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 Painting by Kehil Gibran Kahlil Gibran. He was born in Lebanon, was a poet, philosopher, and artist. His poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages and his drawings and paintings have been exhibited in the great capitals of the world. He lived in the United States, which he made his home during the last twenty years of his life. Since painting my nude self-portrait Threshold for all to see, I have had the opportunity to think about and discuss clothing… or the lack thereof. Kahlil Gibran wrote many things in is book “The Prophet” and this one struck me as interesting as I read it this week. I have bolded the most interesting phrases to me…
The weaver said, “Speak to us of Clothes.”
And he answered:
Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful.
And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy you may find in them a harness and a chain.
Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment,
For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.
Some of you say, “It is the north wind who has woven the clothes to wear.”
But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews was his thread.
And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.
Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean.
And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
We should never mistake glamor for beauty. All that glitters is not gold. Some of the most beautiful moments in life can be the most difficult to look at. Think of the messiness of birth… the broken water, the blood, the crying, the after-birth, but all is forgotten once the newborn baby is in your arms. As tears well up in your eyes and you see the face of your child first time, you have looked at a matchless beauty that is both very present and one that comes from eternity. I believe that Beauty is very much tied into the notion that when we see Beauty, we see the face of God for a few fleeting moments. If you can look into the eyes of a drunk on the side of the road with this in mind, you may be able to see beyond the skin and into his soul… into eternity. There is a deeper connection that we have with all of humanity that present within all of us. Jesus asked us to see him in those who are least amongst us. We are to look at people and even some situations, not how they are, but how they could be.
I am always on the lookout for the Beautiful. I can sometimes be very distracted by it as well – It might be a simple brushstroke on a fine Monet painting, or the indention of fingers into the nude form of a woman on a marble Bernini sculpture, or even the simple swaying of 30 foot long strands of ivy along the wall of the freeway, moving with the wind of passing traffic – until the traffic suddenly stalls in front of me, and I smash into the BMW that has stopped in traffic Luckily for me, the dark, thick amber liquid I could see pouring down her windshield was not blood from her head as I feared, it was her caramel latte. I thought of sending her a $20 Starbucks card, but decided it would be in best to leave it alone and let the insurance companies work out the details.
Beauty can be found in the oddest places. If you have seen the movie American Beauty, you may remember the scene where the girl-next-door is warming up to the voyeuristic tendencies of the boy neighbor-next-door. As they are looking at each other through second-floor bedroom windows, she begins to remove her shirt, as he films her on his hand-held video camera. As she proceeds to take of her bra, the viewer can see what he sees in the viewfinder of the camera… a close-up of her face. He was much more interested in the subtle nuances of her face, and her welcoming smile as she disrobed for him, than getting a shot of her boobs, which is what she (and I) was expecting.
What are YOUR thoughts? leave a comment below.
I think this may be my next license plate. What are your thoughts!?!
Pray Naked (a.k.a. The Seventy Sevens) is the title of The 77s‘ sixth album, released in 1992 on the Brainstorm Artists, Intl label.
The band’s first album after reforming with members of The Strawmen. Without consulting with the band, Brainstorm (or its parent company, Word Records) altered the packaging and marketing of the album, which was issued without a title (making it the second album by the band entitled simply “The Seventy Sevens”) and with the title track’s name blacked out in order to avoid offense in the conservative Christian music marketplace of which Brainstorm was a part. However, a short spoken word segment on Side Two still refers to the album as Pray Naked. Most 77s fans still call the record by its intended title, and the band has also been known to “retitle” the CD when signing autographs. (source: wikipedia)
So at the start of this year, I decided to find a local life drawing group. I did find a couple of them but they were in the mornings. I have a day job, so it would not be possible to attend the weekday one, the other is on Saturdays, which is often busy. So… I decided to start my own group. The Thousand Oaks Figure Artist Guild was born. We started out at the Thousand Oaks Community Gallery and have settled into Studio 316 on Thousand Oaks Blvd. Sometimes we start with short warm-up poses, and move into a single long pose for the night… other times we have some 25 minute poses and change up things. Painting and drawing both. Last week I took in my laptop and decided to draw with my Wacom digital drawing tablet. It was interesting. Above are some examples of the sketches and paintings I have done over the past months, including one digital painting. If you are in the area, feel free to join us on a Thursday night. Go to our Meetup website to get more details.
By Kathrin Raab-Questenberg
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Re: your June 14 article, “Nude art up, down, back up on a T.O. public wall: Officials deal with complaint plus the issue of censorship”:
I am responding to comments concerning some pieces of art in the new Hillcrest Center of the Arts show, which some viewers found inappropriate. First, let me say that it’s always satisfying to see… continued… Art is a Rorschach test
Well, “any press is good press” so the saying goes. Hopefully this article in today’s Ventura County Star will raise the issue in the Conejo Valley that there is a great need in our community for a proper art gallery/museum – instead of the borrowed space from the CRPD, which we appreciate greatly – since it is a hallway – not a destination for art lovers to view and consume artwork – nude or otherwise. There are many groups working on this issue and it is high time that they put their heads together and make the effort to bring a visual arts center to light
If this were the case, this issue would be a non-issue, and this article would not be necessary. The online story “Threshold”, shares my vision which falls far short of my heart of the inspiration and swirl of images in my mind. It is a personal expression and tribute of a classic Leonardo DaVinci drawing and to Saint Francis of Assisi, which hardly could be seen to provoke lustful thoughts or to “stumble” others. I desire that others see that it has an aesthetic touch, and a story worth telling. It is my hope that this classic image renders objection so insignificant that the modest nudity in the painting can easily be overlooked.
So, now you can check out the whole page dedicated to its development… Threshold
When Jesus said “I was naked and you clothed me” I wonder what he meant? This painting is a scene from a real life experience that I witnessed. This lady came up to us at Mac Arthur park and was not really dressed for the cold day she found herself in. It was January and in the low 50s. Her top was a sleezy mid-drift lace undergarment, and she was wearing tight biking shorts that revealed every crack and curve. Her shoes were low pumps and she was looking for a “job” when she came across the gathering. All in all, she was exposing herself to the world on a couple of levels. Physically, she was cold and pretty close to naked, but it was her soul that became exposed when she was offered a jacket to cover up with. With a cup of hot coffee in hand, she began to tell her story to Pastor Hector and Sue. There is something truly special about a warm drink from a (new) friend. Sometimes the simple things in life mean the most at times like this.
In the second of my series, I have gotten pretty far but, I have a lot of work to do yet. I will start again on the face of the lady on the left. It is a good start, but she looks dirtier than she really was, but I think that she felt even worse. She got cleaned up that day with a shower of God’s mercy through Sue and Hector. You can watch this exchange in the 5 minute video listed below under “Sunday in the Park with Rob.”
In order to show some size perspective, here is a photo from a preview showing that I did at a show at Amgen (where I work).
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A quote I would love to live like a river flows
Carried by the surprise of its own unfolding
~ John O’Donohue
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