Saturday, August 2, 2008

"Naughty" Nude (or, "Art UNwanted")...

A number of years ago when it was still relatively new, I signed on for a free account with Artwanted.com, an online art community (http://www.artwanted.com/artist.cfm?ArtID=14973) like so many others that have popped up on the 'net. Though I never did get terribly involved over there, I have maintained a bio/portfolio hosted through the site, updating it from time to time (albeit very sporadically).

The other day however, I uploaded my new little bas-relief nude to my portfolio, without thinking much about it -- only to be informed within a few hours by the site moderators that they were removing it due to its 'unsuitable content' (rolls eyes). Please. I personally think the human body is beautiful in all its forms and guess I just take nudity in art for granted, because I was surprised, if not a little irked, by the reaction. What legitimate and credible art establishment worth its salt cannot tolerate a little nudity within the context of art? I forget that people can be so easily offended I guess. As if nudity equates pornography -- a total non-issue for me, and an attitude I really can't personally abide. In fact the whole matter strikes me as so very Bourgeois I'm now reconsidering even bothering to keep my portfolio open over there. Eh....

At any rate, this experience does remind me to be grateful and appreciative that EBSQ and Papier Mache Resource do not share the same arcane and prudish attitude/policies....

2 comments:

nina kuriloff said...

I went through the exact same experiences you describe at artwanted.com on at least 2 occasions.

I was extremely annoyed about the prudishness of the site.

However, now one can have a Premium membership there with "private" gallery for nude artwork.
ha!
It is private and the casual viewer of one's website there, would need a password, provided by the artist, to see one's nude artwork.
;)

Patience said...

Hi, Nina -- thanks for commenting.

Indeed, I do find it all very eye-rolling. Though I'm sorry it also happened to you -- in a way I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.

Well, certainly it's *their* site to do as they so choose, plus it's pretty hard to argue the whole 'free' aspect (But ha, I imagine someone plugging in a password just to check out my little nude, probably expecting something REALLY juicy -- and getting only a bit of 'rear end' (I mean please, nowadays it's easy enough to see practically as much flesh IN PERSON at the beach!)