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Robert Sherer: Male Nudes, the Real vs the Ideal
Robert Sherer studied the two-dimensional arts of drawing, printmaking and painting at Walker College, Atlanta College of Art, Georgia State University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Edinboro University where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1992.
In 2001 and 2007, Sherer represented the USA in the Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy. In 2002, he represented the USA in the Triennale de Paris in Paris, France.
Pickup, Oil on canvas, 30" x 24"
( more pics )
"According to the art history of western civilization, the ideal male form is a medium-built, shaven- bodied, fig leaf-wearing weight-lifter. With few exceptions he does not have body hair or body fat, the two features common to most men. Sadly, the exceptions are most often comical images of drunken satyrs such as Bacchus/Dionysus. The real male viewer is thus made to feel ashamed of his natural state when he only finds images of his body-type depicting foolish half-animals.
Conversely, the ideal male form is a self-contradicting amalgam of male power lust, Christian prudery, and highbrow culture's fear of virility. Per the painted evidence, his primary interests appear to be killing his fellow man, sexual conquests, and martyrdom. The poses he strikes seldom suggest that he has the capacity for acquiescence, gentleness, or relaxation. Despite the fact that the real male spends approximately one-third of his life asleep, the ideal man almost never sleeps. In fact, when he is found lying down he is probably a victim of murder.
With these paintings I am attempting to represent men and masculinity as naturally as possible. As an academic studio oil painter, I feel it necessary to paint these men in the representational/realist mode because that is where the most contentious images were created historically.
The feminist perspective has shown us how damaging the patriarchal painters have been to women. It is my intention to show how damaging they have been to men. It is also my goal to parody idealism with realism.
It is my intention to create situational dramas which can be interpreted as either sexually charged or completely innocent, dependent upon the viewer's inclinations. This deliberately ambiguous approach to subject matter is taken to avoid easy interpretations. It is also an attempt to avoid brazen didacticism. The possibilities for enlightenment, I have found, are better increased through setting up a dialogue rather than by preaching a monologue." Robert Sherer
American galleries currently representing Sherer’s art are Lyman-Eyer Gallery in Provincetown, MA., Robert Kidd Gallery in Detroit, MI., and New Arts Gallery in Litchfield, CT.
http://www.robertsherer.com/
More Artists at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Art
In 2001 and 2007, Sherer represented the USA in the Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy. In 2002, he represented the USA in the Triennale de Paris in Paris, France.
Pickup, Oil on canvas, 30" x 24"
( more pics )
"According to the art history of western civilization, the ideal male form is a medium-built, shaven- bodied, fig leaf-wearing weight-lifter. With few exceptions he does not have body hair or body fat, the two features common to most men. Sadly, the exceptions are most often comical images of drunken satyrs such as Bacchus/Dionysus. The real male viewer is thus made to feel ashamed of his natural state when he only finds images of his body-type depicting foolish half-animals.
Conversely, the ideal male form is a self-contradicting amalgam of male power lust, Christian prudery, and highbrow culture's fear of virility. Per the painted evidence, his primary interests appear to be killing his fellow man, sexual conquests, and martyrdom. The poses he strikes seldom suggest that he has the capacity for acquiescence, gentleness, or relaxation. Despite the fact that the real male spends approximately one-third of his life asleep, the ideal man almost never sleeps. In fact, when he is found lying down he is probably a victim of murder.
With these paintings I am attempting to represent men and masculinity as naturally as possible. As an academic studio oil painter, I feel it necessary to paint these men in the representational/realist mode because that is where the most contentious images were created historically.
The feminist perspective has shown us how damaging the patriarchal painters have been to women. It is my intention to show how damaging they have been to men. It is also my goal to parody idealism with realism.
It is my intention to create situational dramas which can be interpreted as either sexually charged or completely innocent, dependent upon the viewer's inclinations. This deliberately ambiguous approach to subject matter is taken to avoid easy interpretations. It is also an attempt to avoid brazen didacticism. The possibilities for enlightenment, I have found, are better increased through setting up a dialogue rather than by preaching a monologue." Robert Sherer
American galleries currently representing Sherer’s art are Lyman-Eyer Gallery in Provincetown, MA., Robert Kidd Gallery in Detroit, MI., and New Arts Gallery in Litchfield, CT.
http://www.robertsherer.com/
More Artists at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Art
I think I have already said it for the previous long novel by Willa Okati I read, but she is going better book after book. And Call Me in the Morning it’s not only one of the most nice Silver romance I have ever read (meaning for Silver Romance a book where one of the two main character is over 40 years old, and here they are both) but also a Friends with Benefits romance, another theme that I like a lot. In a way, it's also a Gay for You romance, since not Eli or Zane has never considered the option of being with a man, they are not suddenly turned gay, they fell in love with their best friend, and it happens that the best friend is a man. 
I think I have already said it for the previous long novel by Willa Okati I read, but she is going better book after book. And Call Me in the Morning it’s not only one of the most nice Silver romance I have ever read (meaning for Silver Romance a book where one of the two main character is over 40 years old, and here they are both) but also a Friends with Benefits romance, another theme that I like a lot. In a way, it's also a Gay for You romance, since not Eli or Zane has never considered the option of being with a man, they are not suddenly turned gay, they fell in love with their best friend, and it happens that the best friend is a man. 
There is a whole story behind this book, but the author chose to tell us only a little bit. Inside Tamotsu’s mind, who is half daydreaming and half remembering, we learn that he is in love with Aki, the rock singer he is the manager of, the same Aki who he met when they were 16 years old, 20 years before, and to whom he is in love since then. The same Aki he has never had the courage to approach in any different way if not as a friend, preferring to see him with other women and men, loving and leaving them, to always, in the end, coming back to him, Tamotsu. 
There is a whole story behind this book, but the author chose to tell us only a little bit. Inside Tamotsu’s mind, who is half daydreaming and half remembering, we learn that he is in love with Aki, the rock singer he is the manager of, the same Aki who he met when they were 16 years old, 20 years before, and to whom he is in love since then. The same Aki he has never had the courage to approach in any different way if not as a friend, preferring to see him with other women and men, loving and leaving them, to always, in the end, coming back to him, Tamotsu. 