The celebration of the nude body in art comes from a long tradition starting in prehistoric times, and achieving its full glory in Ancient Greece. Back then, the focus of artists (mainly sculptors) was primarily on the male body and of Olympic athletes in particular. Women were not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games but the female body was revered for its ability to reproduce. The first portrayal of a female nude was the statue Aphrodite of Knidos (Fig.1). It was the intention of the creator Praxiteles to give visual pleasure to the male viewer.
Fig.1. Statue Aphrodite of Knidos (4th century BC) by Praxiteles of Athens
Living Works of Art
Unlike his predecessors, the American artist, illustrator and graphic designer Jeff Wack, who is based in Los Angeles, uses digital tools for the creation of his beautiful nudes. He has been fascinated by female beauty since his early childhood, and has always regarded bodies as living works of art.
Undisguised Sentimentalism
It is Wack's intention to create something that appeals to both sexes portraying woman's splendid, luscious force, while not neglecting their intrinsic sexual intensity., neither making it the main focus. In an earlier interview Wack explains that he attempts to infuse each piece with a certain aura of energy, symbolic ethereal surrealism, and interesting technique in order to take them out of the context of undisguised sentimentalism.
Fig.1. 'The Moon'
Fig.1a. 'The Moon' (1902) by Alphonse Mucha
Tantric Tradition
Wack's work is sensual imagery where spirituality is seen to play on the connection between the female and nature (cosmos, the seasons, etc.) and the tantric tradition. Wack: 'I very much see the connection between earth and the female in all their manifestations, creator of life, nurturing spirit and object of beauty and desire.'
Natural Scenery
The artist works with real-life models whom he photographs in a small studio against plain backdrops to which he then digitally adds background elements from his own collection of photos depicting natural scenery.
Fig.2. 'La Bella Nevaehlleh'
Sensual Master of Yore
In his Homage series he pays tribute to the sensual masters of yore including Gustav Klimt (Fig.24), Alphonse Mucha (Fig.1), and Sandro Botticelli (Fig.20). These are reworkings of some of their masterpieces to which he gives his own artistic twist, a more photographic ("real") translation, presenting actual models posing in a familiar piece, that forces the observer to reconsider their ideas of the original painting.
Fig.3 'Winter Soul'
Oceana
With his "own" work Oceana (Fig.7), Wack won several prizes. He himself thinks that this work fascinates others so much because the depicted figures appear suspended in a "state of water" giving the observer the freedom to choose of what is happening. Is she rising up and breaking free of the seaweed or some other explanation. Mixing that with the peaceful serenity expressed in the girl's face and limbs along with the light emanating down into the water and bouncing on the figures and the motion trails, each seem to elicit a general response of visual beauty that is commonly shared. Also being in water triggers a sensation of deep primal visceral freedom within us.
Fig.4. 'Fall'
Fig.5. 'Summer'
Fig.6. 'Inner Spark'
Fig.7. 'Oceana'
Fig.8. 'Eclipse'
Fig.9.
Fig.10.
Fig.11.
Fig.12. 'Nyx' (2011)
Fig.13. 'Allure in the Fleeting Immortal'
Fig.14. 'Pacifica' (2013)
Fig.15. 'Calla Rosada'
Fig.16. 'Ixias'
Fig.17. 'Artemis '
Fig.18. 'Angels of ELysium' (2014)
Fig.19. 'Leda and the Swan ' (2010)
Fig.20. 'Venus'
Fig.20a.'The Birth of Venus' (c. 1484–1486) by Sandro Botticelli
Fig.21. 'Rapunzel'
Fig.22. 'Alchemy' (2006) from the Sensuous Muse Collection
Fig.23. 'Eternal Blossoms'
Fig.24. IInspired by Gustav Klimt's WaterSnakes II
Fig.24a. 'Water Snakes II' (c.1904-07) by Gustav Klimt
Fig.25.
Fig.26. 'Elegy of La Brea ' (2013)
Fig.27. 'Flores del Amor ' (2010)
Fig.28. 'Spring of Lethe' (2013)
Fig.29. 'Sunrise ' (2010)
Fig.30. 'The Garden Tree'
Fig.31. 'Athena'
Fig.32. 'Nocturne in Aqua'
Fig.33. 'Youth'
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Sources: jeffwack.com, eroticartlover.blogspot.com/, Saatchiart.com, Wikipedia.org,
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