The Destruction of LaRee

The following is just a little something that I posted on facebook as a discussion thread started. So far, it has worked.

WARNING: The following post contains nude images and ideas. Most of the pictures should be fine to look at, but if you are in a public place (library etc...) or around your family, chances are there will be a “nude-shock” if you click on them. I don’t suggest you click on anything if there is any chance of someone having a lesser opinion of you by looking at them. Then again, who am I to say? “culture shock” may be what we need.

Also, don’t google ‘art nudes’. There is a misinterpretation of the term, and you will get results on the front page that you REALLY don’t want.

Bottom Line: I have decided to do art nudes this upcoming semester, and model for a painter at UNT.
The problem: I have some friends (and when my parents find out, I’m guessing, them too) that are upset with the idea of my nude modeling. They think that they body is either overtly sexual or disgusting. And that is why I’m writing today: to show that art nudes are not porn. I will not be modeling to be sexually explicit, but to show that my body is a work of art meant to create art. I will be modeling for the sake of art and art alone. If you still think I'm icky because I will be doing this sort of modeling, then so be it. Art is my passion.

Words of post: raw, emotion, form

Let me refer you to a couple of links:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=129006&page=
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=236482&page=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudity_and_sexuality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_(art)



Photos (there are 7):
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4a492a3d1787c&date=2009-06-29%2013:55:25&id=1222112&pid=13034780&the_count=1&group_id=&ua=
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4a3e6c012ba79&date=2009-06-21%2010:21:05&id=91253&pid=12908276&the_count=53&group_id=&ua=
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=466705db032b0&date=2007-06-06%2015:07:07&id=11311&pid=3115915
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4851d90f2f1bc&date=2008-06-12%2022:18:58&id=125719&pid=7121556
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4924a00d1f921&date=2008-11-19%2018:23:59&id=357794&pid=9349899
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4a3bd86d74de5&date=2009-06-19%2011:26:53&id=1178726&pid=12885372
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=47514f7f7a270&date=2007-12-01%2007:11:50&id=45851&pid=4853275

If you clicked on any of the photos, please let me know if ANY of them offended you. Personally, I see them as works of art. Each model has chosen to show their body as a beautiful being that has a form and movement. ‘Art nudes’, as the industry calls it, are raw emotion.

I also commend Bethany Hodge for her outstanding work with elbeast. Your photos are amazing and you are beautiful inside and out.


Nude modeling has been around for centuries. Nude models are also especially helpful to artists learning human anatomy and form. Nude models are also not necessarily ‘naked’. In this case, they aren’t showcasing clothing, but emotion. Nude models can also be adorned by body paint, hair accessories, jewelry, sheets, etc…

Posing is a huge issue in nude modeling as well. This is probably why some people think that nude modeling is such an inappropriate thing for people that they know well, someone that they know to be a good-hearted person who wouldn’t be sexually explicit. There are models who pose explicitly in the industry. These poses and photos will probably haunt them through finding a job, gaining respect and close friends, and through old age. Like tattoos, these photos aren’t probably something that model will want lying around. This isn’t a set definition, but that is my opinion on it.

Art nude modeling is something completely different. This is where movement and raw emotion comes into play. You can see the muscles working as a dancer flies through the air. You can see the intensity in a boxer’s eyes as he scales his opponent. You can study body language; you can admire the curves of someone’s body. All the while, you don’t have to feel ashamed at what you are looking at. It’s not a sexual thing. In the case of the dancer, for example, think of it as an x-ray. You can see what the dancer is doing without the fancy outfit. All of her/his muscles are working together in a symphony to create a beautiful form and design within space. I admire that, and that is what I want to do. I want to convey a raw emotion and form.

So what does this have to do with you?
Nothing.
Unless you want to do some art nude modeling. Which, if you are completely comfortable with your body, I encourage you to give it a try. Implied nudes are also a genre of modeling where you are not completely nude, but it is implied in the image that you are. This doesn’t necessarily change the type of modeling that you can do.

I leave you with one line:
Let the discussion begin.