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Publication : Bangkok Post
Section : Real Time
Story by Vanniya Sriangura
Photos by Anusorn Sakseree
Published date 24/7/09 |
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| People, fully dressed, concentrating their gaze on one who is naked : a necessary relationship between artist and model, but still an uncommon one |
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| The rain had left its lingering mists on the windows and the room was cool and collected. Sompit Sae Lao sat on a chair with a face that showed no interest in the world and a body that displayed nothing but a sign of fatigue. In the brightly-lit, air-conditioned chamber where a dozen people in colourful outfits were energetically working on their assignments, she was the only person who wasn't allowed to talk. Neither was she permitted to have even the smallest piece of cloth to cover her body. |
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Privately held live figure drawing classes with totally naked models, though not very common here in Thailand , draw quite an attention from people who have passion in art.
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Privately held live figure drawing classes with totally naked models, though not very common here in Thailand, draw quite an attention from people who have passion in art. |
No one really paid attention to Sompit's blank eyes. As cruel as it sounds, once in a quick while they just looked, exploring her naked body from neck, chest and torso down to her toes. Nothing seemed to escape the merciless focus of their eyes. But that gave her no cause for concern. She knew very well what she was doing. Having been doing it for more than 30 years, she suddenly stood up, put one of her hands on her hip and turned to face the audience.
As a first-time participant at a live figure drawing class, this made me feel uncomfortable. How could I look at someone's private body parts and then try to represent them in my own translation? Was I insane? No, I wasn't. With all the mercy in the world, I was just a student - just like everybody else there.
With a drawing brush in his hand and confident lines on his paper, Sonit Pichyangkul, a businessman in his 50s, attended the live figure drawing class at La Lanta art gallery for the first time and looked devoted. He has been interested in the arts, and especially drawing and painting, since he was young but had never had the chance to really study until two years ago.
''I am in an import-export business and my usual form of recreation used to be sports,'' he said. ''They helped me relax but did not help me practice concentration like drawing does.'' |
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Sonit has managed to have more free time over the past couple years and began taking drawing classes every weekend. However, this was the first time that he had studied with a live nude model. He thought it's a great teaching medium, in this way he could see the real movement and muscle details - and he wasn't feeling at all uncomfortable.
''When the models are professional, as a student, you have to act professionally too. This is not an activity to be ashamed of,'' said Sonit.
He was among several participants at the five-week live figure drawing class for beginners held twice a week at the art gallery in Sukhumvit. Some of his fellow students - eight or nine ladies and two men, Thais and foreigners of different ages. Some were full-time art college students. Some were housewives, others were business people who said that art class es enabled them to connect with art without having to buy paintings. The class was conducted by drawing instructor Brian Curtin PhD and art instructor Acharn Kosol Pinkul.
In Thailand , privately held figure drawing classes with live models are not very common. Though you may find them in fine art s cho ols, in none of them are the models totally naked these days. |
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Drawing instructor Brian Curtin. |
''Human anatomy is a crucial lesson for arts students,'' said Acharn Kosol, a former art instructor at Sri Nakharin Wirot Prasanmit University. ''Whether their field is illustration, religious painting, portraits or cartoons, artists cannot get away from the human form so they must be able to draw human figures. And to be aware of the accurate proportions of the human body, they must learn from and practice with a real human.
''Art institutes everywhere in the world offer this kind of class. But, in Thailand , because of our moral boundaries, live figure drawing classes with a nude model is not popular. And finding a model is also difficult as people regard the naked body as something shameful,'' said Acharn Kosol.
''But if you study history, whether it's Greek, Roman or Southeast Asian, you'll see that ancient people didn't take nudity as something dirty. The goddess Venus is topless. The famous statue of David wears nothing but a fig leaf. And even the Thai half-bird half-female kinnaree is partially naked, as you can see from mural paintings. So nudity was quite common in the old days,'' Acharn Kosol explained.
''For people who chase art, human figure drawing is primary,'' said instructor Brian Curtin. ''It has been said that if you can draw a human figure you can draw anything, because the human figure is the most complex thing to master. And live figure drawing class allows student to been trained to look carefully and in detail.
''In a drawing class like this, the atmosphere is usually very clinical, very cold.
It's not a sexual environment or anything like that, because the naked human body is not necessarily the most beautiful thing. People may be sexually beautiful in some contexts, but not in this context.'' |
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A student works on a 15-minute class assignment. |
Working in art for more than 20 years as an artist, instructor, writer, curator and consultant, Curtin is aware that practising art as a method of relaxation is not very popular with Thais.
''Though there are a number of prestigious art institutes in Thailand , I don't think it's common here for people to draw just because they love it,'' he said. ''Art is taught only in school, and people draw to serve different purposes like architecture and design. In European countries arts like drawing and painting are often thought of as a recreation. In Ireland where I come from, lots of people take up drawing as a hobby.''
Curtin said that this was one of a few live figure drawing classes he had come across in Bangkok. In his class, students learn to draw a human figure in different positions, from standing up to lying down, and with different media like pencil, watercolour and charcoal. During the class, the instructors occasionally pay some attention to their students individually, and at the end of each three-hour session, everyone's assignment is evaluated.
''You don't need to have a background in art in order to attend this kind of class,'' said Curtin. ''What you need is confidence and passion.''
But if students need no qualification other than the confidence to join the class, that does not apply to the model, he added.
''We need models who feel comfortable with their bodies and, because I can't tell the models everything to do, they have to be able to improvise and come up with their own poses,'' he explained. ''You need a model who works with you rather than one who does what you tell them to do the whole time. And the models with whom we've been working so far are great.'' |
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A model for a figure drawing studio needs to be comfortable and confident with their body in a variety of poses. |
Rex Burington was another model assigned for the class. Unlike the 50-ish Sompit, the young male model offered the class a different aspect of human figure _ fresh, firm and energetic.
''This is the second time I've modelled for a nude class,'' he said. ''Modelling nude is not a problem for me, maybe because I've spent several years as a naturist. Sometimes it's difficult to hold the poses, though, because you get muscle tension, especially for long poses. The challenge is to find one that allows you to balance your weight, and not to put too much stress on one set of muscles so you can hold it longer."
While you can say that Sompit, with her 32-year experience, is a professional nude model for art studio, it cannot be said that Burington is really a specialist in the field. He came to Thailand 12 years ago as an engineering consultant, but now, moving toward arts and psy cho logy, he is a student at Assumption University, doing a master's in counselling psy cho logy.
''I've never studied how to be a model but I have taken drawing classes with a nude model myself,'' he said. ''I've seen how it's done and what it's about and I suppose that reduced my fear of trying it, so I said, well, I can do that. What I bring here that may be unique is that I have dance and performance experience. I'm not a visual artist but a performing artist, so modelling sort of fits that worl.
''Three things that made me decide to take this job are, first, I'm a naturist and, second, I love art in general _ I'm always looking at the paintings while I'm modelling. Thirdly, I meditate, and as a meditator, I'm a Buddhist, and that's hel ped me to learn how to still my mind and still my body,'' he said.
Rex often meditates while he poses, and during the session, he was quick to come up with new positions that inspired the students.
''I think some students are more comfortable than others because they have more experience,'' he said. ''I've never found anything that's offensive to me so far. I tend to find artists very kind, and they respect people, so if they feel any discomfort, they just keep it to themselves.''
The next live figure drawing class will be held next month at La Lanta Art Gallery on Sukhumvit Soi 31. Call 02-260-5381 or visit www.lalanta.com for more information.
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