Many               
people of the       
Australian Seventies  
will be unable to forget
            Cartoonist,   Larry Pickering's   
        political  calendars.   Not  only
          were  they 'starkers', prompting
            newsagent    warnings,  when  it  
           came to uncovering  the body
         of selected politicians,  the
              the images were pol-    
            politically insight-
           ful. 
   
             The                                                                    Symbol                              Body                               and                
   M e t a p h o r
What is afoot                        
for the artist who has                  
      a need to represent the naked        
                   human figure through
                                 visual art?      
                
        Within                
each part
     of the hum-
            an figure
          there is the
         potential for
            artists     to
          build  mean-
        ings that  go
         beyond mere
        representat-
     ion.     Even
       without an  
     intended     
              meaning, the            
           naked figure         
         is so heavily     
        loaded, just 
         waiting to
                    go off.    
                                 
   
   
   
   
....with Artist Alan Tulloch
   TRANSFIGART
   
....with Artist Alan Tulloch
An Online Connection for "The Figure as Document" Woodlands ArtsFest 2004
   
   
   
   
E  Artist Alan Tulloch
All images on this website are copyright to ascribed artists and may not be reproduced without the permision of respective artists.
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Workshop Introduction
Taking    the
naked body
issue by the neck.
Getting the        
Head      around    Nakedness............  
  There  are  about  as  many    
      cultural   codes   about   the       
     body as there  are  bodies.    
         This  page  is  aiming  to       
   give  some voice to
       issues around  naked-      
            ness in  visual  art.        
            The Long
        Arm of the        
        Law is not           
     far from each                   
     individual's                          
    own tendency                         
       to apply forms                             
     of censorship                              
  in relation to                              
   the represent-                              
   tation of the                                       human figure                                
      in art  and   in                                       
life.    Invari-                                     
  ably,   a 'line                                      
'has to  be                                         
"drawn"                                               
somewhere'.                                       
Flex                               
   your                           
muscles in     
       this   debate        
      on   the issue
      of the naked
        figure    in
            art.............. 
            Send   an
              an email
                  with  your
                   comment
                      and you
                        will be
                         able to
                        see the
                      ongoing
                    discuss-
                ion at this
           Link.  
         
The need to                                                       
Cover Up                                           
is only experienc-                                             
ed by humans (to                                         
my current know-                                       
    ledge).  Whether                                   
    is that we fear                                 
         the likes of  Pick-                           
                ering's pen, or                       
     moral codes,
              we don't wear
                       nakedness
                                                naturally.       
The Hand             
is poised to      
cover,  if there
is a percieved
     need to stop
              a GAZE..
A                       
       task to try to     
naturalise
    nakedness
            is often taken         
           up by  naturalist       
       magazines,    but   
   they often cause it
to seem more un-
    natural to be naked
through a   lack of
   'art principles'   to
        make the image    
      actually trans-   
      mit    to   the   
trained eye
a sense
          of natur-         
alness.  
                                         We
                                     stand
                                on  broad
                      codes of value 
                  that aim to protect  
       individuals and groups 
    from ills that come their
  way.  The unclothed body  
is somewhat vulnerable.     Clothing provides physic-  
al protection from the ele-   ments, certain sharps &   
things that bite.  History      
shows that our bodies      
need other protections      
as well.  Standing up-      
right is a declaration         
beyond what is seen        
in other animals. To        
stand upright and         
naked invites oth-          
er people to scrut-         
inize what they         
can see.          
Any part of a
body can be
eroticised.
               I once viewed a       
               video  by  an artist
                  who  had a camera
                    set   on the pit at the
                      bottom of a woman's
                          throat.  It took some 
                        time  to  work  out
                          what exactly was
                          being seen on
                               the    video.   I    
                                   felt like I was     
                                     'peeping'    at      
                                 something in-
                                 timate     as
                                         the pit  rose     
                                          & deepened    
                                       with the wo-
                                      man's breath.
    
                              The Artist  
                          sets body agenda
            for representation through
definite skills and                     
knowledge.                                      
To
  hide
      parts of
                 the body in        
               one culture can        
              mean different things   
           to another culture and
                    in different periods  of time.   
             To current 'Western" eyes,
           there are only a few parts  
          of  the  body  that  should     
      not be seen on any  Aust-  
  ralian  beach each sum- 
  mer.  Yet,  to cultures       
      that  have a tradition              
      of  total body  cover,               
not enough is                     
          hidden...........                                
as


Contro-
versally,   this    
insight was incarnated                
through  parts  of  the                 
body  that  were usually                  
kept   out  of  the  public                     
sight.       Any artist  who                   
     is  worth   their   'salt  of                        
   insight'   needs   to   be                        
    able   to   send   vision                         
      and debate any part                            
     of  the    human                           
                domain.                           

The artist 
needs   to  be  like  our  National  news-
caster,   the  ABC,  reporting   stories 
without  fear  or favour. Some would
like   to expand this to be 'without
fear, favour or fetish',    but the
problem is that 'fetish' is part of the
human condition. There are times when
fetish (and even titilation) needs to become
part of the  reportage.    'Titilation', the erotic and
the exploitative  are  part  of human workings - in
spite of political correctness and the feminist dis-
  courses  on  the  role  of  the  'male gaze' etc.   The
     justfication for any representation that appears to
   fly in the face  of accepted codes must prim-
    arily lie in the  intention  behind the art
- not     just    in    what    is
shown   of    the
'nether
reg-
ions'.