
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.









