"exploitation" of nudes within art

I'm becoming a bit more opinionated than usual in my discussions with colleagues about the value of nudes in art ...not so much the nudity versus porn bandwagon that so many social networks seem to be hoping on (and something I am just straight out bored with) ...no I mean real art. I haven't been exhibiting my nudes ...mainly because they are a more personal part of my art journey (ok posting them in here means they are not so private anymore) So my opinion may not count for much, BUT I'll give it anyway. In very general terms the nudes in contemporary art look a bit old hat or mass produced and trite, a few are there to shock but the rest just sit their blandly, not grabbing your attention. Cleo hidden away in Young and Jacksons still celebrates life & femininity. A lot of art in the private calleries doesn't. I blame political correctness, timid artist are becoming scared to slather on the sensuality, lusciousness of paint and arousing colour. All the same I have been savaged by more than one feminist friend, coincidentally all with the same argument saying that porn has over exploited nudity and everyone is bore with it. Come on...

Perhaps I'm getting old but surely painters are allowed to be sensual and erotic in their painting of nudes. May they do with colour,with feeling, with a wink in their eye. I know of two great female artist (both shown here) that have a wonderfully refreshing perspective on the modern view of commercialized nudity . The first is Sophi (aka Carolyn Weltman, an example of her work is on the left) who's art for engineers I have mention before and the second Hazel Dooney (an example of her work is shown above) who's self.vs.self blog is a way better read than this blog you are reading now. May there be many more. Perhaps I need to start exhibiting my work.

Que le meilleur artiste toujours peindre le nu feminin.

mood in pastel

I had my rant about strong colour in pastels in the last blog post ...so now I'm using them in a more muted colour schemes ...not to disprove my own rules, just to show that pastel is a lovely way to capture mood and feeling

red satin dreaming in pastel

red satin dreaming pastel
Originally uploaded by sigh clone

The power in pastel for me is in its rich colours, not the smudged out weak colours that fashion industry know as pastels. Soft artists pastels are almost pure pigments (ok there are binders and fillers in them) so I like try and use that power, just enough smudging to get the tonal gradations but I reckon the media leads itself to powerful full on strokes or contrasting colours. I had a lot of fun sketching these red satin sheets against delicate skin tones

hand .vs. computer

I'm still playing around with computer generated painting via Corel Painter Essentials. I do really like the programs BUT I don't really like the tracing paper it kind of stiffles my action ...maybe I need a bigger tablet? I don't really want to draw lines anyway ...they become so restrictive. SO what about the eye dropper and "taking" my colours from the photo (under the tracing paper) ..its also a very nice feature BUT I tend to get very bland washed-out colours ...not the colours I would choose by eye ...maybe I am being a little harsh. Here are two portraits of the same saintly friend from flickr. I trust you can recognize my hand drawn effort.

two minute torsos ...some more

Whilst pastel doesn't lend itself to ultra fast sketches (the tones need to be worked and blending reworked before the pastel looks rich!) I still like the two minute torso exercises as a way to lead into a fuller exploration of gesture & posture & composition & ... the list goes on and on ....what is working well for me at the moment is to do this quick torso sketch in watercolour ...then begining of the pastel ...I have even rubbed pastel over a watercolour ...life is to short not to exploit and enjoy it ...even when painting

framed

Checking around the photo "hosting" sites, like twitpic, yfrogger, img.ly ...etc and reading all the "fine print" in the terms of use ...it is pretty obvious that many sites now consider nudity offensive and not to be posted! ...some still say pornographic, but most now just use the words nudity or nude!


BUT that is not the real shock ...the real issues is in the "fine print" that might try to suggest that the owner is responsible for the content and it must be his own (ie they is the copyright holder)


...BUT and it is very legally worded when you post anything you are given them (and anyone they want to share it with the right to use your image "royalty free"

Art ...orginal art ...is not welcome ...I'm getting the message