Friday, February 12, 2010 marked the opening for Chelsea Gallery, Rogue Space’s show, Valentine’s Nude Workshop. The gallery featured a wide range of mediums with the figure as theme, with some artists from Barebrush.com. During the show, behind a private curtain, live drawing sessions were taking place. Inside the low-lit room were two models, striking a series a three different poses per session. In addition, TGN was able to judge the artists works from after the event.

TGN publisher Jeffrey Wiener talking with some Barebrush artists.

The following day TheGreatNude.tv publisher, Jeffrey Wiener gave a speech at the gallery on empowering artists through technology, digital marketing and social media. Make sure to check out the TGN site for more info on upcoming events, including our Great Nude Invitationals, and to see are our four favorite artist’s sketches posted online from the event.

http://www.thegreatnude.tv/rogue-space/

TGN publisher Jeffrey Wiener judging works from the contest.

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TheGreatNude Invitational - May 13 - 16, The Roger Smith Hotel

Due to the great amount of interest in TheGreatNude Invitational, we have rescheduled the event at The Roger Smith Hotel for May 13 - 16, 2010 - allowing for the participation of some great artists and galleries, and making this event truly exciting for the Figurative Arts community. Check the site for new information and regular updates at www.thegreatnude.tv/invitational

Artists Odd Nerdrum, Richard T. Scott, Scott Goodwillie and Adam Miller have joined the exhibition, along with a number of galleries representing some of the world’s most well-known figurative artists, including Forum Gallery.

In addition, we are pleased to announce that Peter Trippi, editor of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine and renowned art critic Donald Kuspit, have joined our Host Committee. Click to Read More>

Galleries, Curators, Artists Groups & Art Schools who wish to exhibit at the Invitational will be happy to know about several new developments. Early payment Discounts available. Click to Read More>

Sincerely,
Jeffery Wiener
Publisher, TheGreatNude.tv

Here’s an appropriate use of the figure in advertising! The FX show Nip Tuck advertising campaigns have consistently used the figure in classic poses, but with  one that captures the reality of one of the United State’s largest businesses; plastic surgery. The billion dollar industry operates under the promise of allowing men and women the opportunity to aesthetically reverse time. The shows advertisements give us glimpses into that mentality, showing it from a first person view, but critiquing the industry in the process. The images used in the show’s advertisements build around the social commentary of plastic surgery but stand as commercialized uses of the figure, as well as being reflective of timeless posing.

Caption holder

In one advertisement the figure dramatically contours her body accentuating the thinness of her waist. Her weight is supported primarily on the operating table as she balances herself on the thighs of her doctors. Another shows an angelic figure, fallen in the desert, her wings cut from her body, suggesting the once angels desire to sacrifice her gift of wings in exchange for proximity to achieving the ultimate standard in human beauty. The third image was taken by David LaChapelle, an artist once found in the pages of Vogue, now producing pieces that could be considered commercially inspired. In this photo we see a the surgeons reproducing Venus de Milo on a live human form. The live model wears swimwear with wavy blond hair and over-sized sunglasses, looking as if removed from a Florida beach. The superficial elements of the subject as an individual are hinted on, but not overtly emphasized.

An angel having just removed her wings through plastic surgery in an effort to achieve the human standard of beauty

Taken by David LaChapelle this photo shows a woman trying to emulate the Venus de Milo in an effort to achieve a greater degree of beauty.

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Other modern users of the nude form are harder to distinguish in terms of what their objectives are. One such advertiser is The United Colors of Benetton who frequently challenges our conceptions of race and social boundaries. More often than not Benetton seems to generate critiques that their advertising is more shock value but the idea that Benetton might be  conveying a social commentary coded in metaphor above our comprehension levels remains.  One of their ads features a Caucasian newborn ready to be nursed by am African American woman, her head out of view. Another features a wall of multiple portraits of men and women’s genitals; imagery that would be more likely to be seen in a gallery than with a commercial advertier. One thing is clear through viewing Benetton’s advertising; that there is a purpose for its symbolic value, even if that reason is strictly to generate sales.

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When most people are asked to describe an artistic genius, Picasso is often cited as an example. In addition to his undeniable creative talents and the large body of excellent work produced in his lifetime, his whole career appears to have been a successful strategy of exploration and risk-taking at just the right moment in history.

Picasso moved through many periods during his career; some of them depending heavily on the use of the figure, and others where the human form is broken down into nearly unrecognizable shapes. The widely varying phases of Picasso, if positioned anonymously next to each other, could easily be seen as the works of completely different artists; not only aesthetically, but in tone and subject matter as well. His life’s work reflects the desire to understand the essence of humanity and to relay it back to us.

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Blue Nude. Oil on canvas, 1902

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Oil on canvas, 1907

Crouching Nude. Oil on canvas, 1954

Forum Gallery is a favorite gallery to visit in mid-town for lovers of the figure, and it’s current exhibit does not disappoint. The Platonic Ideal, running October 1st to November 28th, includes almost thirty painters, sculptors and artists, with many pieces offering contemplations on humanity through the figure. The works fall into three main categories, paintings, sculpture and on paper works.

Of the paintings in this exhibit, several artists working directly with the figure are well represented. Reflection by William Bailey welcomes the viewer into the gallery. A female figure gazes at us, toying with her hair, her figure framed by the balance in the lines of the room surrounding her. Nearby, Prelude by Alan Feltus is similarly infused by lines, yet the tense figure in this painting is an echo of the surrounding chaos of objects surrounding this figure. Suite for Piano by Carlo Maria Mariani is a musical number - so to speak - the floating woman in this painting radiating a creative energy and physical motion.

William Bailey, Reflection. Oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in.

Alan Feltus, Prelude, 2008. Oil on canvas (47 1/4 x 39 1/4in)

Carlos Maria Mariani, Suite for Piano, 2008. Oil on canvas (50 x 31in)

Of the sculptures shown in The Platonic Ideal we saw a nice selection of early 20th century figurative sculpture. Torso by Alexander Archipenko is a wonder of simplicity, the smooth flowing lines of the the form moving into each other. Other works in this show were Female Head by Elie Nadelman and the monumental Centurione Petrificato by Igor Mitoraj, a large antiquated head, of seemingly Roman origins, and clearly heroic. Hugo Robus‘ The General, Dawn, and Elie Nadelman with Woman Dressing Another Woman’s Hair, make complete use of the figure, depicting scenes and emotions that show the expressive nature of figurative arts.

Alexander Archipenko, Torso, 1948. Terracotta (24 inches high)

Igor Mitoraj, Centurione Petrificato, 2008. Bronze (44 x 24 1/2 x 18 1/4 in)

Hugo Robus, The General, 1922. Polished bronze (19 x 19 1/2 x 7 3/8 in)

Edie Nadelman once again gains our attention with her ink sketch Untitled, showing a rough depiction of the form in motion. Philip Evergood’s At Nebuchandnezzar’s Court, a mixed media painting showing multiple figures strolling about, is a light-hearted tangent to the show’s other, more seriously contemplative works.

Philip Evergood, At Nebuchadnezzar's Court, 1927 Watercolor over pencil on paper.

Elie Nadelman, Untitled, 1912. Pen and black ink on paper (17 1/2 x 12 1/2 in)

Forum Gallery is located at
745 5th Ave # 503, New York, NY 10151

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In our series The Figure in Advertising, we pay attention to those who are currently using the figure in new and interesting ways. With so many interesting uses of the figure occurring in advertising today TGN felt it necessary to take a look at uses of the figure in the recent past.

One of the first to come to mind is Dove in their Real Beauty Campaign. A direct attack on the distorted perceptions of beauty in advertising, Dove’s approach was to use the realism of everyday people to create art over advertising. They photographed and advertised numerous women fully nude, showing what they believed ‘real’ women to look like.  Dove also launched a video, showing the process of remodeling that a person goes through on a photo-shoot. They then created a billboard for foundation makeup ‘Fasel,’ being an anagram for ‘False.’ The end product helped to show how the divinity of the human form stretches further than what we see on magazine pages.

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Dove's signature ad from their first "Real Beauty" campaign

One of Dove's groundbreaking choices of model

One of the most memorable uses of the figure in advertising is by the organization People for the Ethical Treatent of Animals (PETA) with its “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign. Still continued today, PETA recruited prominent social figures such as Christy Turlington and Alicia Silverstone to pose nude under a banner of the campaign slogan.  The dramatic reality of the human form in its most basic state created strong opposition to fur and caught national attention. In this ad, Christy Turlington, who is often photographed in the nude in fashion magazines, uses her body to advance an ethical cause against the use of animal fur, her preference for “naked” over wearing fur in the quotation above her warmly lit torso. Over a twenty year period “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” was able to help reduce the number of fur manufacturer numbers in the US to under 250, about a quarter of their former numbers.

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Christy Turlington's classic pose both honors the figure and raises awareness for PETA

Best known for work that nearly defined the “Pin-up”, Alberto Vargas is recognized for depicting and perfecting the image of female sexuality in the first half of the 20th century. Having worked with Esquire and more famously Playboy magazines, some would be quick to write Vargas off as a soft pornographer, and he’s never expressed any shame in that. However, from the perspective of TheGreatNude, Vargas was an artist dedicated to the figure, and produced a body of work that embodied the meaning of female sexuality and in effect became standards of feminine desire for a generation of American men.

In the early 1920’s, Vargas solidified his career as a successful artist working with the Ziegfeld Follies, and later working as a regular illustrator for Esquire magazine, where he created the infamous “Varga Girl”, a stylistic. While restricted in his ability to paint fully nude figures for these publications, Vargas was able to convey a comparable essence, stylistically depicting his women as playful, coy, and full of energy, further solidifying and advancing the concept of the Pin-Up as an icon of sexual freedom.

In the 1950’s Playboy was the master of men’s literature, delivering well researched articles simultaneously with artistic and sexual content. For decades, Vargas’ art works had a premier spot following the magazine’s premier feature: The Centerfold. It was this venue that gave Vargas the freedom to paint his strongest nudes at the peak of his career, and he produced many of his most iconographic works during this time.

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Vargas' iconic image of Diana, shown below with Esquire's clothed and edited rendition

Legacy Nude 4, Exuberance

Legacy Nude 5, Red Fire

The Bernarducci Meisel Gallery is one of New York’s premier galleries for representational approaches to the figure. They’re always a great gallery to pop into any time of the year. Its been four years since we’ve seen a large exhibition of Bernardo Torrens paintings at this gallery, but on October 1st, New Paintings opens and will remain on exhibit until October 31st, featuring works created by Torrens between 2002-2009.

A master of realist technique with a tendency towards a monochrome palate, Torrens focuses crisply on the surface of his subjects, their anatomical details rendered in an absolutely convincing fashion. Some of his works are introspective compositions, portraits of people we feel we may know, others are more compositional, the model’s pose as the topic. In all of Torrens’ paintings, the technical mastery of the works themselves is an enjoyable thing to witness. Check out Bernardo Torrens this October when you’re passing through Midtown, NYC!

The Bernarducci Meisel Gallery is located at 37 West 57th St, New York, NY.

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"Laura I" 2009 acrylic on wood 25.5 x 20"

"Laura II" 2009 acrylic on wood 25.5 x 51.2"

"Katey I" 2009 acrylic on wood 19.75 x 18.125"