Nudity in art

Much of the time when I am not writing about Wuh Lax, I am painting images in many media. The rise of the Internet means that there is an immense library of material to stimulate artistic efforts.

I think of myself as a pretty normal human male with pretty normal appetites of all sorts. Where I differ from the mainstream is in my opinion in my appreciation of artistic form. I, for example, think a nude painting whether of a male or female, or several humans in the nude is art.

I am interested in such art both from the aspects of how it was created, what it symbolizes, how it informs me, and how in stimulates. I don't think the human form should be hidden away, even though I know conventional wisdom suggests otherwise, and the evidence might suggest the viewing of nudes is erotic and addictive hence potentially dangerous to one's health and social relationships. That's the theory and it is pretty sound.

Nude and erotic art is frequently almost pornographic, but not quite. The line between art and pornography is pretty variable over time and across locations. Much depends on age and maturity. But, since young people these days are staying immature for longer one wonders. They seem to be developing physically sooner, but mentally later. That should alert us to the inappropriateness of the figure as an art form to be placed before children.

As a child myself once, I was not alone is viewing library books and nursing magazines for the odd glimpse of a the nude form. I jokingly admit that what got me heavily in Freudian psychology before the age of eight was the discussion of sex in almost all of his writings. Who didn't want to know why another kid wet his bed?

There is, nevertheless, in society a strong reluctance to breach the gap between the reality that our views of sex are socially determined and have nothing much to do with how we feel or wish to feel. Hence, we see so many people addicted to sex and pornography as a secret rite of passage which can lead to many deformations of character and premature aging.

That last comment might shock you, but it's probably the case that too much preoccupation with sex leads to physical changes that promote maturity prematurely. If sex becomes an addiction, it may very easily lead to premature death arising from natural causes, such as disease and abuse of one's body.

Religions vary in their attitude towards sex and nudity. We have the Roman Catholic church and the Moslem religions abusing their roles as guardians of the peace and of cooperation and sound thinking. By being obsessed with nudity, they detract from good policy. I have seen it proven that to deny one the pleasure of what is normal leads to an overcompensation psychologically. Hence, we witness the abuses of the Catholic and Moslem religions as regards the human body and it's appropriate care and beautification.

The fact that the disease of sex addiction afflicts many men of the church and the moslem places of worship should come as no surprise. That in the Moslem community women are treated as men's sex objects should also not come as a surprise. It's all in Freud!

Now those religions that work with the human body explicitly have a somewhat different take, and seem to be more in tune with human needs in an open environment that is loving and caring. We can all see the pleasures of the body, such as the sight of the reproductive organs and so called carnal knowledge are for us to enjoy. This is not to mean that we form addictive behaviours, but that we become more in tune with our bodies and potential social relationships that could derive.

My reality is that the people of whom I write in the Wuh Lax series belong to social arrangements very different from our own present day arrangements. Their attitudes towards sex, children, and families, were very different from what we have today. Woman, for example, had multiple sexual partners and children were a group responsibility. Thus, men in many cases did not know whether they were the father of a specific child. Some men would ignore their responsibilities and would sell children off as slaves for the Romans to abuse.

Art and nudity are very closely related. The earliest art forms such as found on the island of Gozo in the Mediterranean, represent women of enormous size as a fertility symbol. That reproductive organs appeared in art in early societies should not surprise us. We should be more surprised that archaeologists hid these paintings from us because they themselves were shocked by them, as in the case of digging up Pompeii art.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.