The female nude is a constant of art history whose vicissitudes illustrate changing forms of
representation and the wild swings of public morality. Many a nude was initially condemned as
smut only to be reclassified a few years later as beautiful and becoming and inducted into the
hallowed halls (the opposite has also happened). GOTT&GILZ's photographic paintings build on
this long tradition of depictions of naked women by men-theirs is the proverbial "male gaze."
It is a debt they are quick to acknowledge with nods to Klimt Schiele Pollock et al. No
wonder some have responded to their work with kneejerk indignation. Unlike in those
art-historical references then the impudence lies not in the shattering of traditional norms
of representation but in quoting them: the past as affront. The women in the pictures as well
as the artists themselves flaunt their desires shamelessly and relentlessly confronting us
with the historic roots of our social and psychological realities. By letting it all hang out
they allow us to see ourselves as we are instead of presenting a picture of what we
(supposedly) should be like. The insolence of it!
