nude figures

Public Radio

Artebella On The Radio: December 2

Desmone Stepp is an artist and the Outreach Coordinator for Louisville Visual Art. She joins us to talk about her work and the new initiatives she is developing at LVA. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear artists talk about their work.

Desmone Stepp is the new Outreach Coordinator for Louisville Visual Arts. She is a recent graduate from the University of Louisville, earning her Bachelor's Degree in Art with a minor in Psychology. Her artwork consists of oil paintings and charcoal drawings that express the beauty of Black women and Mother Nature. Desmone has a background in bringing stress resilience and coping skills to her community in the form of mindfulness and meditation, working 2-years as a Health Advocate Leader for UofL’s Health Promotion Department. In this space, she learned to use art as a means for creating loving and rejuvenating atmospheres for others, as well as herself. As a Health Advocate Leader, Desmone also worked in outreach, organizing and facilitating workshops that connected the campus community. She has also worked as an artist and volunteer with the Healing Walls Project, an organization of BIPOC artists who travel across the United States promoting healing and justice, for those who have been marginalized and oppressed, through the use of public art.

Painting

Open Studio Spotlight: James Russell May

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"Woman with Fox" by James Russell May, Oil on aluminum, 36x24in,2018, $4500.

"Woman with Fox" by James Russell May, Oil on aluminum, 36x24in,2018, $4500.

James Russell May doesn’t only paint nude figures, and he doesn’t only paint nude female figures, but it is perhaps the imagery he is best known for. The women we see have a physicality projecting strength in form and in character. Sturdy, full-bodied, they are unapologetic in exposing their flesh, very often-staring straight at the viewer. In fact, that confrontational aspect might, as often as not, turn the tables, forcing us to reexamine our own biases about the unclothed figures. Are we puritanical, prurient, or neutral in how we receive them?

“I am intrigued by how the subject matter and themes of traditional Western art can seem at once familiar and alien to the eyes of the contemporary viewer,” states May. “This has become a primary element of my paintings. In my work I attempt to form a bridge between the present and the past, as well as the material and ethereal. I paint my figures in a heavily detailed, mannered, and realistic style requiring layers of painstaking work. This style is based upon both an observation of life and a studied awareness of how the human form has been portrayed in the art of the past. Those figures are then placed in an environment of abstracted and textural material, such as resin or metal. The intended result is balance between two competing personal aesthetics.”

We sometimes have to search for contemporary artists who use the concept of nudity so boldly without becoming vulgar or overtly political. May’s balanced blending of tradition with a point-of-view that is modern yet thoroughly rejects the Male Gaze is startling.

However, May is far from neutral in his themes. “Omphale and Hercules” revisits a story from Classical Mythology with humor and a sharp recognition of our moment. May not reverse the gender roles; Hercules was in servitude to Omphale, so her sitting on his head mat be extreme but it is not inconsistent, but all previous depictions have historically placed the man’s name in front of the woman’s, and there is a note of brutality in this Omphale’s satisfied expression, even while we detect a note of bemusement in Hercule’s countenance.

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James Russell May is participating in the 2018 Open Studio Weekend, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute. His studio, located in the Germantown neighborhood, will be open the weekend of November 3 and 4. Tickets for Open Studio Weekend will go on sale October 16. Click here for more information. 

Hometown: Savannah, Georgia
Education: BFA, Savannah College of Art & Design
Website: Jamesrussellmay.com
Facebook: James Russell May Art
Instagram: jamesrussellmay

Scroll down for more images

“Omphale and Hercules” by James Russell May, ", Oil and alkyd resin on wood, 48x48in, 2013, $6000.

“Omphale and Hercules” by James Russell May, ", Oil and alkyd resin on wood, 48x48in, 2013, $6000.

"Bear II" by James Russell May, Oil on aluminum, 48x24in, $5500

"Bear II" by James Russell May, Oil on aluminum, 48x24in, $5500

"In the Garden" by James Russell May, Oil and alkyd resin on wood, 48x48in, 2007, $5000

"In the Garden" by James Russell May, Oil and alkyd resin on wood, 48x48in, 2007, $5000

“Banana Tree” by James Russell May, Oil on aluminum, 40x25in, 2017, $3000.

“Banana Tree” by James Russell May, Oil on aluminum, 40x25in, 2017, $3000.


Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved. In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.

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