what do you think?

China artist paints daughter in the nude (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif)


http://www.asiaone.com/News/The%2BNew%2BPa...127-117358.html
WOULD you get your own children to model in the buff so that you could paint them?

An artist in China did. He asked his 23-year-old daughter to pose nude for a series of his goddess-themed paintings.

And this has created a wave of controversy in the Chinese media.

Some have berated the father and daughter for crossing the lines of morality and criticised their actions as distasteful.

Others insisted that the pair had made a noble sacrifice for art.

The artist, Mr Li Zhuang Ping, 61, told Chong Qing Chen Bao, a newspaper in Chongqing, China: '(My daughter's) form and her natural beauty are what I had in mind for the image of a goddess. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_wink.gif)

'It was only after getting her approval that I allowed her to be my model.'

He added: 'I created the 'Oriental goddess' series with her. She is both the model in the painting and the artist who creates (the artwork) with me.' (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_wink.gif)

And yes, his wife approved, said Mr Li.

Even his relatives supported and respected him. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_smile.gif)

Posted online

Said the artist: 'I set up a personal blog last year and posted my daughter's and my artworks online. Not one comment posted was of an obscene or sexual nature.'

His daughter, Miss Li Qin, said she began modelling for him five to six years ago, and also worked with him to create the 'Oriental goddess' series of oil paintings on canvas.

Miss Li said: 'My father was researching on creating an image of an Oriental goddess at that time. He found that I possessed the classical beauty of an Oriental female.'

She defended her decision to model for her father's paintings, arguing that it was 'holy and pure' for a daughter to pose as a model for a father.

'A father would not have obscene, sexual thoughts for a daughter, only care for the daughter,' she said.

Both father and daughter insisted that their intentions were pure and just, so what's the fuss?

The New Paper on Sunday interviewed local artists to get their take on the matter.

Mr Ren Jianhui, 52, president of the Nanyang Contemporary Artists Society, said: 'I admire MrLi's courage in representing the Chinese goddess with his own daughter posing nude, but I believe, even for an artist, this ought not be a way to shock the world.

'Try imagining Ang Lee casting his own daughter as Wong Chia Chi in the film Lust, Caution. That's something unimaginable.'

Has he used his own children to model for his artworks?

'Recently, I've been painting about the lives of young adults born after the '80s using my son as a model, but an inspirational one,' said Mr Ren.

'A good artist should be able to express representations freely from memory or imagination, (rather than) employing your own offspring as the nude model.

'The Chinese goddess, in my opinion, is a summation representing the ideal form of woman and not a picture of somebody.'

Nothing obscene

However, artist Marcus Lim, 35, argued that the paintings were well-done and there was nothing in the paintings to suggest anything of an obscene or pornographic nature.

'I don't think there's any controversy at all,' said Mr Lim, who is single.

'To me, whether it's using your own kin or using anyone else, there would not be any controversy if the artist does not paint in any way that undermines the integrity of the model, and paints for the benefit of true art.'

Madam Huang Raeyian, 63, a trained graphic designer and art consultant for about 10 years, also agreed that Mr Li has good craftsmanship and she did not see eroticism in Mr Li's paintings.

She said: 'The daughter gave her consent and in the paintings, he's elevating her to (the position of) a goddess and trying to present the perfect form of a female.

'I don't see why people should be so foolish about it.'

Would she be open to asking her own children to pose nude for her artworks?

'Of course,' said Madam Huang, who has a son. 'I have not done so, but I would, upon mutual understanding on both sides for art's sake.'

Madam Huang thought it was also likely that MrLi could be trying to score publicity points by using his own daughter as a nude model.

On that point, however, Mr Lim disagreed: 'I don't think it was the artist's intention to get publicity with his paintings of his own daughter.

'Many artists in history and the present day use their wives and children as models.

'I believe that the artist's intentions for the message he wants to convey in his art takes precedence over who the model is, be it his daughter or even his mother.'

This story was first published in The New Paper on 25 January 2009.