Life models in the media

There's an interesting piece on the Fairfax news websites today about 'life modelling'. I thought it was a little weak of the journalist who wrote the piece to simply sit in on the art class rather than do a stint as a model- I mentioned once while relating another story that I once took up a one-off job as a life model in Brisbane, and it's a tough job.

I think the author is a little behind the times when she says it's a job that 'generates plenty of innuendo' and expresses surprise that it's not 'sexy'. First of all, what kind of innuendo can you derive from sitting around naked in front of a bunch of strangers with easels and art supplies? Most people would think that's pretty daunting, I reckon. What was surprising for me was not how 'unsexy' it all was, but how damn difficult it is to hold a pose for half an hour, even when it's a really easy one.

The group I posed for was headed by an old lady, and consisted of 8 people, half women and half guys, mostly well into middle age. The old lady picked me up in her car and on the way I asked her a few questions about what I was expected to do- I'd thought there would be a set of standard poses that they wanted me to replicate, but instead I was given a folder containing some previous work for 'ideas' and then told not to copy them but to make my own poses up!

I wouldn't say it was at all uncomfortable being naked in front of a bunch of people, but it was a bit surreal. It was cold and rainy outside, and the art class was being held in the hall of an old church. I'd arrived in winter clothes, so I suppose it was a bit more strange getting naked in that kind of weather than if it had been summer and I'd arrived wearing next to nothing.

There was a shoddy little platform containing a wooden box and some cushions (for comfortable posing), and the artists were spread out with their easels in a semicircle around the stage. That made thinking of poses really hard, as I was told to consider how it would look to all of them, as no-one wanted to be painting my back for half an hour! I also got the impression the old lady didn't like me asking questions. That was my only gripe of the night apart from the godawful weather- some more guidance would have been helpful. I'd been told that they usually had an experienced model, but on the occasions she was unavailable they'd recruit via the UQ student union employment website. $50 for 2 hours. It sounded worth a go- a good story to tell, some cash for groceries when we were short of money, but I must admit to thinking it sounded easier than it actually was.

The posing started off with a couple of 2-minute poses for the artists to practice their sketching. That was easy enough. I think it then progressed to five and ten minute poses, where I soon learned to think carefully about how I was going to pose, as by the end of the first 10-minute pose my muscles were shaking and I was close to falling over!

There was a break after the first hour; this turned out to be the most interesting part of the whole night, as I got to wander around looking at all the artists' work. It sounds odd, but it felt a bit weird putting clothes on for 10 minutes just to look at their work when they'd been looking at me naked for a whole hour and were about to do so again. It was fascinating to see how each of the artists had brought their own style, and that there were such vastly different interpretations of what (aside from the different angles they were all seeing me from) was essentially the same thing. The most memorable piece was from the 'young guy' there (late 20's, I would guess) who painted only scenes with fairies: everyone who posed for him was turned into a fairy. Somewhere out there there's a picture of me as a purple fairy- I was told he sold a lot of his works, so I may even be on someone's wall! I found this fairly amusing, as to look at me there's nothing about my morphology that suggests fairy-like qualities.

The second hour consisted, if I remember correctly, of a 10 minute and a 15 minute pose, followed by a half-hour pose. They made the half-hour pose fairly easy for me by perching me on a high stool, which had to be better than standing up the whole time, but even staying upright without shifting around every couple of minutes is surprisingly difficult to do. Not only that, it's practically instinctive to move when you start to feel uncomfortable, so I had to catch myself a couple of times when I almost shifted a limb before I realised what I was doing. I had practically petrified by the time half an hour was up.

All in all it was a good experience- something interesting to add to the list of things I've done with my life, which is not a whole lot so far. While the artists in the group I sat for said I had an ideal body for the work, I still got the impression they would have preferred someone who was experienced as a life model. I think even sitting in on a class as an artist before becoming a model would have given me a better appreciation of what was required. Though I have to say the work would want to pay better in order for me to bother with that amount of 'research'. $50 for 2 hours sounded like a lot, but I felt I'd really earned it at the end. A higher degree of fitness would probably have been a help as well, given the difficulties I had holding all those poses.

My only final thought is that I wish I'd taken a camera to get a few snaps of the artists' work- it was a pretty cool experience, but it's a shame to have nothing to show for it.