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?

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

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

Masquerade - 10 x 12 Oils on Canvas by Jennie Rosenbaum

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.

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).

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.

Toilet, Graphic 40×32cm by Amin-ul-Islam
(photograph courtesy of the NAG)

Requesting anonymity, an artist told Daily Times that the NAG management should understand that the gallery was a public property and only such items should be put on display that pleased the public. “In a private gallery one can project the art one likes but at NAG one can’t risk projecting art of their choice,” he said.

Following the agenda of “enlightened moderation”, the PNCA is portraying women not more than an entity or a showpiece and more surprisingly three women own “Khazana”, which displays female nude.

There is a four-year contract of the souvenir shop between Nageen Rehman, Ghania Baddar and Attiya Zafar and the PNCA.

PNCA defends: Jamal Shah, PNCA Executive Director, said that nude art was a creation of senior artist Naseem Hafiz Qazi, which was put on display on a temporary basis. However, he denied its unacceptability by the public.

“It is just an allegation that people don’t like this art. In fact a huge number of people appreciate it,” he insisted.

He said the galleries and museums of the world project such art then why could not Pakistan project it. “The gallery should present all kinds of art and there is no harm in presenting nude art when a number of people like it,” he defended.

[From Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan - Nude art at Khazana shocks public]

I disagree that a museum’s job is to present work that appeals to everyone. I see it as the point of a museum to push our minds, to make us think of new concepts in new ways, to remember the mistakes of the past and to look towards the future. I think their role is to challenge and defy our conventions of thinking. I would even go so far as to say that the museum’s responsibility is to help us forge new cognitive paths forward.
I do think that it is very progressive of the Islamabad National Art Gallery to display nude artworks, a huge leap forward when so many middle eastern museums and galleries ban nude art as a matter of course. The outcry can hardly be unexpected given the conservative religious attitudes of many of it’s patrons. and to run two exhibitions recently with nudes is a big step that cannot have been undertaken lightly. The progressive attitude of this gallery continues with over 60% female artists. The gallery is laid out in a series of themed rooms, still lifes, landscapes and of course, nudes. the layout strikes me as a prudent way to display a key area of art and art history while still respecting the religious views of a large portion of the population.

Photo by Bruce Lee Smith Rigoberto Gonzalez poses in front of some of his paintings

Barocco en la Frontera” contains more than two dozen of Gonzalez’s drawings and paintings. Several of them are nude figure studies and three have full frontal nudity. It is those three that have caused the controversy. Joel Humphries, director of Arts and Entertainment for the city, said it was all a case of bad timing.

In the museum’s other gallery is “Taking Flight: A History of Kites.” Humphries said hundreds of local school children are scheduled to tour the exhibit within the next month. “We didn’t want some child wandering in there, supervised or not supervised … and then the next thing you know we have upset parents calling city commissioners,” Humphries said.

Gabriel Gonzalez, the city official, said he originally wanted to display the three works in question in a separate room with a closed door. Rigoberto Gonzalez said the city official first wanted the paintings removed entirely or put in a separate room where people were required to sign in before viewing them.

The compromise reached was that the doors to the gallery would remain closed and display a warning sign about the content. Patricia Morales, museum coordinator for HAHM, said the works are executed in a classical style and are hardly obscene. “I’m very proud that we’re exhibiting them,” she said. “They’re very beautiful.”

[From Now: Art show featuring nudity, decapitation causes stir | city, exhibit, gonzalez : TheMonitor.com]

What is interesting about this situation is that there has been no outcry about the violent pieces including decapitations. surely, if the museum was truly concerned about children seeing images that may scar them the violent images would be at the top of the list? but no, as usual everyone is afraid that the mere sight of a nude body will send children off the deep end. or is it just that our society is now so warped that something natural that we all have is more shameful and disgusting than the violence surrounding us.

Gonzalez’s works are inspired by baroque style and he cites art history as a source of bloody and violent works. Classically, violence, often inspired by biblical stories, was a favorite subject, nudes and the female form were almost as prevalent. It seems a real shame that these pieces are now behind closed doors, I had a chance to see some of his works on this youtube video and they look stunning. very much in the style of the masters (and some of my favorite artists) and I venture that this exhibition might be educational to kids as it explores the underworld and the way drug deals can go wrong. Gonzalez is a teacher and judging by the comments on his youtube, his students are aware of his works and not particularly scarred by them. when did we start feeling a need to shield kids from reality?

I am becoming completely obsessed with 3D modeling in Daz|Studio. it started as a way for me to create, pose and light my ideal models then pick my angle for the image to paint. it is the best way for me to get the poses and angles I want, with the models I want and no back talk! it’s free, easy to use and as I am rapidly discovering, very very addictive.

It doesn’t help that there is a wealth of wonderful free or inexpensive content out there and I am a bit of a collection freak so I can’t help but download everything. I’ve spent the last few days trying to sort out all of my resources but it’s becoming a never-ending task! (not helped by the fact that I download almost as much as I sort..) I prefer D|S to Poser even though it isn’t as powerful, it’s substantially faster, and it suits my needs perfectly. plus it’s free.

I used to use myself for a reference or my own mind, but lately my poses and angles have been getting more adventurous, and harder to realize without reference. this provides me with a perfect opportunity to work at my own pace, and play with fun technology. now if only I could stop playing long enough to paint something!

I’d put in one of my images but I’m waiting for the render…

I have been working on building up my strength. I have goals in the future that require me to have more mobility and physical strength than I currently have. the key is, that I have to only do a tiny amount at a time. I’m the sort of person who goes in (and sometimes off) the deep end, I like to push myself, I like to be better, faster, stronger.. and I used to be able to do everything without limits. now I have very strict and rough limits and my body is pretty much at them the whole time. it’s taken me a few years to learn that I can’t just push myself and I can’t just expect the same standards I used to have, strange but true.

Having realized this, I was finally able to start on the baby steps I need to take to increase my range of motion. literally, tiny steps up and down that become the basis for easier use of stairs. finally, at the end of March I was able to surprise my dad for his birthday by walking up to his apartment. I still used my cane and the balustrade and I moved slowly but I managed a flight of stairs. I am now working on making that stronger and more confident.