Art Zoller Wagner
Realist Painting: About the Artist

The Divinity of Nakedness

Some people have asked why so many of my works are of the human figure, the nude.

One answer would be that postmodern artists investigate the taboos and unacknowledged beliefs of their culture.

Nakedness is taboo in our culture. When a group categories something as taboo, it is a means of assigning great power to that thing. There are always exceptions allowed, so nakedness is sanctioned in certain situations. Whatever is taboo is also desired. It's no wonder that contemporary mass media have flaunted the taboo against nakedness to reap their fortunes.

Belly Tales 2 & 4, oil on canvas

Belly Tales 2 & 4
oil on canvas

That's all very true, but a more direct answer would be that--as a product of contemporary culture--I can't help but be attracted to nakedness.

Since we're asking questions, let me ask you one: what assumptions do you make when you see that I paint nudes?

Do you assume if an artist works with a nude model that there must be passion and sex involved at some point? We've all heard tales of liaisons between artists and models. Well, this is a case in which reality wouldn't make the tabloids.

Working with a model can sometimes be an experience of the sacred. Because most of us are uncomfortable with each other's nakedness, to be naked or to observe another naked touches us in surprisingly powerful ways. Nudity challenges us with intense feelings: embarrassment, self-consciousness, intense curiosity, joy, lust, shame, or fear. Often, to encounter the sacred is to be scared!

In a safe context, to be naked before another or to witness someone else's nakedness can make us feel intensely alive. Of course, the opposite is also possible: if we experience nakedness in destructive circumstances, we might literally wish we were dead.

Belly Tales 12 & 11, oil on canvas

Belly Tales 12 & 11
oil on canvas

The hyper-saturation of sexual imagery in contemporary culture reflects a deep unmet need for connection with the divine. Like nearly anything done on a mass scale, nakedness in mass media leads to disenchantment and alienation.

Art that induces a sense of the holy is necessarily complex and difficult rather than simplistic and easy, which is why mass media is rarely successful as messenger for the divine.

In my work, I try to communicate the divine aspect of humanity, those elemental highs and lows of our existence that point to our core struggles and qualities. Nakedness literally strips away artifice, thus allowing the body to speak for us.

Plus, I knew you'd look!