Bill Henson: my impressions

The speech last night was excellent. Listening to Bill Henson discuss various cultural references, I looked around at a variety of young, blank, faces and I felt how true some of his statements were. we do need to expose our children to art, to history, to culture. art is the expression of history and the cumulation of our civilization. I was struck by Henson’s self effacing nature. watching him you would never know that someone so apparently shy was embroiled in such a shocking controversy that rocked the art world two years ago. It was interesting how little he cited his own work, preferring to discuss literature, composers and classic painters.

nude nazi mickey enflaming viewers

I admit that I find this work fairly unimaginative, it reminds me of the sort of thing you see first year art students creating as they rail against the status quo. it’s angry and designed to offend. the good news is that this time it isn’t the nude that’s causing the furor- thank goodness for that!

Building Blocks in Michigan ‘Not a sex act’

I can’t help but think that if they move the piece the people who think that it’s a sexual piece will feel vindicated. even others will be wondering if there is something wrong. giving in to the great unwashed often makes them believe that they were right all along. this ends up being counter productive for the arts. take a look a the alt tag for this piece in the article- it;s titled and named “obscene_art.jpg” -does that tell you something?

no Pride in censoring nude art

When an artist is well known for their sexually explicit works it often becomes hard for them to gain acceptance for their non sexual art. combine that with the fact that the artist is (gasp) gay and there is a ticking time bomb waiting for a ‘misunderstanding’ like this. it’s unfortunate that it is so hard to straddle both sides of the fence in this respect. usually you have to be either one or the other.

no nude by kishin photo shoot under fire

Kishin Shinoyama is an iconic Japanese nude photographer. his work has gone a long way towards changing the attitudes towards nude art in Japan over the years and has certainly developed a following, I have found the unusual shapes he creates and interesting lighting rather fascinating. the photobook images were photographed in a range of locations, railway tracks, and most notably a cemetary. what is interesting about the charges here is that this case began in late 2009 for a book that was published i January and a shoot that took place in 2008.

rare Constable nude uncovered

I wonder, sometimes, if the pendulum is swinging back this way, if we are re-establishing victorian prudishness and attitudes. at times when I fear that I like to remember the proliferation of underground nude art, ribald cartoons and interesting pornographic and sexual paraphernalia. the surface of the victorian era was pristine but it had a delightfully seedy underbelly. true that the stuff that was considered shocking then is nothing compared with what we see today, but I think that there is a parallel between what people will admit to and what people actually do. we have the same two faced dichotomy today as we did back then. would you like to come up and see my etchings?

world record set by Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust

I think it is interesting that nudes consistently set records in sales at auction . it says something about the high end world of art collecting. a lot of speculation has been made about this work and this auction over the past few days, I often wonder if the hype over an auction becomes a self fulfilling prophecy where the bidders seek to live up to the hype and create the records that have been the subject of speculation.

Live Nude Art at MoMA raising hands and…

I find myself very sorry that I won’t get to experience it. the artist being a part of the exhibit, but clothed is an interesting touch. as far as the difficulties go, I still find that uncomfortable to deal with. the idea that the models have to cope with being groped and be unable to react sends shivers down my spine.

nude art causes mass suicide scare in NYC

Oops.. this is a really interesting concept, and it probably says a lot about the way people interact. it’s nice to see people caring and reporting their concerns for others, but one also has to wonder if this project was that well thought out. the artist Anthony Gormley intended to play with the city and people’s perceptions, but I wonder if he anticipated this sort of issue.

Nude art for the blind

I am disappointed however by the way this article seems to portray the book as porn for the blind. something handcrafted that has taken that long to produce is an art object. there are a selection of nude styles, some are more explicit than others but it is sad that the article feels it needs to dwell on that aspect. it’s also sad that the book seems to be taken up mostly by sex stores, although the artist may not agree with me there- if they sell there who am I to judge?