Art Macabre and Freud Museum invite you to spend time reflecting on the concepts of self, subject and psyche through sketching. A life drawing event inspired by Mark Wallinger‘s Self Reflection exhibition. This special exhibition by Turner Prize winning artist Mark Wallinger will mark the Freud Museum London’s 30th anniversary and the 160th anniversary of the birth of Sigmund Freud. The artist has created a transformative work for Freud’s study and a permanent sculpture to be situated in the Museum garden.
It was to be my third time modelling – after ‘Eros and Death‘ and ‘Drawing from the Unconscious‘ – at the superb Freud Museum with Art Macabre, but a first time there with my partner, Esther. It would also be the first time we’d shared a booking with the experienced and ever-popular model, Carla Tofano. We are all so well known to each other across social media that it seemed extraordinary our paths had never previously crossed. With many friends also present, this would be a highly enjoyable session.
The Ego and the Id
Upon arrival, we found Art Macabre’s supreme being, Nikki aka Raven Rouge, busy in the museum garden. Here too were Jon – whom I had modelled with at the ‘Sherlock Bones‘ event last year – and life model, Ms Nara; on this occasion they’d volunteered to help Nikki run the event. Esther and I were to start here, modelling outside. It was a warm, comfortable evening, perfect for al fresco nakedness. We commenced with two 10-minute poses as ego and id – Esther being the ‘id’ (of course!)
Rorschach
Having thus got the ball rolling, we then withdrew to our main indoor pose space whilst Nikki introduced Carla. I think the idea was that some artists might follow us and start drawing our next poses, but understandably they all wanted to savour this first chance to capture our fellow model, who had been body-painted by Nikki with Rorschach test ink spots upon her torso. Carla would be posing indoors with more ink spots projected onto her skin later – surely sending artists’ “underlying thoughts” into overdrive.
On the couch
Carla’s captivation of the audience meant Esther and I had a fleeting moment to relax upon a replica of Freud’s famous couch, but when artists started to enter our upstairs room we hastily sprung into dynamic poses. Such professionals! First, for 15-minutes Esther’s id was dominating my struggling ego. Then for 20-minutes the id stood while the ego restrained it from behind. We enjoyed these poses – all the more with friends Catherine, Farida, Irene and Rodger each taking time to draw us.
Nikki was flitting between the museum’s rooms, but on this occasion it appeared that very little manoeuvring of artists was needed. Both our room and Carla’s had plenty of people drawing at any one time, with artists also at liberty to browse the museum and its special exhibition. We ended with a 15-minute pose, ego and id connecting, and a 10-minute pose, in which ego finally had the high moral ground – I can’t vouch for how well we’d reflected Freud’s concepts, but we’d inspired some pretty good creativity.
Other selfs
Meanwhile, before twilight faded outside in the garden, even more modelling had been in progress. After Carla followed me and Esther indoors, Nikki invited all her artists to continue the ‘self reflection’ theme by being the model themselves. Our friend, Rodger needed no second invitation to sit naked in Sigmund Freud’s back garden, but he was the only one to go the whole way. Alison and Amy also posed, but kept their modesty intact. That’s Rodger and Alison seizing their moments below.
Reflection
It had been an excellent evening. I’d overstretched my left arm for our second pose in the garden but otherwise nothing was horribly uncomfortable. Once dressed, we went downstairs to admire the artworks before Esther, Carla, Rodger and I quit in search of food – over burritos and margaritas, we chatted away what remained of the evening. It was a genuine pleasure to meet Carla at last and to share in some intelligent, worldly conversation; it was a joy to work with Art Macabre; it’s my love to pose with Esther.
My first Monsterlune moment had been as a purple bondage elephant on the catwalk at Loudest Whispers 2016 in February. My second was also as a fashion model, for a photo shoot at Anstey Hall in Cambridgeshire – to be blogged when the work goes public in autumn. My third was a very different proposition altogether: sprawled on the floor of a flat in north London, writhing naked and blindfolded among flowers and other nude bodies while fake blood was being spattered across us from the wings.
© Philip Seargeant
It was Sunday 26 June, just after 4pm. Esther and I entered a busy front room where sheets were already covering half the floor and one wall. Close at hand were a ladder, a laptop, projector, lighting, props, an abundance of food and liquor, all attended by a characterful collection of preternatural participants. We were here for the making of a film to be used as backdrop for ‘Monsterlune Tales of Lunar Madness‘ at Club Hell on 27 August. The principal players were…
- Estelle Riviere Monsterlune – artist, designer, costumier, model, and more
- Ben Hell – film director, music maker, the man behind Club Hell, and more
- Nicoletta Wylde – blood-drenched performer, writer and stage manager
- Elodie – joining Esther, Estelle, Nicoletta and me naked among the flowers
- Karla da Silva – photographer and artist at Karla da Silva Photography
- Philip Seargeant – fellow independent photographer
…plus, of course, myself and magnificently multi-talented Esther; a strong cast.
© Philip Seargeant
© Philip Seargeant
© Philip Seargeant
© Philip Seargeant
Esther and I were most pressed for time so we were indulged to be photographed first. Side by side, head to tail, on a white sheet with flowers strewn about, we were initially captured completely naked, and later wearing plain white masks. Nicoletta and Elodie followed with bright lights dimmed and colours playing across their skin. When Esther and I next took the floor we were more intimately entwined, with our faces under white cloth and bodies under kaleidoscopic light.
For the big finale, Nicoletta and Elodie joined us with cloths over their faces. Flowers were arranged around us, Ben gave direction and Estelle undressed to lay across us with her own face wrapped. When the film shooting started, out came the fake blood, to be spattered over us in ever more frantic sprays and globs as first we twitched and groaned, and later writhed and spasmed. The cloth stifled us, our limbs were twisted, the blood was cold, yet the whole tableau was utterly extraordinary.
We passed the point of having all the footage we needed, and Ben freely admitted he was now simply enjoying the spectacle. With blood supplies running low, however, he reluctantly called a halt. Esther and I hauled ourselves upright and staggered into the adjacent bathroom to wash ourselves down. After dressing, we said our farewells and slipped away into the night. I’m sure there must have been renewed extraordinariness after we’d left – certainly there was on the night of the performance…
It has been a hectic few weeks for this part-time life model, some-time art performer. There was sound and movement with Spirited Bodies at the end of July; then a week taking Girl in Suitcase to Venice with Esther; subsequent yet-to-be-blogged poses for Art Macabre at the Freud Museum, plus a Spirited Bodies collaboration with All The Young Nudes in Edinburgh, followed by Neo Naturists capers back in London, and a Monsterlune performance at Club Hell.
Yet in the midst of all this weirdness and wonderment, actually I’ve posed for just one single conventional life drawing group throughout the whole of August. I have Toynbee Art Club to thank for a booking that regrounded my appreciation of the essential craft: that is, the lone human being, naked in a space, without adornment or props, nothing but their own body and imagination, flexibility and stamina to inspire creativity among diverse artists over a period of two hours. It’s the purity of that challenge I love.
It was a warm Sunday afternoon, but not stiflingly so. I’d arrived at the Dellow Centre early enough to change unhurriedly into my dressing gown and take centre stage in an art room occupied by a dozen or so artists; some were familiar faces, others were first-timers to life drawing. Four poses occupied the first hour, up to our break for tea: 10-minutes standing, 10-minutes kneeling, another 10-minutes standing, and half an hour having a nice lay down.
The second hour saw me seated on the floor for 25-minutes, and finishing with a final standing pose for 35-minutes. No theatricals, no theme, no performance, just true life art. Nonetheless, even this brought with it a first in my experience: an artist who had never drawn a live nude model before was so happy with the session that she asked me to sign her drawing (below). I love all the variety in my work, but simple pleasures remain to be enjoyed in the practice.
August brought the final instalment in a trilogy of visits to Venice this year, for me and my partner, Esther. Our first visit in winter had brought unexpected connections. Our second came when Esther was invited back by the It’s Liquid group, to perform Girl in Suitcase at Palazzo Ca’ Zanardi in spring. After that success, our third visit was in summer for another performance of Girl in Suitcase, this time at Venice Art House for their ‘Fragmented Identities‘ event, and to present a completely new work called ‘Blood>>>Orange‘ at the Skyline rooftop bar of the Hilton Molino Stucky Venice.
Tuesday 2 August
Things one doesn’t wish to hear: the captain informed us our flight out was delayed for safety checks as the plane had struck a flock of small birds during its inbound journey from Naples. We touched down fifty minutes late at 4:30pm yet managed to make the 5pm Alilaguna boat to Arsenale. We walked to our AirBnB flat in Castello, acquired the key, and stepped into what was the nicest accommodation, in the best location of our three visits. It was a good start. Having settled in we went for pizzas at the nearby Trattoria dai Tosa, eating al fresco in the warm evening air.
Wednesday 3 August
After a long lay-in we took brunch of toasties at a café on via Guiseppe Garibaldi. We sat outside, shaded from the ferocious midday heat by umbrellas and cooled by a fan that blew mists of water vapour upon us. Esther bought fresh fruit and vegetables from a market trader whose goods were stacked across a boat moored permanently at the head of the adjacent canal. We topped up supplies at the local Coop, then headed to Giardina, stopping to take photos at The Forests of Venice installation by Kjellander + Sjöberg & Folkhem – our first close encounter with art on this trip.
We were due to meet our friend and fellow performer, Glynis Ackermann, at Giardini around 4pm. She’d been invited to perform ‘Foil‘ at two It’s Liquid events on Thursday: first at Palazzo Ca’ Zanardi, with co-performer Peter Rueegg, and again after Esther’s performance at Venice Art House… where I would be her co-performer. We’d arranged rehearsal time this afternoon. Whilst waiting, Esther and I wandered on to Sant’Elena, bought ice creams, oscillated gently in the large dish of a playground swing, and then returned to lay beneath trees in the gardens. We weren’t here for sightseeing.
Glynis and Peter were based two-hours away in Mestre, yet Glynis arrived exactly on time. After pausing for melon-ham snacks at a café in the gardens, we returned to our flat for rehearsal. Glynis and I undressed, took a shower, and practised the piece four times through. It appeared simple but required delicate movement in practice. Later at 6pm, we met Peter at Giardini and all went for a meal together. It was good of them to stay, despite having such a long return journey. When they left us, Esther and I took a short vaporetto ride to Giardini, purely to enjoy our first waterbus journey of this trip.
Thursday 4 August
We were aiming to be at Venice Art House around 4pm, so after our customary lay-in, and with a couple of hours to kill, we took a vaporetto across to Lido. It was set to be our hottest day so far. We walked through crowds on the public beach and then along emptier private sands in front of the large hotels. Esther had stripped to her underwear and, on finding a quiet area, indulged in a cooling swim – taking care to avoid jellyfish. Back at our flat, we gathered all that we needed for Girl in Suitcase and then returned to Giardini for a vaporetto up the Grand Canal to San Marcuola-Casinò.
We were running late, eventually reaching Venice Art House nearer 5pm. We checked the space, uploaded our music to the It’s Liquid laptop then popped out for toasties as we had not eaten properly all day – Esther needed her sustenance. Venice Art House opened its doors to guests at 6pm but over the next couple of hours perhaps only four or five people wandered in. Girl in Suitcase had been scheduled to start at 6:30pm but instead we waited patiently; looking at artworks, drinking the complimentary Prosecco and chatting with other artists. This couldn’t go on indefinitely, however.
A little after 8pm we were all given a choice: go to Ca’ Zanardi where a large audience had gathered for the simultaneous opening night event there, or wait till 9pm when the audience would be brought to us. It was agreed we should go to Ca’ Zanardi. This was more troublesome for Esther and me as our props were heaviest. Frustratingly, it also meant I would not now be able to perform with Glynis as she was already due to work with Peter at that venue. Others couldn’t perform as their work was fixed within Venice Art House, but they came anyway – a feeling of solidarity had built amongst us.
We found Ca’ Zanardi in chaos. We were neither greeted nor spoken to by the event’s curators – perhaps we represented failure and must, therefore, be shunned – and their intern staff were struggling to cope with an organisational overload. There was little we could do, except watch the artists already booked for this venue and await our chance to perform afterwards. We’d missed the opening performance, so the first we saw was Hannah Berestizhevsky presenting ‘Heart Cramp‘ in the Palazzo’s gold room. Then came the turn of Glynis and Peter to perform ‘Foil‘ in same magnificent space.
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
Joss Carter emerged in white paint, loin cloth and chains to begin shuffling about the building, meekly inviting guests to take a paper-wrapped stone from a small bag. Out on the balcony, Elisabeth van Dam drew the largest crowd for her impressive dance piece, ‘Wuthering‘. We were then led down to the courtyard, where duo Hypnogogia were to perform – by now the audience had thinned, and was predominantly made up of other artists. When Joss completed his howling extract of ‘Salvation‘ on the lower floor, it meant the relocated Venice Art House performances could – at last – begin.
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
Esther had felt increasingly disheartened by the whole experience, but the solidarity of artists and the fact we could still take positives by filming the performance encouraged her to see it through. The first Venice Art House artist to perform was Silvia Pipponzi with Mattia Raggi, who improvised a site specific dance on the ground floor. There had been expectation that all the remaining artists would be on the ground floor but Esther and Alexandra Holownia – the final two performance artists – were determined to be in the gold room.
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
While Esther and I were preparing, one more artist performed her work, which involved putting food ingredients in her mouth, spitting them in a pan, making an omelette, and sharing it with her hungry audience – a meal we missed. In the gold room, I bandaged Esther’s naked body, helped her climb into the suitcase, lowered the lid and then went out to announce the impending performance for those people who stayed. They took a while to assemble so I returned and flapped the suitcase lid to give Esther some air on this suffocatingly muggy night. Once underway, I recorded the entire performance…
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
After all that she had endured to reach this point – physical and emotional exhaustion, feeling let down and having to re-energise – after all of it, she was wonderful. She took her richly deserved applause and went off to wash while I quickly cleared the space so Alexandra could perform. Alexandra set down her jacket, bag, hat and headband sewn with colourful vaginas, plus a massive snake-like penis and a huge pair of breasts. Her music started and she in turn commenced a carefree dance, picking up one item after another and airily wafting it around. I ran to get Esther – she had to see this!
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
© Veronica Comisso / It’s Liquid 2016
At the end of the dance, Alexandra announced her mission to spread love, peace, and sexual acceptance around the world, then invited us all to take up an item and join her in dancing once again. Everyone took part. Having struggled so much to get this far, it was a beautiful hedonistic way to end the evening. Afterwards I helped Esther to finish washing blood and paint from her body. It was around quarter to midnight when at last we left with Glynis and Peter, heading to the Ca’ d’Oro vaporetto stop. We hugged our very fond farewells then went separate ways… hopeful of reuniting soon.
Dancing around carefree in Alexandra’s hat of vaginas had been important for me as it proved to be my only performance participation of the trip. We took our things back to the flat, then wandered out once more into the night, hoping vainly to find a restaurant or bar still open at 1am. No chance, but it was nice to walk the near-deserted streets. Returning to the flat, Esther showered while I loaded my recording of the performance onto her laptop. We watched it together, all the way through; Esther was really happy, and so was I. It was 2:30am when finally we settled down to sleep, utterly exhausted.
Friday 5 August
Needless to say we didn’t get up early. It was our only day with rain predicted, but not until 5pm, so we went by vaporetto to Vignole – an island we’d not visited on either of our previous trips – changing at Fondamenta Nove. We called in first at Trattoria alle Vignole for cappucinos and strawberry tiramisu, then afterwards planned on hiking to Forte di Sant’Andrea, but soon reached the limit of the canalside footpath. So instead we decided on a first impromptu nude photo shoot of the trip, with me semi-immersed in the water of the canal.
Back at the vaporetto stop we had a second shoot, with Esther nude on the adjacent quayside. After she’d dressed and the vaporetto arrived, we island-hopped via Murano to Sant’Erasmo – the Capannone waterbus stop. Here at last the heavens opened but we had umbrellas with us. After the frequently oppressive heat of our previous days, it was quite pleasant to have some cloud cover and experience rather cooler conditions. The rain had subsided and sunshine broke through once again by the time we walked south to Torre Massimiliana.
The caretaker at the tower welcomed us in, and showed us up to the roof so we could admire the views. Continuing on, we wandered down to a near-deserted beach with an intention of walking up the coast but the darkest imaginable black clouds loomed fast at our backs. The winds picked up strongly as we beat a swift retreat to the Al Bacan pizzeria. Inevitably rain followed, so we took a break with coffee, pizza and wifi. When the weather cleared we decided the moment for beach walking had passed so started back to Capannone – breaking into a jog to catch the hourly vaporetto.
Back at Fondamenta Nove we decided to call in at Ca’ Zanardi, just a brief walk away. We wanted confirmation of details for the Blood>>>Orange performance next day, as we’d been tipped-off it may be ‘suspended’. Nobody knew anything though, so – after stopping for a final performance in the courtyard on our way out – we left. On the plus side, we found Alexandra taking photos from the nearby canal bridge so invited her to join us and Glynis at the Hilton’s Skyline bar ahead of Blood>>>Orange; happily, she agreed. After pausing to take a few photos of our own, we returned to the vaporettos.
Instead of going directly back to Giardini, we got off at Bacini in the hopes of finding a walking route to our flat. No such luck – we were trapped in the Arsenale shipyard by walls, fences and water. Nonetheless, it was sufficiently deserted for me to indulge in our third and final nude photo shoot of the day down by the water’s edge. We returned to Bacini and completed our waterbus journey back to Giardini. Esther headed for our flat to start cooking, whilst I detoured to buy a bottle of wine. That evening we enjoyed the best meal of our time in Venice so far.
Saturday 6 August
Another late rise was followed by another crossing to Lido and a bus ride further along the island than we had been before. When we were at what we guessed to be roughly the halfway point, we got off and walked to the sea-facing side. We’d gone beyond the sands, so returned to the main road for coffees and a panini at café Tentazioni, before walking a little further and returning to the sea – this time in line with the first beaches. We found a deserted little shack made of driftwood, which offered welcome protection from the direct sunshine, whilst being open to cool breezes on all sides.
On an adjacent rocky groyne we noticed a naturist sunbather, and required no further encouragement to follow suit. At first we maintained our privacy but soon felt tempted to venture out. I went for a swim and we both sunbathed upon the rocks. When it was time to leave we walked first along the beaches until they began to get more crowded, then further by the main road – stopping for juices and a couple of fruit tarts at a small café, and to get wine for our next meal at the flat. We returned to the vaporetto station by bus and took the first boat back to Giardini. This relaxation time was invaluable.
At our flat we filled two backpacks and a large airport luggage bag with all we needed for that evening’s performance. On reaching the Hilton at around 8:30pm, we instantly found Alexandra and together went up to the Skyline rooftop bar to chat with the staff there. They were very nice and accommodating, yet plainly had no idea who we were or what we were there to do – awkward. Evidently the tip-off we’d received was wholly correct – It’s Liquid had indeed ‘suspended’ their performances yet neither we nor the welcoming people at the venue had been formally told of it.
We took sunset photos then retreated to consider our next move. I had a deep sense of foreboding; staff were willing to slot us in at 10:30pm, between a singer and DJ set, yet to me it seemed the wrong performance at the wrong time for the wrong audience. We would be confronting them with nudity, blood and body paint, to a soundtrack that included The Fall, Dead Can Dance and Skinny Puppy. It’s unlikely this is what diners in cocktail dresses and evening suits would be anticipating. I felt certain of a negative reaction, without sufficient positives at an artistic level for it to be worth the trouble.
Esther concluded independently that circumstances weren’t right for performance and I did nothing to encourage her otherwise… although Alexandra would have chanced it. Instead the three of us went for a meal, close to the Palanca vaporetto stop where we could keep watch for Glynis, but she never arrived; understandably the four-hour round trip from Mestre was too much. It was hard for Esther to let a performance opportunity slip from her grasp, and she felt more than a little regret as the night drew to its close. I was in full sympathy – we should not have been put in this situation.
Sunday 7 August
After sleeping off the disappointment of the night before, we decided to make up for it by staging two outdoor performances ourselves: firstly a solo ritual with the menstrual blood that Esther had intended to use as part of Blood>>>Orange; secondly a variant of Blood>>>Orange itself, somewhere prominent within Venice. We went north to San Pietro, crossed to Fondamenta Nove, back to Sant’Erasmo Capannone, and retraced our steps from two days before, down to the deserted beach… except that now it was far from deserted.
On this clear, warm weekend day, sunseekers were occupying every available square metre of sand, while private motorboats were moored in a line just beyond the water’s edge. We walked on beyond the end of the beach, and instead found a beautiful area of coastal land that was awash with violet flowers and wind-brushed grasses. We took off our sandals and waded through black mud and wetland plants to reach a dry area, firmer underfoot and more secluded. Esther undressed, readied her pot of blood, and I started filming. It was beautiful act of cleansing: the Sant’Erasmo Blood Ritual.
We washed the dark mud from our feet and continued walking, turning inland to arrive at Sant’Erasmo Chiesa vaporetto stop. From there, we returned to Fondamenta Nove, then took connecting vaporettos to San Marco-San Zaccaria and to San Giorgio – the island directly opposite the most famous of Venice’s palace facades. I had fancied we could perform Blood>>>Orange on the long stone boat mooring that reached out from the east side and terminated with a small lighthouse, but unfortunately this turned out to be gated with no way past.
Nowhere else was suitable on this small island, but Esther didn’t mind; she was quite happy simply to have performed her earlier blood ritual – Blood>>>Orange would keep for another day. With such an outstanding backdrop, however, I couldn’t resist a quick nude photo shoot. Not enough people were on San Giorgio for me to care about being seen. As the hour neared eight o’clock, sunset colours added beautiful warming tones to the backdrop. Ever since our first trip to this city I had wanted to try a guerrilla-style nude shoot somewhere unmistakably Venetian and now, at last, I had my moment
This was our last evening in Venice. Back at San Marco-San Zaccaria, I wanted us to share a final visit to Piazza San Marco – the main square. After so much hiking, our sandals were starting to rub us sorely, so we took them off and walked barefoot to the heart of Venice. It was a magical evening. Despite setbacks to our performance plans, with one relocated and the other ‘suspended’, we were grateful for the many positives we could take from this trip, and grateful once more to be in such a magnificent place. That evening we ate in again – a quiet celebration.
Monday 8 August
At last, we managed to rise early – well, comparatively early – in the morning. For our remaining hours before returning to the airport we boarded a vaporetto from San Pietro to the island of Certosa just one stop opposite. It’s an uncomplicated little island with one café, a scattering of art installations and the modest remnants of a former military presence, but otherwise all green, pleasant and shady. We stopped for coffees before wandering in sunshine slowly around the perimeter footpath, pausing to sit in serenity every now and then. We were free to enjoy the simple pleasures once more.
Back at the flat we checked emails and ate the last of our fridge food. As if to prepare us for a return to London, we each received messages that offered us bookings as life models for the remainder of the year. These, unlike the performance arrangements on this trip, would be reliable. Our boat ride to the airport was smooth – as was the flight home. We’d enjoyed a superb holiday, had some fun photo shoots, met great people, and made the very best of our opportunities wherever we could. It had been a sublime experience in learning and life.
Goodbye Venice. We loved you.
Spirited Bodies has been running multi-model life drawing events in many formats since 2010. In November last year, this included ‘Spirited Sound‘ – a collaboration between Esther Bunting of Spirited Bodies and Sarah Kent: sound bath artist, folk fiddler, homeopath, reiki practitioner and bodyworker. The event was at Bargehouse on the south bank of the Thames, where Kathleen Dutton – artist, creative director, practioner of zen yoga, theta healing and reiki – was a co-organiser.
Esther, Sarah and Kathleen combined forces on 23 July at Lewisham Arthouse to realise a new concept: two small workshops with sound bath, slow nude movement, stillness and drawing. Participants were invited to flow with healing sounds, and find ways to embody them – while drawing or being drawn. Kathleen would lead drawing exercises, whilst Esther directed movements and modelling. The first session would be women-only, from 1pm to 3pm, then a mixed session would follow from 4pm.
Shortly after midday I helped Esther carry equipment down to the venue. Sarah had arrived too, so once the preparations were well under way I withdrew from the scene. The day was sweltering hot and, upon returning to join the mixed session, I was not surprised to find the room well immersed in the ambience of group body work; not in fragrance but a subtle dishevelment of the original set-up, plus a glow of satisfaction from those who remained from the first two hours. It had evidently been a success.
When the room filled for the mixed session, I found myself in the company of many friends: Irene drawing, Judit drawing and modelling, Rodger modelling; several other artists were Spirited Bodies regulars. Models would be Judit, Rodger, Esther, me, a debutant male model and Sarah’s daughter, Ellie, who also drew and participated in the earlier session. With everyone assembled, Kathleen brought artists and models together in a circle for a welcoming meditation.
Our next half-hour was filled by the explanation and practice of two movement poses. The first of these was the ‘slow movement and stillness chain’ – all six models stood still in a circle while one made very slow gestures until they touched a model to their left, at which point they stopped and the other would take over. Thus, movement was passed around the circle three times during 10 minutes. For the following 15 minutes we started small and grew very slowly from seeds into full bloom.
Next we took it in turns to stand close to a large sheet of paper taped to a wall while Kathleen drew round our outlines. Not that we’re competitive, but the women’s group had already created a splendid work, so the chaps felt obliged to be on top form and make interesting shapes too. During the break, everybody contributed to colouring in spaces between the original marks. Afterwards we created a 20-minute mass sound symphony with Sarah’s instruments, then all connected for a final 30-minute pose.
It had been uncharted water for us all. I was not sure if it might be a bit too unfamiliar and model-centred for some of the artists but everybody left with smiles. They arrived expecting a genuine immersive experience, and that’s what they were given. The only regrettable part was a breakage to Sarah’s beautiful crystal sound pyramid… but she took it stoically and was still able to enjoy joining Ellie, Judit, Rodger, Esther and me for a celebratory post-event picnic at Hilly Fields.
It had been a beautiful afternoon. Some of the group’s poses had been highly original; a joy to participate in. My personal favourite was probably the first one – where all the models arranged in a circle, five static and one moving, passing on the movement and freezing in pose. The whole session was filled with new ideas and potential. It remains to be seen whether the format will be repeated, but the appetite certainly seems to be there. Congratulations to Esther, Sarah and Kathleen on making it work.
Video montage of artworks and our sound symphony with models and artists playing:
“Do your toes always cross like that or have you done it for the pose?” – this was the question put to me by Eddie, the group organiser, as a I settled down for my eleventh piece of the evening. When getting into a pose, my focus is on composition, balance, pressure points and support, so sometimes I miss the details of my own body. Eddie hadn’t, though. As I sat naked for 15 minutes, he concentrated on drawing one foot.
I was back in Westminster for a return to the Civil Service Club. As is typical among life drawing groups in the summer months, the number of artists was about half what it had been in late spring – just Eddie and three others, all friendly regulars. The evening was warm and the windows cast open; our serenity was disturbed only by rowdy UKIP supporters outside who were yelling incoherently like drunken hooligans throughout.
The three-hour session was well structured: five 2-minute poses, two 10-minute poses and four 15-minute poses, up to a half-hour break. Two of my toes crossed for the last of these – I believe they just do that of their own accord. After the interval, we finished with three 20-minutes poses, albeit the third was trimmed to quarter of an hour. It was a good session, pure life modelling, enjoyable to create a varied set of poses.
Hen and stag party events are becoming an increasingly popular sub-genre of the life drawing world. They are sometimes looked down upon by serious artists, but it must be understood that their purpose is purely entertainment and nothing at all to do with creative practice. One hopes, of course, that first-timers might get the sketching bug, but essentially they’re there for a laugh and a bit of socially-acceptable nakedness.
Despite being asked by organisers on several occasions, I have resisted accepting a hen party booking simply because I couldn’t imagine me being the type of model that hens would favour. One always assumes they would expect some young chap with a permanent tan, six-pack stomach, huge member and jack-the-lad swagger. I am told, however, that whilst such chaps exist, they are often unimaginative life models.
I was persuaded to give it a try when my partner Esther – who works frequently as a model for stag parties and a tutor for hen parties – found a booking for us together. It was at Maidstone Village Hotel in Kent, which meant a long, tedious journey even from south London, but our rail fares were paid. The hens were sitting outside as we arrived, but we slipped in unnoticed and began preparing a conference room for art.
At 4pm, in came the bride-to-be and her 12 hens dressed in white. I sensed a mix of apprehension, giggles and optimistic bravado, but everybody was nice and up for fun. The hen who’d booked us – Petra – also happened to be a wedding photographer, so her organising was perfect. I gave her freedom to photograph the session. When they were settled, Esther started some club music and I slipped from my dressing gown.
We’d been booked for an hour so all poses would be brief; 5 to 8-minutes maximum. There would also be novelty. After a couple of basic poses, Esther got them to draw first with their weaker hand and then whilst looking at me but not at their paper. She had them split a page into six and fill it with six 1-minute poses, then each was told one body part to draw – when these were brought together I had three penises.
After the initial outbreak of sniggering and deliberately not-really-trying, it seemed all the hens were warming to the challenges and enjoying their drawing as much as the naughtiness. For the last two set-ups I posed first with the bride – who very early on had guessed that Esther and I were “married” – and then with the hen who I decided had drawn us best. Esther sprung that one on me unexpectedly!
It was a thoroughly enjoyable session. Petra later sent me photos and wrote, “Thank you so much, everyone had an absolutely brilliant time.” I genuinely appreciated that encouragement, yet nonetheless I’ve decided hen party modelling isn’t really for me, and it’s possible my first time will also be my last. I’ll never say ‘never again’ though, as adventures in modelling and performance continue taking me in bizarre directions.
Bring on whatever comes next!
steve ritter 