For a man to attain to an eminent degree in learning costs him time, watching, hunger, nakedness, dizziness in the head, weakness in the stomach, and other inconveniences.

Miguel De Cervantes

Groove featured at Discovered Artists

Each day, we feature one piece of art, photography or sculpture that we’d like you to consider buying today. If the piece we are recommending is purchased within three days of this post, DiscoveredArtists.com will pay the shipping cost on behalf of the buyer.

Clicking on the image below will take you directly to the artist’s gallery, where you can learn more about the work, the artist and purchase.

[From DiscoveredArtists.com’s Featured Painting of the Day: “Groove” by Jennie Rosenbaum « ]

My painting Groove has been featured as painting of the day on Discovered Artists’ blog. thanks guys! I really appreciate it, it’s lovely to see it n such a nice room setting as well. Discovered artists work really hard to represent their artists and to publicise them. I’ve never seen an online gallery do so much for their artists before. to join DA you can view their artist’s information here. my full gallery on DA is here.

Digital 3D created in Daz Studio

20-something male, while passing sculpture of male nude: I don’t get it. If you’re going to make it with a dick, why make it so small?

–Time Warner Center

Overheard in New York

Last week I received a rejection phone call. not a form letter, but a call to explain why my proposal regarding censorship had been rejected.

A couple of months back I submitted a proposal for an installation. it was for an art project set in a series of empty shops in a suburb of Melbourne. I decided rather than submit a series of paintings to be put on display I would go for something different. I would test myself and the people running the project. I decided to do an installation.

the concept was to show a gallery forced to close because of the subject matter in the artwork. I took real examples from national and international censorship issues and decided to show my works covered up in the same, brutal, methods used. duct tape, paper plates, garbage and paper bags, and empty spaces where the works were obviously so controversial as to be removed entirely. everything was going to be applied carefully to not damage the works but look as harsh as possible. the look was to be of a gallery that kept trying to appease everyone and still had to close down because nobody wanted to buy works they couldn’t see. and that clearly there was nothing wrong with the works to begin with. The reason for wanting to use my own works was accessibility, I needed to be able to install this at the drop of a hat, and the sheer lack of contention surrounding my works. I also don’t mind treating my work this way to make a statement but it’s a lot to ask of anyone else.

The proposal raised a lot of debate among the committee. some were in favor of the idea as original and well thought out, a chance for discussion and publicity. others saw all of that as a bad thing. they were concerned that it would be over the communities heads, that debate was not what was needed at the time and controversy should be avoided. some were worried it was too conceptual, others were worried it would be too real and spark real problems. apparently the debate grew quite heated. so much so that I received some quite confusing postal communication. the outcome is that it was just too controversial and contentious for the neighborhood.

so how do I feel about this? oddly elated. my proposal was debated, it raised voices and contention. it got people thinking. it may be that it wasn’t right for this project but I count this rejection as a success. I will be submitting the proposal to other galleries and storefront projects – I am confident that it will be taken up by someone. not as a profitable venture but as a statement. one that needs to be made.

if you know of a project or gallery that might be interested I welcome your suggestions

Watercolor and Pencil on Paper

more sketches for the sketchbook library. look for the render next week!

People want to believe that the act of creation is a magical thing. When I write, I am like some beardy old-word god, hewing the book from some raw piece of literary firmament. When I write, the muse is like a lithe, naked woman, sitting on my lap with her tongue in my ear.

Patrick Rothfuss Author of The Name of the Wind

where do you hang your nude art?

most collectors I have met over the years (of my work and others) hang the nudes they purchase in the bedroom. it seems to be some form of unspoken consensus that that is where nude art belongs.

is this some kind of feng shui for bedroom fu? is it because it is one place where we all feel comfortable in the nude? or is it an expression of embarrassment? are people afraid that their grandparents are going to see a nude in their living room?

I like to think that it’s because the bedroom is the place where we can all shed our cares and our clothes. it’s a nest where we can really be ourselves, divest ourselves of the masks we wear throughout the day.

I have nudes throughout our house. storing works on the walls gives me time to live with my favorites before they are sold and to keep them out of harms way. There are actually less nudes in the bedroom (unless you count my bedside sketchbooks) because they remind me of work too much! I don’t think twice about who comes to the house or what they may think, but then, this is my life. I’m curious, though, where do nude artworks belong in your house? do you have a reason?

OMG COVER UP THE JUNK From Wil Wheaton’s photo stream on Flickr

This statue is a replica of something famous (I can’t remember which one and art history isn’t my strong suit) but while it doesn’t have arms, it had quite the package.

Apparently, if people see a statue’s package on television, Baby Jesus kills a kitten, so the art department painted leaves and used them to cover up the offending hangy-down bits.

I thought it was hilarious that they had to do this, even though the statues were just in the background, and any sane person would be looking at Chris Kane or Noa Tishby.

[From OMG COVER UP THE JUNK on Flickr - Photo Sharing!]

I couldn’t resist posting this when I discovered it on flickr. I’ve been following @wilw on twitter for some time and was leafing through his photostream on flickr when I found this treasure in an album for the recent Leverage episode The Two Live Crew Job. I’ve seen this episode but completely missed the statue and the clearly improvised oak leaf cover up. talk about unnecessary censorship!

Interlaced – 12×12 Oils on Canvas by Jennie Rosenbaum

I’ve begin to run low on my sources for nude quotes. at first I only put in quotes I believed in, and recently I’ve added quotes that I don’t necessarily agree with, just to show all sides and to perhaps play devils advocate. the original pornography quote a couple of weeks ago sparked off a very interesting discussion on facebook notes here and led to the follow up quote the next week.

last weeks quote is one that I originally had misgivings about. it seemed prudish and silly. but I’ve been thinking about it all weekend, and I think it has a different meaning to the one I originally ascribed. I now think it’s actually saying that nudity is mundane, so natural as to be unremarkable. and I think that’s an attitude we should all have.

well, except me I guess, I mean it is my livelihood.

I’ve been searching further afield for my quotes recently. some have come from blogs I read or books or other random sources. I like to change it up. I’d also like for people to submit their own nude quotes to me. you can do that by selecting the contact page on this blog and sending me your quote and a link.

I may even run a competition at some point – what do you think?