Why Nudes?

This post has languished unfinished in my draft file for over a year. I had been unable to articulate an answer to the seemingly simple question "why nudes?" I have contemplated a wide range of possible theories but none seemed adequate. Why have artists throughout history been drawn to depicting the naked human form? Then at least a partial explanation hit me.

Reclining Nude, oil pastel on toned paper, 91/4" X 12 1/4", 2013

Writers, musicians, visual artists are all in one way or another exploring the human condition. Even when the subject matter doesn't involve people they are reflecting the world through human eyes and emotions. I can't think of a better way of presenting our unadorned humanity than through a nude.

Nostalgia Trip

I have just returned from a seven day trip to California, the place of my birth and life up to the age of 29. I ventured there seeking relief from and perhaps some answers to things that were bothering me. In a very tangible way the trip was a success. Mentally I am in a different and better place than when I left.

I was able to visit my college and art school for the first time since graduating nearly forty years ago. I stood in the classroom where I was introduced to working from the live nude. Due in large part to California's budget woes the skylit room was essentially unchanged. So in honor of that very special moment I will simply post a recent thirty minute oil pastel study.

Nude Study, oil pastel on toned paper, 11" X 8 1/2", 2014

Forty years is both a long time and just the blink of an eye.

Pinch Hitter

Baseball spring training has begun. It offers a good metaphor for my ever evolving working method. For the bulk of my art career I have been in the regular lineup. I paint most every day on a fairly regular schedule. There is a certainty and level of comfort in this rhythm as each session builds on the last and foreshadows the next. You are never completely out of your "groove".

Nude Study, oil on canvas, 14" X 12", 2015

Age and circumstances have thrust me into a new role. My current schedule has me working from the live figure twice and sometimes just once a week. Where the figure is concerned, at least for now, I'm a pinch hitter. I can no longer use yesterdays painting session to help me quickly settle in. Just like a pinch hitter I now have only moments to size up a situation. The model gets into pose, I find a zone and start laying down paint.

Years of experience are proving to be essential in this new dynamic. It is a high risk and high reward way of working. I'm still figuring it out but there is an exhilarating rush in the process.

Good Vibrations

Vinyl records are making a comeback. According to Harper's Magazine sales have gone up 2,590% since 1993. People are rediscovering the authenticity and complexity of the sound. Sound waves cut into a master disc capture the physical vibrations of a moment. Working from the live model shares something with this old recording technique. In a life situation an artist captures impressions of a moment. There are no separating steps or technologies. You are drawing from the source not copying from one format to another.

Male Nude, oil on linen, 14" X 12", 2015

Analog recording never entirely went away but it survived only as a small subculture within the music industry. The discipline of life drawing and painting has a long history but currently survives as a minor movement in the cacophony of the contemporary art world.

From my narrow vantage point I can't say if live figurative work is experiencing a resurgence. Most large cities have long running live model venues. In my smallish town, over the thirty some years I'm aware of, figure groups have formed and dissolved multiple times. Working from life is a very challenging art form and that, as much as anything, will keep it rarefied. Still, there is nothing like the authenticity and complexity of working from a live model.

Overreach

In a post awhile back I featured a painting that in hindsight I called an "overreach" (see August 27, 2014). Even though the painting was ultimately unsuccessful I don't regret doing it. It is important to venture beyond ones competence zone occasionally. Frustration can set in if you work there too often but only by periodically overreaching can you develop as a painter.

During a visit last summer to The National Gallery in Washington, D.C. I had the good fortune of seeing one of Titians' versions of Danae. The painting emitted an unmistakable power. As a painter I was both humbled and inspired in its presence. I savored my time in front of the picture.

Titian, Danae, oil on canvas, 1544-1545
Capodimonte Museum, Naples

My studio is strewn with unsuccessful paintings. The reasons for failure are varied but I now see that too few failed from aiming too high. Most are minor in scale and intent. Will I ever do a painting that even approaches a Danae? Of course not. But a painting like Danae dangles in front of me like a big sweet carrot on a string. I hope I still have what it takes to keep reaching for it.

Repeating Myself

This post is addressed to the handful of people who visit this blog on any regular basis. Let it serve as a pre-apology and an acknowledgement that at some point I will begin repeating myself (if I haven't already). As I compose these entries I increasingly find myself scrolling through old posts to make sure I'm not saying the same thing just in a different context. Posting roughly once a week for a year and a half I am afraid it is inevitable.

Female Nude, oil pastel on toned paper, 6 1/2" X 9 1/2", 2013

I love working from the live figure and haven't by any means tired of investigating the topic. But there can only be a finite number of distinct areas to explore. As this blog proceeds I see myself dissecting broad issues into smaller and more subtle subsections. So I will try my best to not say exactly the same thing. Forgive me if (when?) I do.

One of The Coolest Things Ever

If one is exposed to extraordinary circumstances often enough they can start to seem commonplace. Working from the live figure as long as I have it is easy to become desensitized and take time with a model for granted. Every now and then my head clears and I'm reminded how remarkable these moments are.

Seated Nude, oil pastel on toned paper, 10" X 8", 2014

In what other realm can you uninhibitedly stare at a naked person? No guilt, shame or other societal taboos. In fact it is your purpose to stare. Stare as intently as possible and try to capture some relevant essence of the individual baring it all in front of you. The viewer of the resulting image is then afforded the same privilege. Working from the live nude is one of the coolest things ever.