Ebooks for the Classroom+Faculty

Live Nude Girl
ISBN: 9781610752428
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / University of Arkansas Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Artists'' models;

Author, award-winning poet and professional artists' model Rooney (Reading with Oprah, Something Really Wonderful) uses everything from Roland Barthes quotations to sitcom episode synopses off the internet (specifically, fortunecity.com on Growing Pains) to explore the myths and realities of nude modeling. Despite the fact that it largely consists of sitting still for hours on end, Rooney keeps work stories compelling: "with the sculptors continually approaching... to rotate you slightly... [it's] like you're on the world's slowest and most boring Teacup Ride." Posing for an advanced sculpting class working on life-sized renderings, Rooney merges her experience with a look at China's ancient Terra Cotta Army; elsewhere she tackles semantics, quoting art historian Kenneth Clark on the difference between "naked" and "nude." Happily, Rooney is perfectly willing to satisfy readers' curiosity upfront in order to move in more philosophical directions, going from awkward first impressions ("the first thing they ask is, `Like, naked?'") to questions of safety and empowerment ("I feel safer from sexual predation [naked] in the art studio than I do... [clothed on] the street"). This esoteric, organic meditation on life as an art object is itself a model of personal writing, perfect for those on either side of the easel. (Feb.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.