But Why Naked?

I am a figure painter and I paint nudes so that I can become a better painter.  I am also a Christian with deeply held convictions on morality and sexuality and decency and the dignity of the human being. Repeat line one:  I paint nudes.

Most of these pictures are simple studies not intended for sale although I have some that are finished and I would like very much to exhibit and make them available for collections.  They are not lewd or lascivious or provocative.  I hope they are evocative, generating emotions in the viewer, stories about what this artist is trying to communicate, not necessarily about the form or the figure. But sometimes it is about the naked form. 

Sometimes people avoid looking at the paintings. I know that it makes them uncomfortable to stare.  I asked my grandson what he thought about one of the "Berts" and he was at a loss for words.  I asked him to tell me what it made him feel and he said, "Creepy."  I asked him why and he responded that the model looked hurt or angry and it made him feel weird.  "Good," I said, "because that is exactly what I was feeling when I set up the pose: hurt and angry."  "Ah," he said, and then looked back without flinching to examine the painting more closely.  I'd given him permission to look.

Have we, as a culture, lost our ability to see or have we not been taught how to "read" works of art? It takes effort and requires some knowledge of drafting and craftsmanship to do this well but it is worth it. If for no other reason than to peer into the past through the rich window pane of art.

America swings back and forth between puritanism and licentiousness.  Somewhere along this winding road the church has given up on art, losing its preservative and purifying influence as well as relegating it to a class of elitists to decipher or interpret it to the rest of our culture.   The art world needs Christians.  Christians need art.  Art needs to be accessible to all and all need to be able to access great art!

I won't even get into the discussion of "what IS art."  That to me is the wrong question and I don't have the time or knowledge to even get into it.  I am too busy making up for lost years, trying to be the best painter I can be in the time I have left.

Oh, and I paint nudes because there is nothing like human flesh draped over bones, wrinkling in crevices, stretching over muscles, reflecting warmly off of itself, planes of light melting into shadows, defining and confining the soul that lives within.


study of Bert painted 5-18-2010 from life