Naked ambition
Drawing the body is one of the hardest of all art forms. But what’s it like attending a class with a nude model in front of you?
Jean Cocteau was known for coating his in rancid butter. Picasso gave an extra eye where her naval was situated, Degas made them sit in a cold bath for three hours and Salvador Dali nearly killed his when a pet Python tried to strangle his model as it lay draped around her naked shoulders.
So, for the role of a nude model other than to be compliant and sweetly mute, a person needs also to have enormous reserves of stamina along with a jolly good sense of the ridiculous. It also helps if they are blessed with a level of total inner confidence that comes from forever being looked at, but not looked into.
And, from personal experience, she/he must also posses a well honed sense of humour. That’s in case the model should suddenly catch sight of your witless reproduction and clout you around the head with her rucksack, which, in my case would have been quite justified, as I had successfully transformed her into what looked like a drug induced reproduction of the anorexic cartoon character Olive Oil.
Tekni Art in Paphos offers properly-run life classes, where Nic Costa has, single handedly, created a quite marvellous haven for artists – be they rank amateurs or practising professionals all are welcome to come along and participate in what is a highly-respected, centuries-old artistic tradition, something Nic believes is a vital discipline for any aspiring artist.
“I feel strongly that figure drawing is the cornerstone of all art training, if you can draw competently from life models, then you can go on with confidence to abstract and develop your own personal style, but, the basics have to be learnt first. The human body offers every possible challenge an artist requires, line, tone, perspective and composition,” he said.
Nic also believes it’s one of the most therapeutic ways of spending an evening. “We all seem to be losing the confidence to actually see things. I firmly believe that everyone possesses an innate artistic ability but, over the years, we lose the confidence to express it, either fearing ridicule or lacking the patience necessary to keep trying to draw, when in fact it’s only through drawing that one is really allowed to see one’s own thoughts.”
How, I ask, do people first react when they walk into a class to find a rather beautiful young woman lounging before them clad solely in her birthday suit?
“Its only a question of a few minutes of awkwardness at seeing nudity before the focus becomes centred on the problem of actually drawing the body, then, it’s no longer a naked body, but a collection of lines and values, which soon takes over and the awkwardness disappears. You have to also remember drawing from life is quite extraordinarily difficult at the beginning, with the first big obstacle to surmount is the sheer blankness of the paper in front of you and, the keen, almost tangible sense that you could create anything, brilliantly or woefully, but you can create, it’s there in front of you waiting. That’s sometimes hard for students to understand, the sheer potential that’s in them. Sometimes they are blinkered by trying too hard to create what they think they should be creating, and that’s about the only time I will talk them into trying a different way of looking at the model.
“In this respect, I see myself primarily as an enabler, getting them to think ‘out of the box’ so to speak, which ends up as a great joy and hopefully an understanding that it’s not all about manual training, it’s also about playing tricks with the mind.”
Pien Perree has been a life model from the age of 12 when she first sat for her mother who was a professional painter. She is now a master of her craft, which is a lot more difficult than it looks.
When as a student at university in Holland she needed extra money for her studies she would sit for artists. Did she find the posing difficult in any way? “No not really, I am well used to it, and there’s always the satisfaction of knowing that you are indeed contributing to the artists and I do enjoy it, although there are times when I am a bit bored but not often as I can go into my own thoughts without losing the pose”.
Liz Ingham has been going to the class for two years and said: “Drawing the female nude is both frustrating and satisfying, the latter only if you get it right, the rest of the time I tear my hair out with frustration that I just haven’t managed to get the pose right but I love coming here and enjoy tremendously the opportunity to work from a life model.”
Dennis Burroughs a retired architect enjoys the different type of discipline needed to create the female form on paper as opposed to an architect’s structural drawings of buildings etc, which can have little or no sense of freedom about them on paper. “I like very much the fact the class is very friendly and there are no prima donnas and no sense of ‘who’s better than me’ sort of thing, here, its not a competition, its an evening of trying in your own way to create your own thing and that’s why I enjoy it so much.”
Olga Khrebtova is only 16 years old yet she already shows a distinct talent for life drawing, something she says she loves doing. “I want to go to art school so I try and work as hard as I can to improve; I also feel this is good for my spirit.”
Marina Charalambous, 17, is another success story that reflects the nurturing talents of Tekni, for she has recently been awarded a coveted place at Surrey Art School. “I have been coming here for some time enjoying the process of learning and developing my talent, but life classes do present the ultimate challenge to an artist and that’s why its so satisfying to keep testing and moving beyond your boundaries when you are in class.”
I left clutching my rolled up copy of our lovely model whom I had talentlessly transmogrified into a ghastly parody of a cartoon character. Pien didn’t seem to mind in the slightest but, after she had put on her clothes on and picked up her rucksack I did however instinctively duck.
Nic Costa, Tekni Art, Kinyras 16, Paphos. Tel 26 933356 or 99 958078. Email [email protected], www.tekniart.net
