Nudes and the Objectification of Women: Expanded.

MORE ON NUDES



I was pleased with the responses from so many of my DA friends on the topic of nude modeling and the alleged objectification of women. What follows is one response from modeling Goddess and muse, *sunnycjjof Deviant Art and Model Mayhem fame. And one of my all-time favorite models, people and thinkers. I hope she doesn't mind the repost here. I found it stimulating in that it expands the discussion beyond the sex-nudity dualism (if I may apply this word here). Meaning, that her post challenged my thinking on the connection between eroticism and art nudes.

I find myself being too guarded in these discussions, perhaps overly sensitive to the fact that the lowest common denominator among men (usually men, and some women) have a corrosive effect on the work of us in the nude arts. By being too guarded I mean that when discussing my art with those whom we shall say are outside the circle of nude arts, I go too far in distancing any erotic element within my work or that of my fellow nude artists (photographers, models, painters, etc.).

I have to admit that in some cases of my work I'm trying to evoke a vivid sense of sensuality and eroticism, meaning that I want the viewer to identify with a sexual element. Some of my work is intended to put one "in the mood." Even as I write this I'm a bit nervous. Why? I'm among friends here. I have the same obstacle that so many of us have, which is I don't want my work to be equated to a simple apparatus for those viewers who do reduce these works to "tits and ass."

But just as there is beauty in the landscape, or architecture, religion, and animals, there is great beauty in the visual exploration of human sexuality. To my mind, this makes it worth exploration. I hope to capture this most potent of human forces in form and in the dialogue of forms to evoke feeling which aids the viewer in becoming more human through the experience. That may sound a bit audacious for someone who engages in his art as a near compulsion, and I likely miss the mark on occasion, but that's what I'm after. I hope to become less apologetic for what I do.

Thanks *sunnycjj for challenging me.

To our readers, I recommend that you visit her portfolio/gallery here on DA or visit her most interesting and enlightening blog at [link] Enjoy what she had to say and look for more from other DA friends.

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*sunnycjj's Entry.

The idea that I model nude for any "recapitulation to a history of mistreatment or abuse, lacking any sense of self-respect and are rather seeking some insatiable need for self-validation" almost makes me laugh. I am a professional woman, an internationally published author with a doctorate from a prestigious university. I have no end of self-respect having been validated by a father who viewed me as brilliant and beautiful, and a husband with the same point of view, who honored me till death did we part.

The reason I model nude is too profound to put in a few sentences here, but it comes from the study of art history, the enjoyment of art in the world's great museums, and coming from a family of artists.

Does it bother me if men look lustfully at my pictures? Not at all. The only problem with leering men is that they have been told their sexual desires are dirty, and pictures that make them feel desire are pornographic and bad, and so they come to see them that way. That repressive idea causes the perversion, not the essential desire. As Kenneth Clark wrote in his definitive book on the Nude, any nude that lacks the erotic is not art.

I defined what I mean by "erotic" in a blog post [link] that includes quotes from the amazing =LovittGirl. It would be best to read the post in its entirety, but here is an excerpt:

The core of our being is the place where our spirit and our physical self come together as one. As Kenneth Clark suggested, eroticism is about unity. I would amend his idea by saying it does not have to be sexual union, it does not have to be physical contact with another person. Eroticism is the place where your otherwise separate selves conjoin - body and spirit.

Eroticism is the highest expression of spiritual love in the writings of the mystics (which I read avidly in graduate school), in our great human loves, and in our self love which is absolutely essential if indeed the body is the temple of the soul.

That is why eroticism is so basic, beautiful, and sacred to me. This core gives us life's greatest joy, our only possible awareness of a whole and united self, and creates the most compelling art. Again, I mention Bernini's Saint Theresa. Even though her ecstasy appears to be externally stimulated, eroticism is the rapturous merging of flesh and spirit, no matter how we get there.

Nudes and the Objectification of Women?

I had an interesting discussion with a female friend today regarding nude photography, which more or less amounted to me being told that what I do with my work is an objectification of women. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of such thoughtful discussions, objectification in this case refers to the reduction of a person to some akin to apparatus for the pleasure of men (this because her protest were against female nudes) who also reduce themselves to mere carnality.

It was an interesting discussion, challenging and invigorating. It ended with our agreeing to disagree. So all is well at the moment.

What I would like to pose to all of you, especially those of you counted among my female model friends who model nude, is a request to talk to me and the other readers here about your thoughts on the subject.

If you model nude are you objectifying yourself? Are you a mere apparatus for the pleasure of disgusting carnal men? Are you debasing or dehumanizing yourself in some manner in posing nude? Do you feel that you have a strong sense of self-respect and that your work in nude modeling is a fulfillment of your artistic vocation; or do you engage in this behavior as a recapitulation to a history of mistreatment or abuse, lacking any sense of self-respect and are rather seeking some insatiable need for self-validation?

I would love to hear your thoughts, and you have much to say I would even love to post your work as a sort of guest journalist. So whether you're modeling professionally, or as you avocation, or even for self amusement, I would love to hear your thoughts.

All the best!

~DPX/Scott

I Like to Stare. So Call Me a Photographer

I'm fairly sure that for my whole life I've been a voyeur. From my earliest memories I can recall enjoying people watching. I've always been fascinated by faces, forms and bodies, the motion of individual gaits, how people behave and so on.

Even to this day I find myself at a cafe or the grocery store and I have to fight the urge to stare at people, for fear that I rupture social mores and attract attention as a weirdo. While I'm very much compelled to take in all people that I see, I'm especially prone to stare at women. Not in that terrible hey-look-at-that-piece-meet kind of way.

Take earlier tonight, instance. I'm having my customary cup of coffee at a local cafe that I frequent. The waitress that served me was tall, wearing a black sleeveless shirt and blue jeans. She must have been about six foot tall. She had a cherubic face. Round, classical and angelic. Her eyes were almond shaped, her neck wonderfully proportioned as it met her well shaped jaw which wasn't too sharp, nor did her face recede without definition. She was not by any stretch of the modern canon of beauty scream "hot." I detest that phrase, anyway. Her body was fleshy and well-proportioned, with ample breasts and lovely angular shoulders, and a bit of a belly that protruded through her shirt a bit. Enough to say, "Real woman."

She was especially friendly as I realized that I was very much taking her in. And I was imagining how wonderful it would be to shoot her, especially nude. I did imagine her as I could in the nude, raw, honest and more beautiful than she was as she conducted caffeine dealing with me. I think she flirted a bit. Maybe for tip, maybe because she mistook my artist eyes drinking her in as the vision that she is, and that she could be.

I wonder if other photographers have this problem, or if it's just me. Are you so fascinated with the body and faces that you find yourself doing a study of sorts on chance people you meet? Do you ever find yourself looking in that study and realize that you may be coming off as a gawker of the worst kind? I would love to hear from you on this subject.

I will say that this dynamic I face makes me so glad for the lovely artist/models out there who are willing to disclose their form for our art. This way there is a sanctioned transaction between the involved artist and one who understands the need to see, and in the seeing finds a new understanding of the human form, sexuality and beauty.

Below are some images that celebrate this great joy that I have in finding those model/artists and muses who will collaborate for artistic voyeurs, who want to drink in form, light and movement in a captured moment and then share it with the world. Please enjoy their work.

Stay creative,
~DPX/Scott

Nude Modeling and the Objectification of Women

NOTE: Originally posted on http://dpxdeviant.deviantart.com/journal/27659816/

I had an interesting discussion with a female friend today regarding nude photography, which more or less amounted to me being told that what I do with my work is an objectification of women. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of such thoughtful discussions, objectification in this case refers to the reduction of a person to some akin to apparatus for the pleasure of men (this because her protest were against female nudes) who also reduce themselves to mere carnality.

It was an interesting discussion, challenging and invigorating. It ended with our agreeing to disagree. So all is well at the moment.

What I would like to pose to all of you, especially those of you counted among my female model friends who model nude, is a request to talk to me and the other readers here about your thoughts on the subject.

If you model nude are you objectifying yourself? Are you a mere apparatus for the pleasure of disgusting carnal men? Are you debasing or dehumanizing yourself in some manner in posing nude? Do you feel that you have a strong sense of self-respect and that your work in nude modeling is a fulfillment of your artistic vocation; or do you engage in this behavior as a recapitulation to a history of mistreatment or abuse, lacking any sense of self-respect and are rather seeking some insatiable need for self-validation?

I would love to hear your thoughts, and you have much to say I would even love to post your work as a sort of guest journalist. So whether you're modeling professionally, or as you avocation, or even for self amusement, I would love to hear your thoughts.

All the best!

A Few of My Nude Friends

Keira Grant & Sulken Dreamer

The following images were created with my nude friends, whom I appreciate, honor and dare I say love. I wanted to share with you the beauty they bring to the artistic world. Your comments are welcome and I hope you will visit with them on their respective portfolios and galleries.

Be well!

:-)

<--Lauren Lynn & Dame LeBeau

The Creative Process

Hello peruse-rs of the world wide web, my name is Carnelian and DPX has kindly invited me to contribute to this blog. I'll leave the long introduction to my blog, Love.Carnelian, but I will take a moment to let you know a bit about who I am. I've been a model for several years and the majority of my work has been in fine art nude modeling. I've had the pleasure of working with DPX and several other talented artists who share my love of fine art photography. As I've become a better model, my interest in what happens on the other side of the lens has grown. I've begun the process of documenting my thoughts and experiences so I can see my growth as a photographer, continue evolving as a model and hopefully be a mentor to those who are new to modeling and could use a helping hand. More of my work can be found at J-Carnelian's deviantART.

I've never been much for going out and shooting for the sake of shooting. I like to have a firm idea in place with just enough room to let the shoot develop as it takes place. Other than the time factor, this is because the creative process is one of my favorite things about being a model. I have a few hobbies that allow me to flex my creative streak but only modeling lets me engage with another artist. Taking an inkling of an idea, bouncing it off someone else's brain, letting it evolve into something involving bits of both of us, is the only thing that satisfies my need to participate in artistic communion.

A few years ago, a good friend and I stayed up all night participating in some debauchery. While we talked and listened to music, we were each took turns writing. He would write a line and pass the pad of paper to me, then I would write what I thought should follow. We went about the business of the evening but we were not allowed to talk about what we were writing. When we were finished, we ended up with a beautiful piece of both of us. I like to refer to what took place as communion because there is something truly spiritual about creating art with another person.

When I get an idea for a photo shoot, I immediately begin to think of what it would look like through the lens of my favorite photographers. If there is someone who would portray that particular idea in the fashion I imagined it, I explain to them what I'm thinking and ask for their thoughts. As they give me feedback, my idea changes, sometimes becoming something entirely different than I had originally pictured, but the idea is so uniquely ours at this point that it could not possibly be photographed by anyone else.

Although I do not consider myself an artist because I am a model, I do think the process and thereby the end result can be artistic. If by creating art you are an artist, occasionally I fill those shoes. But my only goal is to enjoy the process.

Being the Nude, Shooting the Nude: Unbearable Lightness Speaks

Unbearable Lightness on Nude Modeling

July 17, 2009 by dpxphotos

The sexy, intelligent, erotic and highly literary art model, Unbearable Lightness, shared these thoughts on her desire to participate in nude modeling and the fulfillment of her desire. She has amassed an impressive catalog of artistic and erotic nudes that radiate with a well won and dignified confidence. Her works range from the gentle nude with classical elements of form, to the more daring, ecstatic and self-exploratory.

She is a mature woman in full possession of herself, exuding a command of her body which enhances and intensifies her allure. She is fearless, boldly, and sometime even brazenly, expressive, evoking sensuality and desire. The following entry is copied from my DPX Deviant Journal, authored by Unbearable Lightness (AKA: Sunny CJJ on DA), and she retains the full rights to this blog entry.

Please take time to visit her at her links above to enjoy her beauty and her mind, and enjoy this blog entry.

All the best!
~DPX
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Film Noir by *sunnycjj on deviantART

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I first wanted to pose nude when I saw Playboy centerfolds. I was in my early 20s, and eventually I did apply to be a Playboy bunny and was rejected. I forgot about it all until I went to Paris at age 59. The young men there handed me phone numbers and invited me to parties. When I came back to the States, I realized they saw something attractive.

So I contacted a local photographer who worked for Playboy and Penthouse in the 1970s and asked if he would like to shoot me. Our first shoot netted a nude that was accepted in a juried show, and we worked together for three years before I branched out and began to work with other photographers.

I have always enjoyed erotic literature, film, and the nude oil paintings of the great masters. So erotica became a natural extension of my fine arts nude work.

Since I am not a photographer, filmmaker, or painter, modeling gives me the opportunity to collaborate in the creation of visual art. It also gives me an outlet for areas in which I trained – dance and acting.

Sometimes I feel as though I am performing for an unseen audience; other times I have felt I am making love to the photographer. It depends on the shoot and the chemistry and the image I have in my mind. Since I have experience in dance and theatre, I can honestly say modeling is another type of performing art. It feels the same, and it is exhilarating.

I danced and choreographed in college, so I am very aware of the importance of line. I also studied film and know, from that study, the ways a visual composition may express meaning. Sometimes I am an actor during a shoot and assume an appropriate character, but emotion comes from body placement and movement, not the other way around.

I like to see what we are getting in the camera. This allows me to correct line and the other concerns of a model. Very often I will see what is not working and make the adjustment. I also benefit from seeing the raw images before the shoot ends. For me, it is part of the partnership I have with the photographer. We can talk together about what we see, what we like, what worked, what didn’t work. It is a meaningful review to have while we are still together.

Very often I bring ideas to a shoot, along with costumes and props. If a photographer tells me about a concept before the shoot, I enjoy planning with him or her, and I have been known to do preliminary research.

Occasionally I have had an idea I could not verbalize and have asked just to begin the shoot without discussion. Then I do what I see in my mind, and the photographer generally is surprised by it but keeps photographing. These are the most inspired moments, and they always work.

I have become increasingly particular about the photographers with whom I work. It is important to me to be respected throughout the process and to have artistic work to show. I am a perfectionist, and I expect as much from a photographer.

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Unbearable Lightness