Archive for May, 2008
It’s hard to know what stirs people up, why people are stirred up … the works divide people into supporters or detractors if you like. At that level it tends to leave very few people in the middle I think.
Bill Henson in Why I photograph children
May 30, 2008 | Categories: Nudes, Random | Tags: Bill Henson, Nude, nude quote, Nudes, nudity, quote, Random | Leave A Comment »
I will be showing my paintings again this year in BSG’s Small Works exhibition. I would love to attend but apparently my newfound stair climbing prowess is still not good enough to tackle the enormous schlep on those stairs. I’d love to hear about the exhibition from others and to see photographs if anyone manages to get some!
Brunswick St Gallery
2/322 Brunswick Street,
Fitzroy, Victoria 3065
Exhibition Runs from 6 – 19th June 2007
Opening Night: Friday the 6th 6 – 8pm
Opening Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 12-4pm
May 29, 2008 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: art, art show, Brunswick St Gallery, exhibition, gallery, Nude, Nudes, painting | Leave A Comment »
And just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not art.
the key debate in the Bill Henson controversy is whether these images are pornographic. the case hinges on the phrase “depicted a child under the age of 16 years in a sexual context.” The murky area is the sexual context. as I have previously postulated, anything can be seen in a sexual light. there are some strange, strange people out there, but that I don’t think that these pieces are sexual in any way. This debate seems to have come right down to my favorite topic of nudes and sex.
Pornography is designed to be titillating, arousing, erotic. it is created with an end in mind, and that end is sexual gratification. Nude art is sometimes created for that purpose, but more often than not it is about other things. the nudity can be a symbol for freedom, youth, purity, innocence, fear, starkness, vulnerability, openness, hatred, vilification, aloneness, atonement.. I could go on and on. it is a choice and a powerful artistic subject conveying so much meaning and depth. it is a subject with a glorious history and a perennial favorite of artists everywhere.
There are those out there who are insisting that because it’s a nude, it’s sexual and because it’s sexual, it’s pornographic and therefore illegal. I want to know – why do these people see it as sexual? what is it about these pictures that is titillating? tell me please! am I missing something? because when I look at these pieces I see a nude child looking confused, lost and forlorn.
May 29, 2008 | Categories: Nudes, Rambles | Tags: art, art news, artist, Bill Henson, censorship, controversy, Nude, Nudes, nudity, pedophilia, porn | 8 Comments »
Support for Bill Henson and his art has been pouring in from all sides of the community. an open letter, signed by over 40 arts leaders in Australia – including actress Cate Blanchett, has been published in The Age calling for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to review his statement and the controversy surrounding the works.
The work itself is not pornographic, even though it includes depictions of naked human beings. It is more justly seen in a tradition of the nude in art that stretches back to the ancient Greeks, and which includes painters such as Caravaggio and Michelangelo. Many of Henson’s controversial images are not in fact sexual at all. Others depict the sexuality of young people, but in ways that are fundamentally different from how naked bodies are depicted in pornography. The intention of the art is not to titillate or to gratify perverse sexual desires, but rather to make the viewer consider the fragility, beauty, mystery and inviolabilty of the human body. In contrast, the defining essence of pornography is that it endorses, condones or encourages abusive sexual practice. We respectfully suggest that Henson’s work, even when it is disturbing, does nothing of the sort. I would personally argue that, in its respect for the autonomy of its subjects, the work is a counter-argument to the exploitation and commodification of young people in both commercial media and in pornographic images. Many of us have children of our own. The sexual abuse and exploitation of children fills us all with abhorrence. But it is equally damaging to deny the obvious fact that adolescents are sexual beings. This very denial contributes to abusive behaviour, because it is part of the denial of the personhood of the young. In my opinion, Mr Henson’s work shows the delicacy of the transition from childhood to adulthood, its troubledness and its beauty, in ways which do not violate the essential innocence of his subjects. It can be confronting, but that does not mean that it is pornography. Legal opinion is that if charges were laid against Mr Henson, he would be unlikely to be found guilty. The seizure of the photographs, and the possible prosecution of Mr Henson, the Rosyln Oxley9 Gallery or the parents of Henson’s subjects, takes up valuable police and court time that would be much better spent pursuing those who actually do abuse children.
[From Open letter in support of Bill Henson - National - theage.com.au]
Around the country, while some galleries are cravenly pulling their Henson pieces out of their collections and off the walls other galleries are standing firm and standing up for freedom of artistic expression.
In an act of solidarity with the embattled artist, leading dealer Denis Savill hung a Bill Henson image of two nude young people in the window of his Sydney gallery.
“This will give them something to grizzle about,” Mr Savill said as he hung one of the works from Henson’s 1992-1993 Untitled series.
Mr Savill, like many of his art industry colleagues, was appalled when police last week confiscated photographs by Henson – one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists – and decided to hang the picture beside an Arthur Boyd nude, “to remind people that nudes have inspired artists for centuries”.
[From Defiance as gallery tests boundaries | The Australian]
This travesty of a case is already being likened to Hitler’s book burning and Howard’s Children Overboard scandal. the media seems to be turning itself and has stopped referring to the artworks in question as “”art”" and now seems to be on the side of the besieged artist. Some have been wondering if all this is a desperate bid by the PM to regain right wing votes but it seems very ill conceived to me. International media have been discussing Australia’s history of censorship and restrictions in artistic “freedom” and are referring to Australia as a cultural backwater, a country that handles it’s artistic resources like a tyranny.
May 28, 2008 | Categories: News, Nudes | Tags: art, art news, artist, Bill Henson, cate Blanchett, censorship, controversy, kevin Rudd, Nude, Nudes, nudity, paedophilia, pedophilia | 28 Comments »
It is now the task of art historians, critics and fellow artists to explain Henson’s work and defend his status as one of our finest artists. Their job is almost impossible.
The current debate about the representation of children and adolescents is so charged that anyone who disagrees with claims that pedophilic images are proliferating before our eyes is open to the charge of pedophilia themselves.
Henson’s work is art and, as such, it falls into a different cultural category to the ads for kids’ clothes and the tween magazines that have been the central focus of this debate. But these distinctions are irrelevant to people who believe that visual representations of children and adolescents are the real source of child abuse.
[From Art, not porn - Opinion - theage.com.au]
I have been thinking further about the issue of sexualization of teens in art. I think if the case against Bill Henson were to go through we will start to see extreme limitations in the freedom of expression and artistic freedom. we will also see a harsh and difficult change in the way we handle teenagers and the way they see themselves. This article fascinated me because I think there is a real fear that if you aren’t shocked and offended by Bill Henson’s artworks you are obviously a pedophile. I think that is the reason so many other galleries are following suit. it’s almost gestapo tactics.
I wonder what it says about the person who sees these pieces and immediately thinks they’re sexual. is it automatically because they are nude or is it because they felt a response and assumed others did as well? or is it that all emotional responses to a nude work, especially one of a nude minor, must be either outrage or titillation? I had an emotional response when I saw the first uncensored piece in the age. it was one of almost sadness, a fear for her going through puberty and experiencing so many new things, physically and emotionally. it reminded me of going through puberty myself and the uncertainty of it all – a sense of pride warring with fear.
Viewing this website forcibly reminded me of the dangers of fetishising innocence. School uniforms may well titillate pedophiles and prompt them to commit crimes. But is banning school uniforms the correct response?
If we go down the path of saying that all images of children and young adolescents can only portray them as ideal Brady Bunch kids, then we will spend our lives, as a society, looking for images of corrupted children and teenagers everywhere. Worse, we risk looking at every image through the lens of the pedophile.
[From Art, not porn - Opinion - theage.com.au]
I agree with this, by trying to anticipate what might turn a pedophile on we may be stepping into their shoes and thereby, not only destroying our own view of art, but possibly ruining the experience for others. the reality is that there are sick people in the world. there are people who will get turned on by the images of corpses in CSI, who will get excited by the shoes in a catalogue or even the feet in the Sound of Music (read this article for more on that surprising development). so what can we do? we can stop trying to predict them, stop trying to anticipate what they might find titillating and risk damaging freedom of art and expression, the reputations of renowned artists and focus instead on making sure our children are safe and educated. that they have control over their bodies and their own sexuality. I don’t want to step into a pedophile’s shoes, I don’t want to try to think like they do. and I don’t want to see beautiful artwork degraded just because some strange person might think it’s sexy.
if this goes ahead, what is on the cards next- huggies ads? Anne Geddes? where do we draw the line?
May 27, 2008 | Categories: News, Nudes, Rants | Tags: art, art news, artist, Bill Henson, censorship, controversy, Nude, Nudes, nudity, paedophilia, pedophilia, porn, Sexuality | 17 Comments »
Officers raided the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, in Paddington in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, just before the exhibition was due to open on Thursday night. They seized 20 of Henson’s images which feature a naked girl and boy said to be aged 12 to 13.
NSW Police Force has said it intends to lay state and federal charges, and the investigation has also gone interstate as the young girl is understood to be living in Victoria. Rose Bay Local Area Commander Superintendent Allan Sicard said the seized images depicted a child under the age of 16 years “in a sexual context”.
Commonwealth charges could be laid over the gallery’s website with state charges applying to the pictures, he said.
The raid, and the prospect of an artist facing criminal charges, has reignited the debate about what constitutes art.
[From Law Society backs nude child pics artist - Breaking News - National - Breaking News]
I have been so angry about this whole mess that I haven’t been able to write coherently till now. I don’t know what has me more outraged. the police raid and seizures, the statement by Prime minister Kevin Rudd that these works are ‘revolting’, the galleries that are also pulling Bill Henson’s works from their collections or the constant newspaper articles referring to these artworks, by one of Australia’s premier artists, as ‘”art”‘. At the same time I am heartened by the reactions of the art community and the NSW law society that have rallied behind Bill Henson.
The fact that people can debate whether these works are art or not is an outrage. the fact that the PM of Australia has gone on record saying these works have “no artistic merit” is downright disgraceful. whether you like the pieces or not they are the epitome of art and artistic intention. they are beautiful and pure and definitely not sexualized in any way.
Henson has explored many themes in his long and successful career but frequently returns to the notion of innocence, coming of age, adolescence and the confusion, fear and emotion of that age. captured between the innocence of youth and the freedom of adulthood these teens are neither sexual nor innocent and uncertain of where they stand. the stark reality of Henson’s works is what is truly gripping. the uncertainty is palpable and it is probably that which has everyone in a bind. It’s honesty is so compelling.
the key word here is sexualized. and sexualization of minors is an issue. but these pieces are not pornographic, they are not titillating or sexy. I think they are the opposite in fact. Henson has always received permission from his subjects and their parents and is noted by other artists and his models for conscientiousness. the treatment of him in this case is disgusting.
May 26, 2008 | Categories: News, Nudes | Tags: art, artist, Bill Henson, censorship, controversy, minor, Nude, Nudes, nudity, paedophilia, Sexuality | 26 Comments »
One should go through life, be it red or blue, stark naked and accompanied by the music of a subtle fisherman.
Francis Picabia
May 23, 2008 | Categories: Nudes, Random | Tags: Bryan Maloney, Francis Picabia, Nude, nude quote, Nudes, nudity, quote, Random | Leave A Comment »
I’ve been oil painting for years now. Perhaps too many. It’s my favorite medium, I love the blending and the drying time, the luminosity, translucency and the feel. I even love the stinky reek of turps – which I’ve always been rather sloppy with. Lately, however, I’ve noticed that when I paint I often feel quite sick afterwards. Dizzy, nauseous and itchy, with a raw nose, throat and headaches. it all came to a head the other day when I started cleaning my palette (which I really should do more often!) and I was sick all day and the next day afterwards. I know not all of it can be attributed to my disability and turpentine allergies can build in the system over time. Now, Liam has never liked the smell of turps anyway (the odorless is worse though, much worse for both of us) so it’s time something was done. I have enough poisons and problems with my system without adding further ones to the mix, I wanted to upgrade to better quality paints anyway so today I took the plunge and ordered some Windsor and Newton Artisan Oil Paints.
these are legitimate oils in every sense, but the oil in them has been treated to accept water rather than repel it, meaning that they can be cleaned with soap and water. apparently they handle exactly the same way. I also chose to order only safe pigment bases, I will probably add the more poisonous ones later but for now I want to give my system a break. plus ordering from overseas, the heavy metal based pigments can create a problem – I probably need to buy them here. I will post a review when they arrive and I have a chance to play but for now I can breathe a sigh of relief.
oh, and try to ignore the Rosenbaum part of my brain that is telling me to quickly use up everything I have left!
May 22, 2008 | Categories: Creating Art | Tags: art, artist, Creating Art, oil painting, painting, windsor and newton | Leave A Comment »
Like so many others I have recently become addicted to twitter. before, it was just another site that notifications of blog posts went out to. Then I guess I became a victim of my all time favorite ploys “because I can” and “because it might be useful some day.” I connected it to Facebook, then my mobile, then twhirl, then I may as well add Pownce and Jaiku seeing as twhirl posts to them as well. I blame Ecto which started it all with it’s handy little blog notification tool.
Why do I love twitter?
I work from home, alone (while Liam is at work). I have the cats to keep me company but to be honest – they sleep a lot and get grumpy when I talk to them and wake them up. I don’t miss my old day job, but I do miss the camaraderie, people to share thoughts with, no matter how little or banal. my blog is one way I reach out to people, I love the chance to converse about my favorite topics. But what do you do with all those small thoughts? the what ifs, the hey this site is cool, the OMG my website just died, the little rants and raves that make up our day? and more importantly, where can you hear others sharing theirs? twitter is my background noise, my water cooler, my way of realizing that there are other people out there. I tend to get very insular and agoraphobic if I don’t maintain human contact and twitter is the ideal way for me to do that without giving up my privacy to paint or overly distracting me from work.
May 21, 2008 | Categories: Online, Random | Tags: artist, blogging, Random, social networking, Twitter, web 2.0 | Leave A Comment »
a critical look at Benefits Supervisor Sleeping by Lucian Freud
So many people are asking – why? why this painting? I have heard (and read) people saying that it’s ugly, that they wouldn’t accept it for free, let alone pay the highest price yet paid for a living artist. so why did this painting fetch this price?
I could go into the fact that the actual piece is huge, that it took two years to paint, that it’s a work by a modern master who has dedicated his life to his painting. Or I could mention the market fluxes such as the fact that Lucien Freud is huge in the market at the moment, that his works have been seeing a surge in prices in the past few years – but what I really want to talk about is the feel of this work and why it is actually beautiful rather than ugly.
Some of you may remember back in the dimdarks when I waxed on at great length about beauty. I quoted my favorite Heinlein quote and I think in this case it applies. Freud painted here, a woman exactly how she is. he pointed out every flaw, every shred of humanity and forces us to acknowledge that – but to also see that that reality is what is beautiful, those flaws are what makes her a person and that as a person she is beautiful. he is saying look at this woman, she isn’t perfect, she has her flaws but she is a work of art – every person holds within them a work of art because we all have beauty. This piece, quite frankly, makes the world a more beautiful place.
…at least, that is what I see in it – what do you see?
May 20, 2008 | Categories: Nudes, Reflections | Tags: art, art world, artist, Beauty, figurative, Lucian freud, Nude, Nudes, nudity, painting, Sue Tilly | 3 Comments »
Having been a year since I installed and added custom CSS to my blog layout, I thought it was finally time to fix all those niggly little errors that have been residing in the back of my mind. the slightly out menu bar, the random red underlines on links.. little, non-important issues that drove me insane! well, they are finally fixed! what a weight off my brain. I sat and looked at the menu bar, now fully back in alignment, for a good five minutes just feeling happy that it was finally done!
now I am working on my phplist subscriptions, updating my database and fixing the glaring errors before sending out another newsletter. then i will update my webpage. the plan is, that I wont have any of these little issues bugging me when I can get back into the studio. I can just paint and be free.
May 19, 2008 | Categories: Online | Tags: blogging, css, newsletter, website, Wordpress | Leave A Comment »
You know, it’s just like being a peddler. You want two breasts? Well, here you are — two breasts. We must see to it that the man looking at the picture has at hand everything he needs to paint a nude. If you really give him everything he needs — and the best — he’ll put everything where it belongs, with his own eyes. Each person will make for himself the kind of nude he wants, with the nude that I will have made for him.
Pablo Picasso
May 16, 2008 | Categories: Nudes, Random | Tags: Nude, nude quote, Nudes, nudity, Picasso, quote, Random | Leave A Comment »
“We have also indicated that teachers are at liberty to choose the type of art they wish to use in the classroom. But they should check with the learners’ parents first.”
The chief executive of the Federation of Associations of Governing Bodies of South African Schools, Paul Colditz, said children should not be exposed to nudity.
“I am not an art expert and I won’t comment about the relevance of nude art in the school curriculum. But from a moral point of view, no parent would want their children to be taught about nudity at school,” Colditz said.
[From Too nude for school : Mail & Guardian Online]
I’m sorry, don’t these kids have baths? get undressed and dressed again? have gym at school? what a delightfully general comment – “no parent would want their children to be taught about nudity at school” first off, haven’t the children already been taught about nudity? in it’s most basic form? one presumes that if these kids haven’t heard of nudity or seen it in some form by the time they get to school, well there is certainly something very wrong.
This restriction applies to school curriculum in South Africa where performance artist Steven Cohen has been struck from the curriculum due to his nude content. the arts community is outraged because Cohen is one of South Africa’s most famous living artists. but I think this issue is deeper than striking one artist from the books, because where one is dropped, more may follow – and then what? Paul Colditz’s attitude horrifies and dismays me – how many works of art will be sacrificed out of fear that children may see a nude body?
May 15, 2008 | Categories: Nudes, Rants | Tags: art, art news, censorship, community, controversy, Nude, Nudes, nudity, South Africa, Steven Cohen | 1 Comment »
The 1995 life-size work, “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” fetched $33.6 million during bidding at Christie’s auction house in New York. The previous record was for “Hanging Heart,” a painting by Jeff Koonz that sold for $23.5 million, said Rik Pike, a spokesman for Christie’s.[From Overweight nude sets art world record - CNN.com]
A life sized painting of a plus size model has now set the record for the highest price paid for a work by a living artist. a beautiful work by Lucian Freud, this piece is starkly real with wonderful skin tones. I particularly like the sense of gravity. Freud has been particularly hot recently on the art market but it is delightful to see nudes placed so prominently these days.
The model, 51 year old Sue Tilly, met Freud in a nightclub 20 years ago and has modeled for him on a number of occasions. This particular painting took two years of her modeling with only three days off. While Freud was a tough task master she has to be thrilled at being assured a place in history.
May 14, 2008 | Categories: News, Nudes | Tags: art, art news, art sales, artist, Lucian freud, Nude, Nudes, nudity, Sue Tilly | 1 Comment »
Will you be Drawing on Drawing Day?
One day a year, the world stops to remember that joy we had when we first picked up a pencil and created our first piece of art – that’s what Drawing Day is all about. The goal for Drawing Day is simple – to create enough drawings to make some noise worldwide for the sake of art. 2008 is the first year of this initiative. Our goal is definitely a long-shot, but we’re aiming for 1 million drawings worldwide.[From Drawing Day 2008 - about the big day]
I will be participating in Drawing Day this year, I think it’s a fantastic idea and a great incentive to get back to my roots and create for the pure joy of creating. Drawing is so much part of who we are as people and is natural and purely creative even if you don’t think you can draw, give it a shot! you might surprise yourself.
you can participate in Drawing Day by going to the above site and registering your interest and participating in some of the many groups that are out there. It’s as simple as picking up your pencil and paper! I will be uploading my work to the Flickr Group and the Facebook group as well as Redbubble. I may even create a sale on BoundlessGallery or Yessy – you never know!
May 13, 2008 | Categories: Creating Art, Online | Tags: art, art world, Boundless, Creating Art, drawing, Drawing Day, flickr, redbubble | Leave A Comment »
Shri Parvati by MF Husain
” The allegations made against the painter are baseless and it would not be proper to hold that he had a deliberate intention to manifestly insult Bharat Mata,” Justice Kaul said after reasoning that nudity is part of contemporary art.
Husain’s nude paintings of Bharat Mata, as well as those of other Hindu gods and goddesses had created a furore resulting in several threats from right wing groups like VHP and Bajrang Dal, following which he is living in self-imposed exile in Dubai.
“A painter at 90 deserves to be at his home – painting on his canvas,” the judge said quashing proceedings in three cases against Husain, and added that “it is most unfortunate that India’s new ‘puritanism’ is being carried out in the name of cultural purity and ignorant people vandalize art.”
[From Delhi HC quashes obscenity case against MF Husain-India-The Times of India]
In a brilliant show of justice, the obscenity charges against Maqbool Fida Husain have been formally dropped. I am delighted that the Judge in this outlandish case also responded to the charges and the recent right wing extremist acts with logic, echoing a lot of the things I myself have wondered as well. his speech is a triumph of dignity in support of artistic expression and freedom as well as acknowledging art history and India’s own specific artistic past.
I have covered the travails of MF Husain on this blog numerous times, not only as an example of extreme reactions to nude art but of how we are becoming more reserved and more tightly puritan. I still don’t understand the complexities of his controversies but I do understand that all of the protests in the world have only made him more famous, desirable and expensive.
Now that this case is ended, what is next for India’s Picasso? I have yet to see any backlash from the judgement though I am still expecting the other shoe to drop. Will he move back? will he continue to command the prices and respect he has earned?
May 12, 2008 | Categories: News, Nudes | Tags: art, art news, censorship, controversy, Husain, hussain, hypocrisy, M F Husain, Nude, Nudes, nudity | 1 Comment »
We live in an atmosphere of shame. We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of our opinions, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our naked skins.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. Tanner, in Man and Superman, act
May 9, 2008 | Categories: Nudes, Random | Tags: Nude, Nudes, nudity, quote, Random | 3 Comments »
more disturbing? The other photo in the scandal – Miley and her father Billy Ray by Annie Liebovitz
Usually I actually ignore stories like these. this one especially appears to be a storm in a teacup, a media furor that seems to have little to do with the actual people involved. here is a collection of further editorials on the subject that I thought were a particularly fascinating read. I especially like so many members of the media taking the time to explain what a non event it is and how so much of the media is hyping it up, it appeals to the ironic in me I guess.
So why the moral uproar over a photograph which is essentially the same thing? Even if, as Greer purports, Leibovitz’s dirty postcard aesthetic depicts Cyrus as post-coital, or even worse a child prostitute and Disney her pimp, isn’t this just a depressingly conventional piece of iconography?
From That Miley Cyrus photograph: artsy or outrageous? | Art & architecture | Guardian Unlimited
The real question is why we are only now concerned about the sanctified purity of a teenaged superstar who struts around in mini-skirts selling concert tickets on the all-but-explicit promise, “Your kids will thank you, and Dad won’t necessarily be bored.” Somehow, Cyrus’s Vanity Fair photo has become the cue for a moral panic. An Associated Press writer explained: “It’s what the photo suggests rather than shows — the idea that she might be nude, perhaps even in bed — that bothered some parents.” When these people find out that we’re all nude under fabric all the time, how can the heavens fail to fall?
From
Internal Dissent: Miley Cyrus’s “nude” photo for Vanity Fair magazine – Full Comment
While there may be an uproar around Miley Cyrus’s “topless” photo for a Vanity Fair shoot, it’s possible that this photograph of Miley with “Achy, Breaky” dad Billy Ray Cyrus is more disturbing. Or maybe it’s just because we have never seen a daughter pose like this with her father. Here’s the Vanity Fair article about Miley–where she says of the topless photo, “I think it’s really artsy. It wasn’t in a skanky way.… And you can’t say no to Annie. She’s so cute. She gets this puppy-dog look and you’re like, O.K.”– and here’s the behinds-the-scenes about the photo shoot.
From Gothamist: More Creepy? Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus for Vanity Fair
May 7, 2008 | Categories: News, Nudes | Tags: Annie Leibovitz, art, art news, controversy, Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus, Nude, Nudes, nudity | 4 Comments »
my House has been under siege for the past few months. a unit is being built behind it and massive external renovations are being done to my actual place. I have accepted most of this with good nature and tolerance but I am so over it now! between losing my driveway and now my front stairs (rendering me a prisoner in my own house) and being assaulted at all hours by machinery and power tools I almost lost it today at the renderers who decided to start outside my bedroom window at 8am with the radio blaring. Our landlord is doing his best, but this is turning into a nightmare!
luckily my studio is still a place I can go to chill, I put on my headphones and I can almost blot them all out. almost. I am having difficulty painting and relaxing into my work with a constant stream of noise and distractions.
May 6, 2008 | Categories: Rants | Tags: rant, renovations | Leave A Comment »
I am sure no other civilization, not even the Romans, has showed such a vast proportion of ignominious and degraded nudity, and ugly, squalid dirty sex. Because no other civilization has driven sex into the underworld, and nudity to the W.C.
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930), British author. Pornography and Obscenity (1930; repr. in Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D. H. Lawrence, pt. 3, ed. by E. McDonald, 1936).
May 2, 2008 | Categories: Nudes, Random | Tags: D. H. Lawrence, Nude, Nudes, nudity, quote, Random | Leave A Comment »
The much debated Miley Cyrus Portrait by Annie Leibovitz
I don’t want to come across as a prude but surely creating this pedophile fantasy of a Disney star crosses the line.
We’ve had our Olympic swimmers pose nude in Black and White magazine, and the Matildas soccer team strip for a calendar that the word “tacky” barely describes.
And there’s a whole chorus line of young, beautiful actors ready to bare their breasts for a part in a TV show or movie.
These young women can talk all they like about how empowering it is, how it’s all “in context” and not “gratuitous”, but I doubt they’re even fooling themselves.
The reason women are asked to take their clothes off for the camera is as simple as sex – it’s because men like to look at naked women, and exposed breasts and bums will sell magazines, calendars and movies.
[From 'Art' crosses line | Herald Sun]
This article has made me so angry I could spit. The narrow mindedness and lack of understanding of art, particularly nude art is off the deep end. now, I am not necessarily condoning nude pictures of 15 year olds, however I maintain that it is wrong to imply that it isn’t art, and that it is purely sexual. I see in this piece a sense of mourning for the innocence of that age and the fact that it is completely gone in the child stars especially. look beyond the surface dammit!, this isn’t a sexy piece – it’s saying stop looking at me like a sex object! she is using the sheet as a shield. Everyone is acting like this is something new and some great taboo has been broken- underage models in art are nothing new, classically they were commonly used. even in contemporary Australian art there are examples in Brett Whiteley’s painting of his 14 year old daughter in the shower, Bill Henson’s beautiful nudes, all exploring innocence. because nudity can also be an expression of purity and of innocence.
I have had the misfortune to see hannah montana on a couple of occasions. I’m sure it’s very popular amongst the kids, I don’t get it personally, but have you seen what she wears? her clothing on stage is tasteless and crass, bold, splashy and certainly very sexualized. her clothing line is as well. her show encourage little girls to rely on looks, clothing and that they just aren’t anyone if they aren’t slim and in a short skirt. how is this better? why not get upset at the fact that little girls are dressing like hookers instead? I find that much more disturbing. when will people learn that clothing influences us and our peers much more than what’s underneath? (and I refer to what’s beneath the skin as well there). and that is not the way it should be.
The portrait under fire is by renowned artist Annie Leibovitz, taken for vanity fair of Miley Cyrus, Disney’s Hannah Montana. Her parents were present. her grandmother was present. They would have all seen and approved the proofs before it became public. I think the whole thing is a bit of a publicity stunt but I am appalled at the attitude of Sally Morrell and other reporters who don’t seem to have actually looked at the pic (or any art for that matter). I am deeply offended at the heavily implied notion that all nude photographs are sexual, that the only reason to pose is to titillate and arouse. I am also offended at the very heterogenic attitude in this article but that is another battle for another day.
May 1, 2008 | Categories: News, Nudes, Rants | Tags: Annie Leibovitz, art, art news, artist, controversy, Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus, Nude, Nudes, nudity, Sexuality | 2 Comments »
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