You, too, can be an artist!!!

I love old stuff.

I recently went on a little shopping spree at the Spencer Antique Mall, which is sort of like a huge flea market full of neat old stuff. Not junky flea market finds, though -- really interesting goods from another time. I bought some pretty vintage aprons which I turned into curtains for my kitchen, some homemade hot pepper jelly (not an antique... but homemade canned goods are old-fashioned, so it's all good,) an antique pink Lindy Star ring (my Christmas gift to myself!) and some old magazines. Among them was a really torn up 1950s Popular Mechanics magazine that the lady threw in for free because it was in such bad shape. I had the bright idea to use it to decoupage a box with a mechanical theme, and came across this ad.

Gee, you could get $65 - $80 or more a week! Hahaha! So things haven't changed, much. And I love the sultry model. The funny thing is, all the nude models I've ever seen in drawing class were nowhere near this gorgeous. In my first figure drawing course, the first week of school, there were all these jocks in the class because they thought they would get to see women like the one in the ad. When the model showed up, HE was about 50, paunchy, with a lot of body hair and moles. Funny -- the class was a lot smaller the next week. Wonder why?

Grody models aside, I do think the human body is gorgeous, and don't understand why people get so uptight about nudes in art. There is a huge difference between art and pornography, and I'm always surprised that my students understand that difference more readily than a lot of other people. Maybe it's the generation, but I don't think so. I think we learn to be really offended about everything once we grow up and get suspicious and jaded about the world.

Chocolate Crucifix Controversy

Artist Cosimo Cavalarro created this life-sized, extremely realistic sculpture of the crucified Christ out of -- get this -- chocolate. It is part of an exhibit that is slated to open on Monday at the Roger Smith Lab Gallery in downtown Manhattan. However, the sculpture has offended some (no, really? Art offends people?) The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is calling for a boycott of a hotel that accompanies the gallery, and has written to over 500 religious and civil organizations to participate in the boycott.

Offensive or not, I think the sculpture is amazing. I mean, look at that detail! After reading the CNN coverage of the controversy, it sounds like most of the people in the offended camp are upset at the nudity, not so much the medium. If that's the case, then what's up with that? It's not shown in a sexual way, and wasn't Jesus stripped of all his clothing when he was crucified? It kind of brings to light the nastiness of that sort of execution, and the humiliation of his ordeal, if you ask me. It was not a pretty, Renaissance painting scenario. To prettify it kind of takes away the agony and humiliation of public execution, and the cruelty of those performing the deed.

And the medium? Chocolate kind of makes sense for Easter, and then if you think about the communion wafer being consumed as the body of Christ, it's kind of interesting to think about an entire life-sized, intricate representation of Christ made from something consumabale (and enjoyable!)

It will be interesting to see if the show opens on Monday, as planned, or not. I am not personally offended by the piece, but I am also an artist, so I am looking through an artist's eyes. I can see how some would probably be offended, though.