Lack of Perspective Series 4 of 4 - I Like All the Colors You Wear (detail)
Erotic Collage - 1980
The Erotic Gallery - Notes on Classic Nudes
A friend who has seen some of my art work and some of the Museum in progress said to me one day - "Murray, your website is not for children or Bible bangers!" I laughed and had to agree with him. I suppose someone could be offended in one way or another by just about anything I have made - like, it just might be "bad art" or "not art". Someone could be offended by my politics. No matter what my politics are, I think my friend was referring to the Erotic Gallery within the museum. People can and probably will be offended if they decide to look when they should skip the whole idea of an Erotic Gallery. Parents will not want their children to stumble in there - no doubt about that. Any person offended by the thought of sex, or by nudity of any kind should not go there. Any person who is deeply religious, or even slightly religious, who would probably be offended by sacrilegious subject matter - should skip the Erotic Gallery and spend time somewhere else in the museum. Grandchildren have said to me of other work - "Beautiful, Grandpa!"
While taking Studio Arts classes at the University of Minnesota, Life Drawing classes (with live, sometimes nude male and female models) are part of the BFA program. I had been drawing nudes. I also did watercolors and oil pastels of nudes but that was not necessarily what I wanted to do. I was in a "Life Drawing" class when I first made collages with nudes as the subject matter.
A Life Drawing homework assignment was to do two drawings of nudes based on a real nude woman, photographs or drawings of a nude woman. Instead of doing the drawing homework assignment, I decided to make collages using black and white photographs from a few Popular Photography magazines. I collaged images that became surreal landscapes with nudes that were blurred by focus or movement in the original photo. The collages were accepted as a completed, highly regarded, homework assignment - the only collages I made while at the U of M.
During the mid to late seventies, after graduating with a BFA, I made a few collages that had women dressed and undressed in them but I had not specifically been working on a series of collages with women.
The art work seen in the Erotic Gallery began on a modest note - specifically with two small collages with fashion models in clothing - in 1979 after moving from Minneapolis to San Francisco.
The first of these starter collages, was a nod to the past as it was dedicated to Paul Gauguin and titled Palm Trees With Natives (7"H x 5&3/4W"). I see this collage as the beginning of the Model Art - Head Line Series and of what became the Goddess - Nymph Series.
The second of the two starter collages is titled - Walk With Me, Talk With Me, On A Magic Night Like This (6"x6"). The image is of a fully dressed woman in a collaged cityscape with a nighttime sky. I see this collage as the beginning of the Midnight Fantasy Series. You can see these two "erotic" starter collages, along with a few follow-up collages, in the Abstract and Representational Collage Gallery.
I then made another collage with a tropical/native theme, in a slightly larger format, titled Nymphs in Paradise (7&1/2"x18&1/2"). I continued with a few more collages using fashion models in clothing as nymphs.
I could tell that I was going to be making more collages with models and I needed a much better word than "native" in the title for any possible series. (I was already doing drawings in series, why not collages in a series.) For the new word and as a basis for the new series, I took a couple cues from Classic Art History. In drawings, paintings and sculptures by many artists, an art lover can find beautiful, powerful women partially dressed or naked. The women were called "Nymphs" and "Goddesses" - the very words I would use in the title of my new series.
Nymphs in clothing are one thing but with the new series, I felt a need to get rid of the modesty, be more bold about the images and get some new pictures of models to spark up the collages with nudes from our modern times - to go along with the classic words for our times. I introduced nude models by eventually getting a couple of new magazines to continue the Goddess and Nymph Series. I began collecting more background images for more collage making. Probably the collage that most expresses the classical take on the matter is - Venus Daydreaming in Classical Landscape with Sky Line. (in the Erotic Gallery). Other titles and settings refer to the Classical idea also.
At about the same time I decided to up the ante with my use of pictures of naked women, I began the Midnight Fantasy Series using pictures of women from "men's" magazines, photography magazines and fashion magazines. Since I already had a collection of pictures of planets, nebulas, galaxies, stars and more of outer space, I decided the fantasy series would take place in space. Why? For perspective, deep depth, wonder, beauty and fun.
I often worked on art projects at midnight, so, I decided the word "midnight" was perfect for the fantasy series title. I worked on the Model Art - Head L:ine Series, the Midnight Fantasy Series and the Goddess - Nymph Series simultaneously.
In the spring of 1980 I moved to Yosemite Valley. Sometime in early 1981, I went to the garbage dumpster with my trash one day and found that someone had left a couple stacks of Playboy and Penthouse Magazines in front of the dumpster. I went into a major collage production time working on the above mentioned series. One day months later, I found more of the same magazines plus a few Hustler magazines to add to my collage material.
For the few years I worked on these collages, I was always working on other art projects at the same time. Eventually, I finished the figurative projects. They more or less, just came to an end because I wanted to move on to something else. However, after 137 Midnight Fantasies collages, I was not yet finished with figurative work.
I still did not have money to photograph hired models, nor did I have a studio to photograph them in. But as a photographer with lots of wall space in our Phoenix, AZ home. (2006 - 2009). I could (and would) make and install lots of art. I had shot hundreds of photos at many locations. I had been working on the Photo Wall Series for years and I decided to add nudes and props to the scenes I could make up with my own photos - in the style and process of the Photo Wall Installations - that is photo collages made to install on the wall with multiple push pins - as murals on a wall - as part of the wall. (See the Photo Wall Installations Gallery).
Since the aforementioned collage projects had come to an arbitrary end, I needed to come up with a title idea for the new series. I did not have to think very long when I came up with the thought of continuing the miraculous - as in Goddesses, Nymphs, powerful women and again, as in the Classic paintings of Art History.
I had already decided that in the new series I would ramp up the nudity aspect once again, with more graphic nudity, Why? Because a person could see women in sexy underwear on the sides of buses. On street corner kiosks in downtown San Francisco, you could see nude couples embracing - just so, in a way you could not see female nipples or anyone's genitals. To make my art work less classical and less like advertisements for pants. I chose, along with graphic nudity, to add a sacrilegious subject matter to the series, making it even less like underwear ads. I chose pictures of graphically naked women and men to play parts in the Blessed Virgin Series.
I may be the first artist to portray the so-called Blessed Virgin graphically naked but I really do not know. I know that the lobby walls of the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA are lined with Art Deco Angels, all perfectly naked except for wings.
Throughout my years of looking at paintings in museums, galleries or Art History books with images of the Blessed Virgin (from many artists, from many lands and times, including Folk Art paintings) I cannot remember seeing a blonde Blessed Virgin. There may be a blonde Virgin Mary somewhere in history (I would not doubt it) but I have not seen that image or can no longer. With that in mind, I decided the Blessed Virgin in my series of collages would be blonde. There are a couple non-blonde exceptions who handle the role very well in a couple of the collages.
Over the years while making these erotic collages, they go up on the walls of my home, on display for some period of time - usually until I have something else I want to install. When people came to my home they saw what I was making. I know for a fact not everyone that came was so happy about all of the naked women on the walls. Despite the complaints both women and men were fascinated and liked the work just fine. Along the way a few called the work chauvinistic tit and ass pictures - nothing more. I can see why someone might think that. Some men and women asked where were the naked men or why are all the women white. Well, first of all I am not the least bit interested in naked men for one thing. Besides that, most of the magazines that I found had women, not men in them. That changed when I found a few Hustler magazines which are more towards hardcore porn than soft porn. I would pick models by how they fit into the image or composition. For the most part it was not a matter of what color the models were. A naked beautiful woman of any color or race is still beautiful to me.
With the Blessed Virgin Series I tried to remedy a couple of the complaints people had about previous collages. Naked men became Archangels or Bodyguards for the Blessed Virgin and one took on the role of being Joseph from the Bible - a tough role for any man. I chose images of women from a variety of races, cultures, and nationalities. I made the Blessed Virgin Contest as a good excuse to get many women into one collage. I figure God had to pick a Blessed Virgin somehow.
We now have family who visit and would surely be offended by a naked whoever. As a courtesy to them we are keeping the Classic nudes in the bedroom where only the appropriate guest can enter.
As far as I am concerned, every woman that appears in my artwork looks classic and blessed to me. The Blessed Virgin Series is dedicated to all of the women who appear in my various art projects. The women in my art work are not weak nor are they victims - they are goddesses, Venus and Diana, they are powerful women in and of nature, they are Blessed. In space, men orbit around the women just like in real life on earth.
MSN - Wise Fools Day - 2016
"Dear Ladies - Everyday...I want to kiss you. I want to touch you. I want to make love with all of you. See what I mean by a 'Lack of Perspective' ?"While taking Studio Arts classes at the University of Minnesota, Life Drawing classes (with live, sometimes nude male and female models) are part of the BFA program. I had been drawing nudes. I also did watercolors and oil pastels of nudes but that was not necessarily what I wanted to do. I was in a "Life Drawing" class when I first made collages with nudes as the subject matter.
A Life Drawing homework assignment was to do two drawings of nudes based on a real nude woman, photographs or drawings of a nude woman. Instead of doing the drawing homework assignment, I decided to make collages using black and white photographs from a few Popular Photography magazines. I collaged images that became surreal landscapes with nudes that were blurred by focus or movement in the original photo. The collages were accepted as a completed, highly regarded, homework assignment - the only collages I made while at the U of M.
During the mid to late seventies, after graduating with a BFA, I made a few collages that had women dressed and undressed in them but I had not specifically been working on a series of collages with women.
The art work seen in the Erotic Gallery began on a modest note - specifically with two small collages with fashion models in clothing - in 1979 after moving from Minneapolis to San Francisco.
The first of these starter collages, was a nod to the past as it was dedicated to Paul Gauguin and titled Palm Trees With Natives (7"H x 5&3/4W"). I see this collage as the beginning of the Model Art - Head Line Series and of what became the Goddess - Nymph Series.
The second of the two starter collages is titled - Walk With Me, Talk With Me, On A Magic Night Like This (6"x6"). The image is of a fully dressed woman in a collaged cityscape with a nighttime sky. I see this collage as the beginning of the Midnight Fantasy Series. You can see these two "erotic" starter collages, along with a few follow-up collages, in the Abstract and Representational Collage Gallery.
I then made another collage with a tropical/native theme, in a slightly larger format, titled Nymphs in Paradise (7&1/2"x18&1/2"). I continued with a few more collages using fashion models in clothing as nymphs.
I could tell that I was going to be making more collages with models and I needed a much better word than "native" in the title for any possible series. (I was already doing drawings in series, why not collages in a series.) For the new word and as a basis for the new series, I took a couple cues from Classic Art History. In drawings, paintings and sculptures by many artists, an art lover can find beautiful, powerful women partially dressed or naked. The women were called "Nymphs" and "Goddesses" - the very words I would use in the title of my new series.
Nymphs in clothing are one thing but with the new series, I felt a need to get rid of the modesty, be more bold about the images and get some new pictures of models to spark up the collages with nudes from our modern times - to go along with the classic words for our times. I introduced nude models by eventually getting a couple of new magazines to continue the Goddess and Nymph Series. I began collecting more background images for more collage making. Probably the collage that most expresses the classical take on the matter is - Venus Daydreaming in Classical Landscape with Sky Line. (in the Erotic Gallery). Other titles and settings refer to the Classical idea also.
At about the same time I decided to up the ante with my use of pictures of naked women, I began the Midnight Fantasy Series using pictures of women from "men's" magazines, photography magazines and fashion magazines. Since I already had a collection of pictures of planets, nebulas, galaxies, stars and more of outer space, I decided the fantasy series would take place in space. Why? For perspective, deep depth, wonder, beauty and fun.
I often worked on art projects at midnight, so, I decided the word "midnight" was perfect for the fantasy series title. I worked on the Model Art - Head L:ine Series, the Midnight Fantasy Series and the Goddess - Nymph Series simultaneously.
In the spring of 1980 I moved to Yosemite Valley. Sometime in early 1981, I went to the garbage dumpster with my trash one day and found that someone had left a couple stacks of Playboy and Penthouse Magazines in front of the dumpster. I went into a major collage production time working on the above mentioned series. One day months later, I found more of the same magazines plus a few Hustler magazines to add to my collage material.
For the few years I worked on these collages, I was always working on other art projects at the same time. Eventually, I finished the figurative projects. They more or less, just came to an end because I wanted to move on to something else. However, after 137 Midnight Fantasies collages, I was not yet finished with figurative work.
I still did not have money to photograph hired models, nor did I have a studio to photograph them in. But as a photographer with lots of wall space in our Phoenix, AZ home. (2006 - 2009). I could (and would) make and install lots of art. I had shot hundreds of photos at many locations. I had been working on the Photo Wall Series for years and I decided to add nudes and props to the scenes I could make up with my own photos - in the style and process of the Photo Wall Installations - that is photo collages made to install on the wall with multiple push pins - as murals on a wall - as part of the wall. (See the Photo Wall Installations Gallery).
Since the aforementioned collage projects had come to an arbitrary end, I needed to come up with a title idea for the new series. I did not have to think very long when I came up with the thought of continuing the miraculous - as in Goddesses, Nymphs, powerful women and again, as in the Classic paintings of Art History.
I had already decided that in the new series I would ramp up the nudity aspect once again, with more graphic nudity, Why? Because a person could see women in sexy underwear on the sides of buses. On street corner kiosks in downtown San Francisco, you could see nude couples embracing - just so, in a way you could not see female nipples or anyone's genitals. To make my art work less classical and less like advertisements for pants. I chose, along with graphic nudity, to add a sacrilegious subject matter to the series, making it even less like underwear ads. I chose pictures of graphically naked women and men to play parts in the Blessed Virgin Series.
I may be the first artist to portray the so-called Blessed Virgin graphically naked but I really do not know. I know that the lobby walls of the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA are lined with Art Deco Angels, all perfectly naked except for wings.
Throughout my years of looking at paintings in museums, galleries or Art History books with images of the Blessed Virgin (from many artists, from many lands and times, including Folk Art paintings) I cannot remember seeing a blonde Blessed Virgin. There may be a blonde Virgin Mary somewhere in history (I would not doubt it) but I have not seen that image or can no longer. With that in mind, I decided the Blessed Virgin in my series of collages would be blonde. There are a couple non-blonde exceptions who handle the role very well in a couple of the collages.
Over the years while making these erotic collages, they go up on the walls of my home, on display for some period of time - usually until I have something else I want to install. When people came to my home they saw what I was making. I know for a fact not everyone that came was so happy about all of the naked women on the walls. Despite the complaints both women and men were fascinated and liked the work just fine. Along the way a few called the work chauvinistic tit and ass pictures - nothing more. I can see why someone might think that. Some men and women asked where were the naked men or why are all the women white. Well, first of all I am not the least bit interested in naked men for one thing. Besides that, most of the magazines that I found had women, not men in them. That changed when I found a few Hustler magazines which are more towards hardcore porn than soft porn. I would pick models by how they fit into the image or composition. For the most part it was not a matter of what color the models were. A naked beautiful woman of any color or race is still beautiful to me.
With the Blessed Virgin Series I tried to remedy a couple of the complaints people had about previous collages. Naked men became Archangels or Bodyguards for the Blessed Virgin and one took on the role of being Joseph from the Bible - a tough role for any man. I chose images of women from a variety of races, cultures, and nationalities. I made the Blessed Virgin Contest as a good excuse to get many women into one collage. I figure God had to pick a Blessed Virgin somehow.
We now have family who visit and would surely be offended by a naked whoever. As a courtesy to them we are keeping the Classic nudes in the bedroom where only the appropriate guest can enter.
As far as I am concerned, every woman that appears in my artwork looks classic and blessed to me. The Blessed Virgin Series is dedicated to all of the women who appear in my various art projects. The women in my art work are not weak nor are they victims - they are goddesses, Venus and Diana, they are powerful women in and of nature, they are Blessed. In space, men orbit around the women just like in real life on earth.
MSN - Wise Fools Day - 2016
MSN - 1980 - From Lack of Perspective #4, the first work in the Erotic Gallery