u235

Manhattan is a place where just about anything goes. As of late the thing that went was all the clothing on a model standing in a gallery window in Greenwich Village. Yes she's in the buff, but there's a lot of stuff between her and the glass. A sculpture to be precise, which she is a living part of.

Ms. Hanford is part of the gallery’s latest exhibit by Brian Reed. She stands fully naked under a suspended web made of various objects including shark eggs and teeth, beads and clay pipes. Her nakedness is essential, Mr. Reed explained, “so she can be fully at the center of that connectivity” of energy.(NYT)

The city has a clause that being nude to sell something is not acceptable, but being nude as part of a piece of art is protected. The exception includes: "any person entertaining or performing in a play, exhibition, show or entertainment." So basically, yes, being nude in a storefront on a busy street in broad daylight in one of the biggest cities in the world isn't an issue. Did the police agree?

Then, not long after the nude woman, Megan Hanford, assumed her pose, a patrol car rolled toward the gallery, Chair and the Maiden. The police vehicle rolled slowly, paused for a moment, and then kept going.

A similar exchange on Sunday did not quite go that way; the gallery’s curator, David Zelikovsky, said that the police forced Ms. Hanford, 26, out of the gallery’s storefront.

Well yes and no. You could say they were conflicted on the issue. But for the most part her nudity is within the bounds of the law and once the novelty wears off the police will drive by just like they did the first time.

For my own opinion I see no issue. Naked people appear in photography, paint, print, sculpture all the time. Humans make the art and we're shameless narcissists. Nude is what we are without the clothes we choose to apply every day. To claim obscenity based on an emotionless, expressionless pose only means that the person raising the claim has problems that they need to deal with. Most of all they shouldn't expect that everybody or anybody else feels the same.

Along the same lines if a parent feels they can't explain to their child why the lady is naked, or why being naked is a big deal then maybe they need to look deeper into themselves. Chances are they'll really be at a loss for words the day junior walks into the bedroom while his parents are getting it on.