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Detroit News, Friday, January 14, 1994
By Joy Hokanson Colby
The bare facts: Thought-provoking photos illustrate the 'New Nude'
In contemplating the distinction between naked and nude, the late British
art historian Sir Kenneth Clark came up with the following thoughts: To
be naked meant "a huddled and defenseless body deprived of clothes."
Nude, on the other hand, signified the figure "balanced, prosperous
and confident" in the best tradition of high art.
This definition might have been workable some years ago. But it sure
doesn't fit The New Nude, a thoughtfully chosen photography exhibition opening
today at the Center Galleries.
A number of defenseless bodies appear in the show, among them Jeffrey
Silverthorne's female corpse photographed in the morgue and Joe Ziolkowski's
upside down figures waiting for the results of their HIV test. Under these
circumstances, a body hardly could be expected to balanced or confident.
But these vulnerable ones fit quite naturally into a '90s art context, which
demands images a lot more thought provoking than a prosperous mien.
Sir Kenneth, who brought culture into America's living room during the
'70s with the television series Civilization, admitted he disliked seeing
photographers tackle the nude. Even with considerable manipulation, he would
argue, the camera wasn't capable of perfecting and idealizing the human
body, turning it into an art object.
One photographer among the nine represented in The New Nude does idealize
his subjects, placing them in classical poses and surrounding them with
standard props such as columns, urns, flowing draperies and huge bouquets
of flowers. New Yorker Harvey Ferdschneider lights his male and female nudes
so they seem to be carved of polished marble.
You can read Ferdschneider's work as a delightful spoof of the 19th century
pictorial tradition. Or you can take his exhibition quote at face value:
"Photographing nudes is like photographing flowers; no matter what
state they are in, they are always beautiful."
However you choose to interpret Ferdschneider's pictures, they differ
markedly from everything else at the Center. But being atypical and unconventional
is the whole point of the show, according to gallery director Dennis Nawrocki,
who selected the participating photographers and their work.
For instance, Massachusetts photographer Jacqueline Hayden uses elderly
bodies in youthful poses as a way of "questioning beauty and confronting
genesis." Wrinkled feet are paired with heart-shaped buttocks in a
pose that's associated with American master Edward Weston (1886-1958).
Hayden's aim, she says, is to "interpret the tension that emerges
when idealized figures are robbed of their youth." Because she works
in a six-foot format, Hayden applies photographic chemicals with a mop and
rinses the prints with a hose, achieving a streaky finish. Indiana's Jean
Dibble blurs and draws over her photographic images that deal with breast
examinations for tumors. Her reason for selecting her subject: "I feel
the pain, ache, vulnerability and beauty of my life in the naked form."
Jeff Crisman of Chicago says he really doesn't photograph the nude. And
he has a point. He concentrates on tattoos. Not just discreet little accents
on a leg or arm, but bodies literally covered with swirling patterns from
head to toe.
There's a Buddhalike figure with his face masked by undulating scarlet
forms and a woman whose flowery tattoos blend with the floral upholstery
on her sofa. Best of all, there's a skinny fellow with masks of comedy and
tragedy decorating his buttocks. As images, Crisman's works are very rich
in color and detail.
Three Michigan artists contributed enormously to the show. Sandra Cardew
combines photographs of the female nude with historical art objects. She
cuts, reassembles and paints over her works, explaining that she uses the
human form "to initiate a journey to the expressive unconscious."
John Ganis, who teaches at the Center for Creative Studies, photographs
male and female figures under water, some of them dappled with shadows and
looking like amphibia rather than people. Freed from the effects of gravity,
Ganis sees his nudes as "metaphors for a state of primal innocence."
Detroiter Lisa Spindler's main work in the exhibit is the bent figure
from her John series, which uses a homeless man as a subject. She's added
a painted border to the image, enhancing its decorative quality.
The New Nude probably wouldn't suit Sir Kenneth. But for the rest of
us, it's a splendid send-off for the new year.
The show opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the Center
for Creative Studies' Center Galleries, 15 E. Kirby at Woodward. It will
be up through Feb. 25. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
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