Candace Nicol

When I was thinking about what I would do for Communicable Dis-ease, I was in the middle of creating large-scale male nudes. The nudes themselves were addressing issues surrounding the female gaze and role reversals. This project, however, called for a social narrative, one that was “infectious”… (both communicable and disease mean infection, infectious). I thought this particular piece would act as an artistic transition between my social/political small prints and the large digital male nudes.

The final piece, ORNAMEN panel 1 works through ideas of traditional historical representations of the nude and also the notions of decoration, a realm loosely associated with femininity and domesticity. This statement brings me to a point of inquiry, that instead of simply re-interpreting the popular notion of nudity in art (the female nude – the male gaze), I would like to examine how a female artist can define nudity through beauty and pleasure, through the purist reaction of seeing a nude male and/or female interacting within a defined space.

Consequently, in my search for understanding the male form, I have realized that I would be creating art that is indulgent and sensual, an erotic after affect to my own gazing. This pleasure I am overtly sharing with the viewer and with the next artist, Nolan who will hopefully be “infected…AKA dis-eased” with beauty.