10.28
Would like to do some more male nude studies – got to have that balance. More difficult to find suitable willing models though. Funny that. It is more of a challenge too – how to justify it in the status quo of male nudity today – a fine line between a narcissistic, exhibitionist depiction, and art. (but even the former can be art). But what is art? Ask the men and women in suits who run the big galleries, or ask someone in the streets. No-one knows. Well I have no idea anyway. I challenge anyone to define true “Art.” So I just do my thing – do the things that I am passionate about. I am sure most artists have that drive inside them.
To me, the true (hypothetical) test of an artist would be someone who would still do art if marooned on a deserted island, with no possible chance of an audience. But yes, it is much nicer when others can view our stuff. Even then – lost on an island with no escape – we would perhaps do our art (a painting on a stone, a rock carving etc.) with the hope that one day someone would see it – like a message in a bottle. A cry for help, even beyond the grave. Leaving our mark on the World, however small a mark. Art is perhaps just that . . . a cry for help: “Look at me, here I am.”
The model here works cheap btw. I see him in the mirror every day (minus cello). Not a bad muso, on flute and drums. But only so-so on cello. A change from male nudes holding electric drills or hammers I think. Or holding fire hoses. Fire hoses just get in the way.
