Would You Get Naked for Art?

I spent half an hour alone in my bedroom taking naked pictures of myself this afternoon.

Yup, sure did.

No, it wasn't for a late Valentine's gift for my hubby, nor am I trying to be included in next month's Real Chicks, Real Nekkid: The Pale and Pasty Edition. And I don't have any funny moles that I'm trying to get a closer look at, and I haven't gone off the deep end with rampant narcissism...yet. It's for art! All for art!

Gary Reef has unveiled his second Klimt inspired challenge. Not sure if you can read the link without signing up to his ning, so here's the gist:

You are to make a naked self portrait of yourself in Klimt style. You can show as much or as little flesh as you like. You can choose to cover your body with fantastic Klimt style fabrics or be more adventurous and show more skin.

Klimt’s artistic creed could be summed up by the idea of naked truth. “The truth is naked: this fact had been known by… artistic practice for centuries. But the (Secession movement)… was able to turn this statement around…nakedness is true.” (Rainer Metzger, quoted from Gustav Klimt: Drawings and Watercolours).“Whoever is committed to the truth must be committed to nakedness.”

Now there is enough blog material for a month of Sundays in this idea of "naked truth". It is an interesting one, although I do strongly suspect that in Klimt's particular case, a proclivity for painting nudes had just as much to do with him being a perv, as it did with any lofty artistic ideals. Still there is something to be said for the absolute vulnerability of being naked. When you are stripped of all props and pretensions, it is hard to be other than you really are, and it is exciting as an artist to think about capturing some of that undressed honesty. So I'm doing it...because I like the idea of exploring my truth through art, and I like the idea of being bold. And quite frankly, the whole idea kind of amuses me (clearly, Klimt isn't the only perv around here! ;)

But the logistics of a mild mannered mother of two, turning into a wanton, nude self portrait painting, art goddess are considerable. I quickly ruled out the idea of sketching whilst in the buff. I mean, who has that kind of time just to be naked? I can picture it now, two little kids banging on the bedroom door, demanding snacks and asking awkwardly penetrating questions, while I am in there, boobs smudged with charcoal, hunched over my paper scribbling feverishly away. And also, it's cold. So I snuck up to the bedroom this afternoon, while the light was good and the progeny were in school, to snap a few reference photos.

I was prepared to be horrified...to be stabbing at that delete button, with my cheeks burning, as I vowed never, ever to eat chocolate again, and then vehemently emptying the recylce bin on my computer...twice, just to be sure. But you know, for a slightly chubby, pink and pale skinned lady, I am really not so bad. Who knew? With a little photoshop action, I'd really be laughin'.

But no. No photoshop. This is about truth.

So obstacle one, of the naked challenge has been sorted. Next up, when will I draw it? How covert should I be? Does it permanently scar 9 year old boys to see naked, but tasteful portraits of their mother? (Very tasteful, no full frontal for me, thank you very much. But there will be some bum action, and at least one nipple.) Is it ethically wrong to slim yourself down just a wee bit when working on a challenge about truth? (the truth is I want to slim myself down just a wee bit!) Should I add strategically placed bits of Klimt-style mosaic or go for the nekkid, nude gusto? Will I have the cohones to post the finished portrait on the GR ning? And what the heck should I do with all these extra pictures??? (Pale and Pasty Edition here I come!)

(painting above is Goldfish by Gustav Klimt)