An experiment of censorship - Gustave Courbet, Orlan, Robert Mapplethorpe, Marlene Dumas, Muzi Fan and freedom of expression

 

A statement: we shouldn’t be worried or afraid or shameful of our bodies and nudity.

… don’t call me obsessive on the matter, folks… 

I’m just pondering and considering how nature, plain anatomy  and artistic interpretation of reproductive organs and naked body is such a taboo on social media and commonly seen as "dirty", inappropriate and raw.

To me, this is just a mystery… let’s think about Japanese culture, where they are not afraid of penis or vagina, but pubic hairs 😱

Mr. Z.’s obsession for female boobs and nipples is legendary and seldom seen… almost amusing his continuous FB patrolling on the matter 🥳 

Everything should be put in perspective: on porn and its endless declinations, the female and male bodies are shown in private activities, exploited, sometimes brutalized.

I admit a youngster eye could be disturbed and wrongly suggested on how to approach the beauty of sex.

… but Courbet and Orlan’s paintings, well: they just show where everything begins… and the provoking titles are truly mind boggling food for thought.

Courbet 

Orlan

Why am I talking about that? Because an artist should be free to show his interpretation of human body… modesty is for God-fearing not an artist

Marlene Dumas

Dumas’ images are coming from a distorted,  parallel world,  a Cronenberg-tinted universe.

Marlene Dumas’ oniric self-vision is - these days - quite emblematic and intriguing… and her vision is Muzi Fan's - a young talented artist and a dear friend  - strong inspiration…

Muzi Fan

Like Andy Warhol did, in Muzi Fan’s paintings and photographs, the artist’s body is the subject of further and further exploration, and the artist becomes art, herself.

When mind goes “beyond”, art blossoms, naturally... sublimated shapes and colors, more than anatomy.

Fist of love 

A last example: after several years deeply into detailed human body portraits, last Robert Mapplethorpe’s flowers are - to me - more sensual than any of above images… 

Mapplethorpe 

… because the world isn’t as we see it, but as we imagine it.

P.S. - as an experiment about WEB censorship, as expected, this post received  a label of “adult content” and a red-tag - i.e. - if you are reading this you had to press a “go ahead” advice… that’s the current position, the state of art, of WEB body-shame and judgement about any art form. The role of any artist is pushing that limit, as freedom of expression is paramount, against bigotry and prudery.

P.P.S. - now post has been “reintegrated” and censorship removed…