Wired Tales
'Guilty' pleasure without guilt:
A journal of prurient observations.
For art's sake


A photographer named Spencer Tunick has produced several series of images featuring normal people naked, in some cases large numbers of people. He has, I think, four states to go in his "Naked States" tour, which features locations chosen from every state in the U.S. (The project began with a nude male portrait in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. My state's entry has already been shot.) He shot 600 naked people milling about in Selfridge's department store in London, for his "Be Consumed" project. Participants receive a copy of the print.

7,000 people posed nude for him on the streets of Barcelona

More recently, he was in Sao Paolo, Portugal.

And Grand Central, New York.

Telegraph | Nude department store opens

They came in all shapes, sizes and ages. Some were youthful and toned. Others were plump and greying. There were tall ones, skinny ones, white, brown and black ones.

A group waited among the Prada and Louis Vuitton handbags, a handful rode the escalators and others stood around in the luggage department. But for one small detail, it could have been any other busy shopping day at Selfridges.

Telegraph | The day I stood au naturel in Selfridges

Clothes are things we use to declare our identities to others. Beyond their mere functionality, whether a uniform, a dress style or a fashion label, they announce what we do and how we perceive ourselves - or how we want to be perceived.

There is therefore something particularly liberating about stripping off in a temple of consumerism. Doing so with hundreds of others, and watching as a stream of naked bodies makes its way towards Cosmetics is not embarrassing, not titillating, not humiliating, but simply very, very funny.

Fotophile.com | for photographers worldwide

"It's like when you watch those shows on the Discovery Channel and you see a herd of antelope," one model told the Times. "This is like a herd of naked people."

There is something... compelling about the idea of being a part of something this big. To show up and get naked with hundreds or thousands of other naked people, purely for art's sake. I'd like to be a part of this at least once in my life. I guess everyone would like it to be Important and Significant when they choose to be naked.

And it's possible to do it. He solicits normal people, not hard-bodied professional models. (There's an volunteer form on his website, spencertunick.com.)

On the other hand, I doubt I would have the nerve to do it. I may have reached that point in my life that only people who love me, a lot, should see me naked. Plus, there is the unpredictability of the penis, which seems to live to embarrass its owner. They don't always do what you think they should do when you get them in public. As I've said, I find outdoor nudity to be arousing: It might be a little too much so.

I sat and stared at the images for a while. Then I sat and stared at SpencerTunick.com and the "Sign Up to Pose" form. Then I filled it out and stared at it some more.

Then I hit send.

God knows what I'll do if I get an answer. Sit and stare at it, I suppose.




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