The Artist Model

In the world of graphic arts there are certain classical themes and subjects. When done well they are a source of inspiration -and when done badly they become of a slurry of campy and forgettable images. There's an episode of Portlandia where there's a business that bundles and packages collections of bad art specifically for coffee houses. It was funny because it feels like it could be the truth.

Last week I was looking at a group of landscapes, and I hope the artist will let me photograph them later on. The paintings have a very captivating style. What I find up lifting is there's still a possibility of originality in an area of art that you think was thoroughly picked over and done to death.      

Another cliché trap is the still life. Still life paintings started off as a way for artist of modest means to show off their talents. A few objects on a table were always less expensive than hiring a model. Not only did these objects stay perfectly motionless but they regularly had intricate or shiny surfaces. A painter truly has to know his craft to make a glass of water look photographically realistic. Before still life paintings were recognized as specific subject category they used as resumes for future commissions.

Portrait paintings are a separate from the rest of because they always appeal to the vanity of the patron. Often they become family heirlooms rich in sentimental value. If the subject of the portrait becomes famous then the painting has historic value even if the image is dull. It's rare to have portraits appreciated solely as art, though there is a market for portraits of toddlers and young children painted before arrival of photography.

After artists, as a class of people, broke away from the patronage of kings and nobility; many of them supported themselves by painting portraits in between their masterpieces. A few of the artists that keep diaries often bitterly complained about doing portraits on commission.  Portrait painting was such a business some itinerant painters in colonial America would paint the bodies of men and women in their off time and later on filling in the face after securing a paying customer.

Other pools of potential banality are the seascape, the cityscape, ships at sea, sad children with big eyes and Elvis Presley on velvet -even if it's done ironically. That just leaves the nude.

Good or bad, the nude gets attention. As civilized people we are always clothed in public and always curious when somebody is naked.  Not to sound sexist but the stereotype that men like look has some validity. In the 1980's a group of female artists began to protest the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They document that 90% of the artists on display were male artists and a large share of their work was female nudes. These women formed the Gorilla Girls.

 

"When racism and sexism are no longer fashionable, what will your art collection be worth?" -the Gorilla Girls

The Gorilla Girls used a potent mix of humor and facts. They also documented their facts and cited sources -which made them hard to dismiss. In the end it doesn't seem like much has changed. Graphic arts continues to look like a male dominated field. The internet has further democratized art and yet the gender lines are more strikingly stark.  

The male painter/photographer/graphic artist hiring the female model  is more than just the premise of a thousand jokes.  Feminism has come a long way but the balance of power remains unequal. This dance between the genders just highlights the real sexual differences. In the push for equality it has gotten very difficult to accept the idea that all equalities might not be symmetrical -maybe guys just aren't as beautiful as women.

One thing that dismays me is how little a good artist model gets paid these days. It's nice that posing nude is no longer scandalous but 30 years ago it was a good part time job that paid $15 - $20 an hour and now it more like $10 or less. Being a model does take a certain temperament and it's not easy holding a pose for more than a couple of minutes. If you don't believe me -try it.

One artist model I knew form a few years back had a Masters Degree in English Literature and dead end job that barely paid her rent.  She modeled for the extra money but one time over coffee admitted there was something liberating about being able to take off her clothes in a safe environment.  On the other hand there was the resentment that she was more valued for her body than her mind. Even more grinding was the knowledge she could totally drop out of the professional world, become an exotic dancer and earn a six figure income -but she thought that was unsavory and unsafe. As she said "nobody willingly wants to be that vulnerable in a dangerous place".

 

Another local painter (and he asked not to use his name in the blog) has just hired a model. So far she has posed clothed but he wants ask to do a nude. It's funny because he's nervous about bringing up the question. He's like a high school kid working up the courage to ask for a date to the prom.  In a way it's kind of nice, a small scrap of evidence that says guys are more than just testosterone and animal lust.

The boundary lines between decent, indecent, sexual and non-sexual are always changing. Sometimes it all doesn't make sense. Like one person observed that a woman can wear a bikini top in public and at worse it seems tacky or inappropriate but if she wears only a bra as a top she can be arrested for that. The art  people create today will be testament to how great and neurotic these times are so future generations will have something to compare their greatness and neuroses to.