I have an idea for a themed art show that could travel the museums of the world: “Clothed men, naked women: a retrospective.” How many galleries and halls do you think would overflow?
I just posted about repetitive gender imagery in “riding bitch,” where the female is shown behind the male on a bike, animal, imaginary creature etc. This sexism is persistent in depicting a fantasy world marketed to children. Amazing how the imaginary world is just as sexist as the real one, huh? Wonder how that happens…
Lynley Stace linked to one of my posts, and that’s when I saw Nick Cave’s new CD cover on her blog.
Stace writes:
As one woman commented on Facebook, this image is problematic because it depicts a naked woman opposite a fully-clothed man (in a suit, no less). The woman looks upset or humiliated because her face is covered and Nick Cave looks as if he’s ordering her to go to her room (i.e. he is treating her like a child).
What I would add to that comment is that the woman, judging by her youthful body, is much younger than Nick Cave. Nick Cave is currently 55 years old. That female body looks under 30. So the power is with Nick Cave in every possible respect.
Also, check this out. The image is getting as much traction as Cave can get out of it. Stace writes: “Also, the album cover isn’t JUST the album cover. Turns out this image is being used for general promotional advertising.”
I used to be a fan of Cave. No more. What really gets me is when you look at this image, you can feel how radical and cool Cave thinks he is.
Hey, Nick, it’s been done. Throughout history, again and again. Here’s a version from Manet:
GQ:
Vanity Fair:
I could fill my entire blog with these images. Cave, you’ve lost your originality and you’re showing your 55 years. You’ve become a copy cat, a cliche, and no more an avante-garde artist than Larry Flynt was a proponent for free speech.
#NotBuyingIt
and if you agree,
Please Tweet: Nick Cave’s Push Away the Sky been there, seen that and #NotBuyingIt
Theme I should have said.
The woman in the image is 43 Years old, not in her 20s. She is his wife.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/377874/Nick-Cave-s-naked-wife-album-snap-was-accidental
Cave and his wife claim the image wasn’t staged.
I agree that it’s a very problematic image, but I’d be curious to hear more about it. The one video I’ve seen from this upcoming album is about prostitutes and how mistreated they are by the men who hire them, so I do wonder if this image is an extension of that, and Nick Cave might be playing a character of an unscrupulous man. He has a very long history of singing the songs of unsavory characters and taking on their character as a way to humanize situations.
I definitely think it’s a big issue that your average Joe won’t know that backstory, and this image will look exactly as you see it. But I do think it’s most likely that Cave is creating a dramatic situation where the man is the villain, corrupted by all the power you rightly see him being given in this photograph.
In any case, thanks for the interesting discussion!
best wishes, Scott
I think if the man were naked in any of the pictures, it would become pornographic-looking. Naked man with clothed woman could be interesting if there is a clear consent vibe, but could come off looking predatory.
Both man and woman clothed and treated as equally worthy of respect? That’s too much to ask for
It looks pornographic either way, and predatory too, you just got used to it.
It happens to be a photo of him and his wife in their own bedroom and he is opening a shutter to illuminate her beautiful body.
Hi Bad Seed,
I really hope that’s not true because that makes it even sicker.
Margot
You claim to be a Nick Cave fan, and this is the one image that threw you over the edge and altered that claim? Interesting.
Hi Stagger Lee,
I have a couple CDs that I really like. Does that qulaify as “fan”?
MM
I’m not trying to be a nudge, but Margot, you did say in your post, “I used to be a fan of Cave.” I am (or maybe was?) a fan of Nick Cave, though when I saw this image, I was also freaked out by it. One detail that particularly freaks me out is how the woman is walking as if on stiletto heels, but with bare feet. She has naked Barbie feet, essentially. Further destabilizing her posture, of course, which I assume was very intentional. (For the record, I totally agree with the assessment that this photo is playing into a horrible trope of naked women/suited men, and I am also disappointed in Nick Cave. I wonder what he has to say, if anything, to defend this choice? He’s always been provocative in some way or other, which didn’t bother me until now. Now I have to figure out whether I’m “still a fan” or not.) Has Cave spoken out about the image? Now I must go google. Thanks for the dialogue!
Hi rebecca,
I think of myself as a fan- or thought of myself as one. I just meant I was not sure if that commenter thought I qualified.
Margot
Got it, thanks.
And good point about the creepy feet
I talk to my daughter (age 5) about the problem with Barbie’s feet all the time. I know she’s tired of my preaching about it, but she is also coming to understand how and why “we don’t do Barbie.” Taken to an extreme, these feet also remind me of that “scary beautiful” video that was circulating awhile ago: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/10/fashion-high-heels-perception-beauty_n_1953718.html
Obviously not. Take a deeper listen to some Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (and Grinderman for that matter) and you’ll probably find that an image with himself and a naked woman is probably the least offensive thing from his repertoire.
See Rebecca, that’s what I mean, I haven’t gone “deep” enough to call myself a “fan.” Make that former fan.
Interesting issue. I have listened somewhat deeply (I think) to some of his albums, and the thing that has always seemed most edgy about his songs is his relationship to Christianity. Which I find fascinating. But that’s another topic. But of course now I have to go listen for misogyny, overt and covert. Thanks, sincerely, for the dialogue!
Thanks heaps for sharing that post, depressing as it is. I love your blog. Only discovered it recently and it seems our interests overlap. You should totally manage themed art shows. I’d go.
On the Nick Cave thing, until I saw that album cover I was listening to his tunes on high rotation, but I haven’t listened to a single one of his songs since then. Safe to say he’s ruined for me.
I have to admit I’m slow. I mean, he has a long-term reputation among Australian feminists that I never knew about, mainly because I never really ‘listened’ to his lyrics. And now I’m in this horrible position of listening to *all” the lyrics of my favorite music and I ain’t impressed much. Turns out I love the rhythms and tunes of some pretty dodgy stuff. What I need is Pink and PJ Harvey lyrics set to Nick Cave and Kings of Leon instrumentation.
I’ll accept suggestions.
This is a whole world of depressing. Didn’t his brief period of dating PJ Harvey teach him anything?
Seriously!
But I do like the title, everybody loves a good “retropsective”
Ha!
Before you start curating themed art shows, perhaps you should finish that chapter book you were working on.
You should have plenty of time to do so since you were dumped from SF Gate.
Hi Stacie,
I am working away on the book, should be done by July. It’s too bad SFGate dumped the City Brights section but I don’t miss the commenters.
Margot
I’m not sure I understand the point of these comments. Are you suggesting that since Margot hasn’t finished her book she should be mocked for considering or working on any other projects? Since when are artists not allowed to develop more than one idea simultaneously?
Thanks Lesley, I just watched the video and its cracking me up
I think a retrospective of this them is a great idea. One could have either “fine art” or modern photography or both.