Form and beauty at Still Life Gallery
Owner reports surprising success with exhibit of nudes in different media
Still Life Gallery in Ellicott City has hosted a variety of exhibits over the years, featuring everything from plein air painters under 40 to miniature masterpieces.
For the gallery's latest exhibit, owner Sara Arditti decided to put together an exhibit she has long thought about but was advised not to do.
“The Nude — an exploration” features the works of Maryland artists James Adkins, Rick Casali, Dottie Dunsmore, Palden Hamilton and Tim Kelly. All of the paintings, sketches and sculptures feature a nude figure.
“I can't recall ever seeing an entire show of nudes like this in a gallery,” Arditti said. “Typically you see a nude occasionally in a gallery here and there. I had gallery dealers tell me, ‘Don't sell the nudes together. Nudes don't sell.'?”
Arditti decided to put together the exhibit after several of the artists told her they had nowhere to show their nude work.
“I really admire all of them,” Arditti said of the five artists featured. “The mission of my gallery is to showcase the highest quality of art from local and regional artists.
“These,” she said, gesturing to the exhibit of nudes around her on Feb. 21, “need to be seen. They are amazing. The quality of the work is exceptional.”
A gallery reception with wine and cheese is planned for Feb. 28, beginning at 4 p.m., Arditti said. All of the artists will be in attendance and Casali is scheduled to give a presentation.
“It is a very traditional subject. It is part of the training of any serious artist,” the Ellicott City resident said. “If you learn how to do a nude figure, you can draw anything.”
Arditti said she drew nudes as an art student at UCLA, and understands the difficulty in creating the figures.
“It is the true test of an artist. It is the hardest thing to do,” Arditti said. “To make the flesh come alive and to capture the expressions of the human face ... it takes a level of skill and talent to do it successfully.”
Adkins has seven paintings and three charcoal sketches featured in the show. The retired art teacher has been an artist all his life, he said, and paints every day. While he has had his nude work displayed in other galleries, he has never been part of an all-nude show.
“I have been to many different galleries and have been doing this a long time,” Adkins said, of displaying his artwork. “I don't remember a show where that [nudes] is the theme.”
He has also heard that nude artwork does not sell, and is not surprised.
“People who hear' nude' think it means sex,” Adkins said. “We react to it, the nude figure. It is used as an allegory for symbolic things, but that is not the only use for it.”
He has always been impressed, however, by the support local artists are given.
“Howard County has always been a good art community,” Adkins said. “It is very supportive of the arts.”
Since opening the exhibit on Feb. 17, Arditti has received one complaint regarding the presence of the four nude works in the gallery's window.
“I have never had a nude show. I have never had anything remotely controversial in the window,” Arditti said. “The main focus is the beauty of the human body ... not erotica.”
Her website received more than 3,000 hits in the first three days after the exhibit opened — a record for her gallery, she said,
“It's generated a huge amount of interest,” Arditti said. “It's crazy.”
“It's a great business move. People are talking about it,” said Dee Cunningham, owner of Cunningham Studios and founder of the Ellicott City Arts Coalition. “It's art. You see nudes throughout art history. I applaud her for it.”
Arditti has even sold a few of the smaller works and is confident the show will do well until its closing on April 24.
“Someone told me they have never seen this kind of work outside of a museum,” Arditti said, of a recent visitor to the gallery. “The artists are really happy they have a venue to be exhibited.”
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