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

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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Jim Kempner Fine Art sits prominently on the Northwest corner of 23rd st and 10th Ave. The gallery is known for its representation of talented and successful artists; a literal and figurative corner-stone for the Chelsea art scene. So it was a great surprise to see a large nude figure stretching herself in their expansive window overlooking 23rd street. Even better was that it was one of Carole Feuerman’s latest works.

My first encounter with Feuerman’s nudes was decades ago, as a young boy in Miami. On one of my father’s art safaris to the local galleries on South Beach, he brought me by the shirt sleeve, up close to one of her startlingly realistic sculptures. The quality of realism in her works is still a remarkable thing to encounter as an adult. On many occasions since then, I’ve seen crowds of people in public gathered around her works, taking pictures. Its easy to see how one can get lost in contemplating the possibility that a human hand created the sculptures you see before you.

In her current exhibit: Carole Feuerman: Swimmers, Bathers, Nudes, we encounter her powerful works in new scales, smaller than life and quite larger than life figurative works that still defy belief. Even when unbelievably off-scale, these sculptures are still startlingly believable in their appearance. Feuerman’s choice of scales also forces the viewer to see the human body’s various surface details in blushingly close proximity. To the student of anatomy, this is an opportunity to observe human beauty in great detail.

What I most admire about Feuerman as an artist is her dedication to figurative works over the course of her long career. Aside from achieving a technical mastery of her medium and world-wide acclaim, she is still dedicated to depicting beauty in its most honest, straight-forward fashion.

I’m thrilled that her work is on exhibit in New York; this is a must see, and open until October, 31.

Jim Kempner Fine Art
is located at 501 West 23rd Street

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Monumental Shower. Sculpture, oil and resin. 59 x 48 x 29in.

Tree. Sculpture, oil and resin. 57 x w 35 x 40in.

The Survival of Serena. Sculpture, oil and resin. 42 x 80 x 38in.

Last week TheGreatNude.tv was able to preview some of mixed-media artist Ronald Ventura’s work at the Tyler Rollins Gallery in Chelsea. A Singapore native and established artist in Southeast Asia; this is Rollins first U.S. exhibition. In his upcoming show Metaphysics of Skin running September 17 - October 31, Ventura plays on the interaction between physicality and imagination, perception and creativity. His works seem to bend the concept of portraiture into something that feels personal and quite alien at the same time. The works are worthy of detailed analysis as they are very well painted and worthy of lengthy study.

The Tyler Rollins Gallery is located at 529 West 20th St, 10W New York, NY

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Echo, 2009 oil on canvas, 48 X 36 in.

Second Skin, 2009 oil on canvas 84 X 60 in.

Rainbow for Nothing, 2009 oil on canvas 48 X 36 in.

Mother's Mark, 2009 oil on canvas 48 X 36 in.

[This is the first Post in our new series on TheGreatNude.tv exploring the use of the Nude Figure in Advertising. Check back for more posts in several days.]

The cover of Time Out New York’s recent Museum Issue featured a modern take on the famous statue, Discobolus of Myron. Also known as The Discus Thrower, the original work has been lost but numerous recreations have been made since the original’s creation in 450 B.C. The earliest known copy now sits in the Natural Museum of Rome. Discobolus revivals have altered in medium (the original was done in bronze), size, and in some cases with variations on musculature and facial features. In all of its incarnations, The Discus Thrower is still one of the most recognizable art works in Western History.

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Discobolus of Myron. Also known as The Discus Thrower

This being the closing week of the summer show NAKED!; the figurative arts show TheGreatNude.tv wanted to take the opportunity to make sure this show was not missed. The Paul Kasmin Gallery, located in Chelsea, is showing a series of figurative works spanning a time period of over four hundred years. Although finding a commonality between the classic and ultra-modern works might seem unlikely, the gallery accomplishes it with a range of fun, serious and inspirational works.

The gallery is located at 239 10th Avenue New York, NY. Hurry to see this show though; it closes September 19th.

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Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson Le Sommeil d'Endymion, oil on canvas 14 7/8'' x 18 1/4''

David Lachapelle, Nature's Naked Loveliness, digital color c-print 97'' x 72''

Duncan Hannah, Crazy Horse Revue Dancer, oil on canvas 18'' x 14''

Mel Ramos, Rita Ritz, oil on linen 39 1/4'' x 28 3/4''

Theodoor van Thulden, Time Revealing Truth, oil on canvas 58 3/4'' x 42 1/2''

Labor Day Weekend
Jeffrey Wiener

It was late in the afternoon on the last day of the Labor Day Weekend, I was perusing the artisan’s booths at the New Paltz Arts and Crafts Fair with my family. It was a nice pause to a hectic weekend, and a reflective moment after such an arduous summer. We have all been working harder. The sun was setting behind the mountains, the fair was winding down, and many of the artists seemed eager to break down their tents and head home.

I was looking for figurative artists, as usual. Sometimes you can find them behind the crafts that they sell. I have an empathy for the talented artists who also have an entrepreneurial spirit in their hearts. Many of them can be found working the arts and crafts festivals throughout the summer, regardless of the economy, all the while producing marvelous bodies of figurative works.

It’s important to look outside the big cities for our inspirations. Here’s a sampling of the Figurative Arts I found up in the Catskill Mountains this weekend. I’ll bring you more of the works of these artists later this month on TheGreatNude.tv, so SUBSCRIBE to receive a notice about it.

Peter Robinson-Smith creates remarkable, 3-dimensional sculptures from metal wire.

Diane Kline's quick charcoal sketches are fluid and energetic.

Helen Hosking's small statues are jewel-like and peaceful.

New York Academy of Art
3rd Annual Summer Exhibition
June 3rd - August 2nd, 2009
Review by Jeffrey Wiener

On a hot summer night, TheGreatNude heads downtown to attend the opening reception for the New York Academy of Art’s 3rd Annual Summer Exhibition 2009. This exhibit features over a dozen “Great Nudes” amongst the 123 works produced by the teachers and students of one of the world’s best art schools.

The show is running now until August 2nd, and is a great place to spot new talent that will likely become well-known artists in the years ahead, so its definitely worth checking out.

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Watermelon Smashers by David Pettibone

Lux by Jane Hamill

Little Inside by Simon Muehlaueusser

An iconic male figure in metal wire

Sometimes when looking through various art publications, I will find something which makes my heart race and I feel as if I have discovered someone new. It’s the aesthetic version of the Wow Factor. Of course in the case of Korean artist Seungmo Park, it’s only a discovery for me, as he has been exhibiting his aluminum wire sculptures for some time now throughout Asia.

There is a lot of spiritual meaning informing Parks work so I’ll try to be brief. Following a personal path through Zen Buddhism, and a fascination with Tibetan mandalas, he seeks out everyday images, generally creations of man, and even humankind itself. These in turn become subject matter which he sculpts and forms into a plastic resin maquette. Upon this armature he then begins the laborious process of coiling thin gleaming aluminum wire. The finished piece has a beauty which catches the light while at the same time resembling a resonating fingerprint. Plenty of metaphors to be had in that!

He likens this technique to creating a mandala in which artistic flow takes over thought in a meditative way. Unlike a mandala, these sculptures thankfully are not wiped away, and are allowed to have a presence of their own which we can appreciate. I say presence of their own because he is very aware of the illusion of the created world much the same way Magritte created the famous little painting of a pipe upon which he wrote “this is not a pipe”. I always took this as a bit of tongue and cheek humor, but Parks dedication to philosophical ideal is quite sincere.

More can be read at the link below, as I mentioned it’s an extensive but thoroughly fascinating look at an experience which had a profound effect on his life and the artwork he produces.

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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