Contemporary Nudes

MALE as well as female nudes are included in this exhibition, in a thoroughly ecumenical spirit, and sculpture (though not a …

MALE as well as female nudes are included in this exhibition, in a thoroughly ecumenical spirit, and sculpture (though not a great deal) is shown as well as paintings and drawings. It is not a heavyweight affair, but there are more than 40 exhibits and a fair amount of variety.

In case the title sounds like a summons to erotic contemplation, forget most of that aspect: there is in fact relatively little eroticism present. Patrick Graham shows various of his sex and guts pictures which suggest tension and even anguish rather than sensuality. They are, as almost always, brilliantly drawn - though I was left with a certain sense of marking time.

A large sitting male nude by James Hanley is ultra competent but has rather a whiff of the life class. That is true also of many of the other nude drawings, by Jacqueline Stanley, Suzanne Wolf, Alwyn Gillespie etc, most of which seem to be competent studies from the model and not a great deal more. Sarah Walker's smaller pictures are stylish and with a welcome element of wit.

Of the rather small sculpture selection, Joe Butler's pieces in steel (some of them painted) are at once grotesque and humorous, ritualistic and anarchic. They are also admirably made, with an in built factor of "found" or improvised elements which is very much part of their overall effect and character.