Exploring the artistic nude in the news and in the studio.

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What is it about a nude that’s offensive?


At my local shopping center there is a massage place. The poster in the window has a nude woman’s back and the prices extending down her spine. It’s a cute concept until you get to the lower region.

This woman has buttocks, but no dividing line.

You can see where the heal tool was used, and you know that even with some shapes there is no way that this woman was born without a buttcrack.

In Japan, anime with nude breasts can be shown on any channel at anytime- providing the nipples are removed.

In many countries the tiniest bikini (an inch covering the butt and nipples) is enough to satisfy propriety while nudity or g-strings aren’t.

The details, it seems, must be covered or removed.

This makes me wonder. Is it the breast that’s “offensive” or is it the nipple? Are buttocks a problem or just the crack? Why are they offensive? Is it because the are the functional part of that zone? Or because they are the defining characteristics of those dodgy areas? If nipples are the offender then why are men’s acceptable?

Consider this an open forum, I want to hear your thoughts on these questions!

January 27, 2012 | Categories: Nudes, Random | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Render in progress

20120116-150937.jpg

Well, that was a nice break! I’ve had a chance to relax and a chance to be sick as well. Yay. but now it’s time to get back to work. This year I want to try writing shorter posts and see how that goes. The plan is to actually publish more. We shall see!

A lot of my Daz time of late has been more technical in nature, a lot of tweaking and experimentation. I have some new toys that I have been practicing with! This is the result of some experimentation and I love the eerie light quality! I still want to tweak the head a little, but it’s coming along really well, I look forward to painting it up.

January 16, 2012 | Categories: Creating Art, Daz3D, Nudes | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Resolutions and opportunities

Peace - watercolor and pencils on paper

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to new years resolutions, why we create them and what they do to us. Last year I had several blog posts worth. Did I achieve them all? No, sometimes because the scope was too huge, and sometimes because as the year went on they lost relevance or new things came up that changed the game.

This year I am trying a completely different tack. I am shunning my old standby the list and going with a single new years resolution:

Identify opportunities and seize them

Last year I started to see how powerful this could be. I took a massive step forward in my career mindset just by being open to new opportunities. I liked it so much I want to dedicate my year to this single premise. And the best thing is that this doesn’t just refer to work, everything is an opportunity waiting to be seized.

  • inspiration is an opportunity, create something wonderful from it
  • sunlight is an opportunity, go for a walk or play outside to clear your head!
  • watching Erica is an opportunity to see the world differently
  • working at home is an opportunity to spend time with family and get a balance
  • exhibition opportunities are everywhere
  • social media is an opportunity, with it I can reach out to galleries, collectors and friends half a world or two blocks away.
  • this blog is an opportunity, with it I share my thoughts and feelings and art
  • the new year is an opportunity, use it to inspire a better tomorrow!

    • What opportunities will you seize in 2012?

    January 4, 2012 | Categories: Rambles, Random, Reflections | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »

    2011 in review

    Piping - 30x20 Oils on Canvas2011 was a massive mix of highs and lows for me. I don’t want to dwell on the lows, 2012 is about moving forward and building on my successes of the past year. I hope, wherever you are, that you will take a moment to farewell the bad points of 2011 and happily remember the good. I hope no matter what 2011 was like for you, 2012 will be better! I am proud of the accomplishments I made this year, and the people I met. The milestones I saw others reach and the achievements of everyone around me. This is a list of the things I am proudest about from 2011.

    • I painted and painted and painted some more, my skills were increased and I know that I made some of my best work this year.
    • my studio is a sanctuary. It is incomplete, but it’s going well and is a constant source of joy.
    • I participated in lots of exhibitions. I unleashed my inner geek.
    • I saw opportunities and I found shows in unlikely locations.
    • two students interviewed me for their assignments on artists and inspirational art
    • I did a public interview with Phantomimic
    • I was invited to speak on a panel in Sydney and overcame my fear of public speaking to speak about a subject very close to my heart. I am intensely proud of this
    • I saw Bill Henson speak twice, I asked him a question in front of thousands of people and cameras
    • I filled my life with art and watched how that influenced my toddler to start creating.
    • I made contacts with some really lovely people.
    • I became more confident in talking to others and marketing face to face
    • I made good sales even in this economy. Not as good as some years but still enough to be proud of.
    • my affiliate marketing started paying real dividends, rather than just supporting my online costs. it provided a steady stream of income to supplement my art income.
    • I watched a wonderful artist recover and survive a terrible beating with the health stick and come back fighting and ready to take his art career to the next level.
    • I learned to ask for what I want, and make more of every opportunity
    • I was one of 32 artists selected to be a finalist in the Art Revolution Taipei international art competition. Over 2500 artists entered!
    • I got a new imac, it’s awesome. it picked up my rendering times no end.
    • I started physics based rendering, I’m still really new at it.
    • I watched Erica start to walk, and talk more, watched her love of books and drawing grow and watched her develop in so many ways. I’m very lucky to work from home so I can still share in these special moments!
    • I overcame my fear of cameras a bit and started posing again. I intend to conquer my fear more and get some new profile pictures soon!
    • I completed my 505050 project, despite paper shortages and uploading problems. Not all the works are up yet but I completed them in time. this is a pretty big effort!
    • I redid my website, new back end, new design and all new traffic! it looks pretty sweet. I have more to do but I’m very happy with how it is going.
    • People told me I was their hero. You can’t get cooler than that!

    January 1, 2012 | Categories: art, Jennie Rosenbaum, Rambles | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

    Friday Nude Quotes

    God and I were nude.

    Link

    December 16, 2011 | Categories: Rambles | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

    7 things my toddler has taught me about art

    discovery. One of Erica's favorite paintingsOne of the joys of being a parent is watching your child grow and discover new things. This often means you get the delight of rediscovering the simple pleasures in life. Erica is an arty little toddler, she has taken to drawing and painting like a duck to water. Ever since her eyes developed she has loved looking at art, tilting her head to the side to consider works for quite a long time. She loves going all over the house looking at my paintings and I really value her opinion! When a new one is introduced she tells me all about it. One of her first words was “draw” and we hear it many times a day. She draws with a ferocity and concentration. She grips the crayon or pencil and goes for her life! Here are some of the tips I have picked up on art appreciation from my curios toddler.

  • Contrast! Contrast grabs your attention, it keeps drawing your eye and bring you back to it again and again
  • Judicious use of bright color is an eye grabber. It doesn’t have to match the couch.
  • Lines that draw you around the painting are best, especially of they suggest movement or lead you somewhere. This place doesn’t have to be real.
  • Art should be bold. It shouldn’t whisper, it shouldn’t lie quietly in a corner. It should have passion. And while making it you should have passion too.
  • Don’t be afraid to experiment, play with colors and marks and just go for it! Beauty comes in the most surprising color combinations.
  • Create something or appreciate the beauty in something every day.
  • Art belongs on the walls. Everywhere. Canvas or paper is optional.

    • December 14, 2011 | Categories: art, Creating Art, Rambles | Tags: , , , , , | 5 Comments »

    Friday Nude Quotes

    The difference of a painting in the nude becoming lewd
    Is in the shadows

    Arthur Tugman

    December 9, 2011 | Categories: Rambles | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

    Friday Nude Quotes

    Scott only asked me to do the movie because he couldn’t get anyone else. He asked everyone ? Mel Brooks, Marty Landau, Carl Reiner. They were all afraid of the nude scene.

    Garry Marshall

    December 2, 2011 | Categories: Rambles | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

    Friday Nude Quotes

    Even in Orange County, reference to nude figure drawing is not exactly stimulating in a sexual manner.

    Jonathan Lovett

    November 25, 2011 | Categories: Rambles | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments »

    Seven – 8×8 Oils on Canvas

    Seven of nine - 8x8 Oils on Canvas

    Seven 8×8 Oils on Canvas
    $150

    Currently at ArtBoy Gallery

    I love the Borg. I think they are one of the best enemies introduced by Star Trek. they are so..human. they appropriate from everywhere to add to their perfection. they take our distinctiveness and add it to their own. they augment and corrupt rather than create, but everything they do serves to create more drones operating on the hive mind. The borg are captives, taken and converted. their memories shared amongst every other borg and their identity lost. their original species is lost. all that remains is the drone.

    In Voyager they introduced Seven of Nine and converted her back. it was a long, slow process involving the stripping away of her borg components and extricating her from the hive mind. in doing so, they turned her from one of the most interesting borg, a princess in training to be a queen, a real tough bitch, into a robotic pin-up. there is fan art everywhere for Seven of Nine. she became a fanboi fantasy and one of the sexiest characters to come out of Star Trek. Everyone paints her as she is better known, corsetted with the small, cute, borg accessories. I wanted to show the original Seven of Nine. I painted her at the cusp of becoming human, as she works with Voyager. I wanted to remove the sexiness and show the indecision, the corruption, the raw human underneath.  I think many fan art pictures of her focus on the sexy and in showing her as a human remove her personality. I wished to show her as a borg and show her humanity in that.

    Come see this painting and other Sci-Fi themed works this Friday at ArtBoy Gallery! FanBoy vs ArtBoy: Science Fiction Opens Friday night 6-8 and runs through to the 4th of December. I will be at the opening and I’d love to see you there!

    November 21, 2011 | Categories: art, Creating Art, Exhibitions, Jennie Rosenbaum, Nudes | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

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