1. Flint Ten remarks:
   What the fuck?

   
   

   December 1st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
2. Zach remarks:
   Well, if i wasn’t gay before…

   
   

   December 1st, 2007 at 5:50 pm
3. min=tee remarks:
   fag-ulous!!

   
   

   December 1st, 2007 at 6:06 pm
4. Merrymakers remarks:
   lol

   This reminds me of an art instillation I had the good/bad fortune to see a number of years ago in ATL before they shut it down. It was Wilma Flitstone, Marge Simpson, etc. all in their starkers. It was pretty cool/creepy.

   Worst part? No Betty Rubble!

   
   

   December 1st, 2007 at 7:55 pm
5. Zach remarks:
   think she really has nipples that big?

   
   

   December 1st, 2007 at 8:39 pm
6. Cheezt remarks:
   Lady Godiva was a freedom rider
   She didn’t care if the whole world looked
   Joan of Arc with the lord to guide her
   She was a sister who really cooked
   Isadora was a first bra burner , Aint ‘ya glad that she showed up
   Oh yeah
   And when the country was falling apart,
   Betsy Ross got it all sewed up
   And then there’s Maude
   And then there’s Maude
   And then there’s Maude
   And then there’s Maude
   And then there’s Maude
   And then there’s Maude
   And then there’s that Old conpromisin’ enterprisin’
   Anything but tranquilizin’, Right on Maude!!!!

   
   

   December 1st, 2007 at 9:40 pm
7. Sam remarks:
   Actually, I sort of like this caracature of Bea.

   Here’s a gallery of a few more Currin paintings. Take it for what it’s worth. (link)

   
   

   December 3rd, 2007 at 9:27 am
8. John Calendo remarks:
   I agree, Sam. When I first saw this, I thought it was outrageous. That’s why I put it up as a Last Word — no further comment was necessary.

   But the more I look at it, the more I see the dignity of the portrayal. Its initial camp impact evaporates rather quickly. Rather than a send-up of a celebrity, what we see here is a woman in her maturity; these are her breasts. The simple directness of it disarms me. I see the figure as human, fragile, subject to the weight of time — touching, in short.

   For comparison, see Matthew Stradling’s portrait of his naked father (toward the end of the entry.) The impact is at first stark, almost too much so. But the human and the fragile eventually take over: then, we see simply the body in time.

   It reminds me of that arresting line in Hamlet when the queen tries to cheer up her son, who has become morose over his father’s death.

   “All that live must die,” she reasons, “passing through nature to eternity.”

   
   

   December 3rd, 2007 at 11:23 am
9. Gry remarks:
   I always thought she was really cool. Name a series today that features a ballsy, quick-witted lady like her, or God forbid, a group of women in their 60s with active sex lives. The botoxed caricatures of “Desperate Housewives” are considered “ground-breaking”. Yeesh.

   They couldn’t pull off a sensible pants suit, much more break ground.

   
   

   December 3rd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
10. Sam remarks:
    Exactly what you said, John, to the letter. The camp evaporates and the soundless dignity of the figure remains. Matthews figure is similiar…although a bit different because he’s totally nude, (and reproductive organs suggest something different than secondary sex characteristics). Still, there is the unadorned nudity, the simplicity, the maturity, the unpretentiousness and resoluteness.

    And Gry, I agree. There’s just no comparison, unfortunately. At the time of Maude, I thought that was the beginning of something, but really it was the closure of an era and an attitude. Sigh.

    
    

    December 5th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
11. mountii remarks:
    EEEEEEEEEEW…make it go away and would it kill u to do some firming sheesh

    
    

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
12. bats :[ remarks:
    The URL given for some of John Currin’s work has a painting called “Fishermen.” I don’t think I care for his portrayal of people (although he is a very good artist), but this one is just beautiful.

    
    

    December 19th, 2007 at 4:10 pm

Leave a Reply

Name

Mail (will not be published)

Website

Where is my comment? Some comments are held for moderation -- comments with links, for instance -- and do not appear immediately. Some posters have been banned.

Why am I banned? You may have left a message in the past that solicited sex, money, or religious conversion. You may have left an email address in the body of the comment (often a setup to send an unsuspecting victim unwanted gay-themed email.) You may have indicated that you are under 18.

We do not ban people because they disagree with us or make inflammatory remarks.