"Arthur, why do you paint naked women!!!???"

As an artist of 30 years exhibiting my work, this was the first time this question a had been demanded of me to explain. 

I live in a small village in western Norway called Balestrand. It is stunningly beautiful and is actually listed in book as one of the places to see before your die. Just to reiterate that, this photo (below) I took out of my living room window.

        

I moved to this idyllic village 17 years ago after I was invited by the local art society to exhibit my work. They paid for all of my travel expenses and my accommodation.
To cut a long story short, during my exhibition I met a beautiful norwegian lady and as soon as we saw each other we connected. She is was a local artist and 2 years later we were together as life partners and decided to open our own gallery. The local newspaper did a story on when we opened the gallery  (see below)

           

However, the area has a past history of pietism.


Pietism is not as strong today but it isa Lutheran based culrure and in a way it is still there. For example one Sunday I was washing the gallery floor.It was about 1oam. Some came me and told said ;"tut tut tut you are not allowed to work until after noon".
My work involves female nudity but it is nudity of the most subtly kind compared to what some artists create. Lucian Freud for example.
Anyway, when I first hung up my paintings there was a strong reaction in the area because of this lingering Pietism. Some could deal with it but the majority can not and still can not.
Then one day a guy ,whom I actually know very well, burst into my gallery demanding to know;
"Arthur, why do you paint nude women".  
I could see he was quite angry and so I had to take deep breath and decide what to do. His name is Andrea and he is a fisherman by trade so I guessed perhaps his knowledge of art was not that of an art dealer.

 Many serious artists, many of whom are friends of mine, refuse to explain their work.
I was the same.
Artists do not need to explain selves to anyone.
However, recently I have been doing just that because I have noticed over the last 10 years a distinct lack of understanding of art and this is leading to a reduction in art quality.
So I figured, OK, I will explain why I paint nude women and see if he still continues to judge me.
First I asked; "Andrea, do you see sex in my work?".  He looked shocked at first, then looked around at the paintings in my gallery and answered: "No. But I still don't understand why the women have to be naked?" He responded
"Andrea, I see you are wearing a rather stylish cardigan. It has a very distinctive pattern and very distinctive colours.
If I painted your portrait, as you are now, then it means I would be forced to paint that cardigan. I would be forced to paint its patten and forced to use the same colours. This means I have been denied some free choice. I also did not design the cardigan. The pattern is the work of another artist and I do not wish to copy the work of another artist. Serious artists want to copy only from nature." I explained.
"I see. I never thought of that. Perhaps there is a way of having them half clothed?" He said.
"Andrea. Would you put clothes onto a mountain? Must I compromise my art for who exactly?" I replied.  He shook his head.
"Artists have been painting the nude for centuries Andrea. Both male and female. Would it be more acceptable to you if I painted naked men then?" I continued.
"Good God No, that would be worse!" He said.
"Oh why so?"  I asked, even though I had guess he might say this.
"Well, because your´re a man and and well...it would be right." He said, rather sheepishly.
"So then now you are saying it´s OK to paint naked women? If I painted men then there would be nothing wrong with that but I choose to paint women because I happen to be heteresexual and as such I find the female form beautiful. Should I deny that truth? I am a man and I know what it is like to be a man. But I do not know what it is like to be a woman. That means a woman is infinitely more interesting to me as a subject matter to paint."
"I see. It is just that I want to bring my son to look at your work but he is only twelve. I worry what he might think." He explained.  
"Perhaps you should worry so much about your sons opinions, but instead trust in your son´s integrity. After all, he is your son." I replied.
"There is much more I could say about this Andrea, but I perhaps I have given you enough to think about for one day. But before you go, look again at the painting that so bothered you".  (see below)

                      
What do you see?  A woman who is apparently standing on water. She looks at her self in the water and is overcome by her own existence.

       

 "Is this me? Is this who I am?  She reacts by lifting her hands to her head. The conscious universe responds to her by parting the clouds an letting the suns rays reflect upon the surface of the water. She is now standing in sunshine. What is the universe telling her. Well, that is for yo to figure out"

      

After that day Andrea began coming in about once a month to see if had painted any new work. It is still a little difficult for him but I put a high value on that he does this. He is one of the few in my village who actually come to see my work. Most of my visitors ore either art collectors or art dealers.

NOTE: What I write is merely my own thoughts from my own life experience and existence.  I do not like to say follow me or up vote me because I prefer it you decide such things for yourself.  But I will say thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I give you a warm welcome back to you next time.