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| painting by Bruno Leydet |
Andrew Craven’s show is not your Grandmother’s nude show. It
is smartly curated to include a dozen diverse artists who work with an evolving
range of nude subjects spanning across the spectrum of skin tones and gender.
The word “New” is important for the show’s title, the “New Nude”. For here, the
antique fantasy of the passive odalisque in stuffy mausoleums is nowhere in
sight. Different perspectives, new materials, shadows, and models that have a
tendency to hide challenge the gaze of the viewer. In an era of selfies and
“sell me” social postings, these subjects are not craving to be seen, instead
they are caught passing through, and in self-reflection and it is the viewer’s
unconscious input that haunts the work. There can be no complacency walking
through the show.
In cropped environments of textures, the artist’s hand skillfully
deconstructs the nude subject. She/He doesn’t lie down. There is a generous
supply of chaos with fragments of clothing, skin and thoughtful composition. Each
piece of artwork in the room teases.
In Mickalene Thomas’ “Left Behind 2 Again”, a de-saturated
naked woman with only one spike-heeled mule showing is surrounded with animal, botanical,
and geometric pattern swatches. Her shaded eyes, hidden feet and hands lend a
guarded feel, as if she could quickly retreat into the setting of abundant
fabrics and drapery. She is claiming her space. Diamonds and stripes form a
flag behind her. A gold brocade fragment frames the left side of the image. It
is a powerful piece that gives the model agency in the setting that redefines
the art historical trope.
Who is looking at whom? In some works there is a definite
peering through a peephole effect, yet most of the work seems to relate a
feeling of internal privacy.
The subjects can seem lost in thought. Their gaze is internal
and our gaze is drawn into their puzzling world. Erwin Olaf, a Dutch
photographer of worldwide acclaim, orchestrates scenes of emptiness and longing
inspired by the masters. In his “Keyhole #2” a European styled woman, seemingly
spied on, clutches her deco baubles and turns away from the viewer. There is
emotion under her skin.
Troy Michie, young American collage artist hailing from
Texas and Yale grad school, investigates identity and power in his life-size
work, “La Bicicleta”. His cornered image of a man with three eyes on a bike is
portrayed so intriguingly complex, that the collage keeps you looking. It is a
mischievous puzzle of design.
Jeremy Kost’s “Adam Upstate” is a collage of Polaroids that
fragment the small exposed figure and lends significant weight to the details
of the landscape.
It feels as though the nudes in
Craven’s show must deal with the sensitivity of being searched for.
One of the two 2019 Whitney Biennial artists in the show,
Paul Mpagi Sepuya presents an image, called “Mirror study”, that negates the
nude, the artist and the viewer. Using mirror shards, drapery and taped
collage, he teases us to piece the scene together. It is a symphony of whites,
warm to cool, with the artist’s black elbow and hand running like a snake in
the background. We are given just enough, and then some.
Bruno Leydet, a Canadian painter, juxtaposes patterns,
textures, tamely cropped nude males and florals. Even ensconced in their tight settings,
the expressions in both of his portrait paintings show the nude model to be miles
away.
Local Washington CT author and artist John Frederick Walker is given a
table laden with one-of-a-kind altered books. Most have the pages ripped out
and collaged nude photos of females, heavily cropped, interact discreetly and
audaciously with the spine and gutters of the book. They are sculptural
statements of handy transactions of porn through the ages.
There is another table of fabulous art books not to be missed.
The monographs on each of the artists in the show will teach you more about them
and put them in context. If you ask really nicely Craven might show you the
hidden extra drawing among the show.
The show will be up till mid January.
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