s post about Sharon Sprung’s show at Gallery Henoch, I made sometime last week to head down to Chelsea and see what all the hub-bub was about. Admittedly, I was not familiar with Sprung’s body of work, so I had no expectation aside from what Scott already said.

I found an impressive showing of emotionally charged paintings each with running motifs from piece to piece.  Sprung’s paintings manage to be sharply expressive while obscuring the face of the subject.  What I found most intriguing to me was how the various physical positions illustrated the emotional temperature of the piece.

“P in Red” for example, has light touches of redness and rawness on the knuckles of the girl. She is seated in a fetal-like position, with her hair and knee obscuring much of her expression. Through the visual cues the viewer is able to come to their own conclusions about emotional state of the subject.

Sharon Sprung - "P in Red"

Indeed, with many of Sharon Sprung’s works I found myself creating fully fleshed stories for the women depicted. “M by the Bed” instantly filled my head with a scenario of a failed dinner party and its aftermath. Perhaps after a long night of pleasantries and fake smiling, the truth came out over a couple of glasses of wine. The whole evening unraveled, and now exhausted “M” simply wants to lay her head down and forget the craziness of the night. In her haste to strip down after the evening, she has left her pearl earings on.

Sharon Sprung - "M by the bed"

Ultimately, I think the mystery and “open-book” quality to the paintings is what made me enjoy her work so much. The showing continues this week until Saturday October 4th 2008 at Gallery Henoch.

Sprung’s work has been featured on the cover of The Artist’s Magazine and she appears in an ArtistsNetwork Workshop “Understanding Values in Skin Tones”

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