Recently, I saw two HBO documentaries from awhile back: Naked States and Naked World. Both documentaries center on Spencer Tunick, a photographer who is known for taking pictures of massive groups of nude people. The people pose in front of national buildings or sometimes they are just lying in a large field. Tunick says that he views the groups of nudes as "part of the landscape." I don't know---the art seems kind of gimmicky. I mean, there's the artist George Rodrigue who is well-known for his blue dog paintings. He basically paints the same blue dog over and over. It's iconic; people see that blue dog and know that it is Rodrigue's work that they are looking at. But is it art?
I guess I would see Rodrigue's work as more art-worthy than Tunick's. Somehow Tunick's photos appeal to me...you squint your eyes and you don't see naked bodies; you just see flesh tones embedded into the photo. You unsquint your eyes and suddenly 1,000 nude bodies are before you. Most of the people who pose are white, or so it seems when you look at the photo...or is it that all of the bodies just merge into the flesh tone that we describe as "white"?
What makes me laugh is that in Naked States, there is a point where Tunick seeks out Phish fans as possible people to photograph. At a Phish concert, he extends an invitation to photograph a group of nude people...hoping to have at least 1,000 people show up. 2,000 people showed up... this was a Phish concert...it made sense.
I think the photos are cool to look at but... 2 things come to mind when I look at them:
1] the people strangely resemble piles of carcasses
2] Tunick's art kind of reminds me of the Magic Eye fad of the late 1990s...
Damn-- I need to come up with some gimmicky art and make tons of money. Then I can sit around all day, read, and drink milkshakes:)
1 comment:
Hello Plethoria,
To see more of Spencer's art, including some of his lesser known early works or his individual shots, come to www.spencertunickforum.org
We have accounts of those of us who have posed(I'm in your second photo, of Cleveland) and news photos of Spencer's most recent events in Venezuela, Spain and, from early this month, Germany.
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