Nudity - Some Thoughts
Added 2018-06-06 15:41:53 +0000 UTC
The first photo we ever made of Monique, way back in 2013. Not nude, obviously. What are your feelings about the nude? Let's have a conversation.
Comments
You make some very good points, George. As you know, the response to the work we (all of us) make varies tremendously based on the attitude and training of the viewer (by family, church, peers, whoever). In our crazy quilt of a society, perspectives range from the truly puritanical to the depths of depravity. Work is always viewed and processed through 'filters' that have developed over time based on experiences and exposures, some good, some bad. Artists surely are free to make work that is dark and negative, and those efforts are valid, but that type of work is best left to others. We also like to think that our imagery is uplifting. And we like to think that our imagery can encourage someone, perhaps someone not as open minded or artistically inclined, to think about the difference between sensuality and sexuality, indeed even between art and porn, and find a healthy and positive way of thinking about nude art and those of us that produce it.
Photosensualis
2018-06-08 19:06:23 +0000 UTCAs an artist I think it is important to have a clear theme in mind even if it is as general as Beauty or Freedom. I would like the viewer of any images I create to be uplifted emotionally; life is full of the mundane and ordinary so I desire art that reveals the exceptional and extraordinary (whether the subject is a Nude or a Landscape). The Nude as a subject can accomplish that objective well, I think, because it fundamentally reflects our own humanness at an elementary level and so can be very powerful. The Nude has the potential to elevate and inspire our spiritual consciousness. But it is a two edged sword, in that it can also be tawdry and vulgar and only expose base human emotions. There is such a strong association (in America at least) between nudity and sex that that can overshadow the artist's intent and it becomes a significant challenge for the artist to overcome.
George Streng
2018-06-07 12:50:51 +0000 UTC
