“Naked” or “Nude”?

CEBU, Philippines — Since the mid-17th and early 18th centuries, discussions on the difference between “naked” and “nude” in the arts have been brought up and debated on by artists, art lovers and critics.

Basically, the arguments dwelt on the unclothed human body and its two distinctions – “naked” and “nude.” The two are different in the sense that “nude” alludes to that which is pristine and pure, while “naked” simply points to figures that have no clothes on.

It’s on this artistic divide that’s the theme of a recent art exhibit in Cebu.

Titled “Nude Dichotomy” and presented by Qube Gallery in its “Artist Space” gallery at The Crossroads, Banilad, the exhibit features works by artist-educators Gigi Ocampo and Jose “Kimsoy” Yap, Jr. The artworks dip into the transitional slants that fuel the “naked or nude” debate.

More than a presentation of the exhibiting artists’ technical skills to render unclothed human figures using various mediums, the show’s raison d'etre is centered on what its viewers perceives as “naked” or “nude” by presenting chiaroscuro-themed works next to those that are rendered by narrative and linear painting styles.

In juxtaposing Yap’s chiaroscuro-themed works with that of Ocampo’s linear painting-themed renderings, “Nude Dichotomy” metaphorically sets a wall where viewers get to be on the fence on in the “naked or nude” argument.

The show raises questions on how contemporary mindsets are causing progressive shifts in the arts – compelling viewers to question if the purity of the “nude” is being pushed aside by the rawness of the “naked,” or if it’s the other way around.

Outside of its “nude versus naked” environment, pops out the question where artworks with unclothed human bodies stand in the overall visual arts landscape – whether artworks of this vein distances the unclothed body from the bareness of sexuality and eroticism, or if these actually bring such sensations together.