Renek Gaszewski [Blog]

In their hundreds, they line up to take off their clothes - all in the name of art.
In the latest of a series of what one might call “strip-art” ventures, about 500 volunteers undressed on a cold and wet Sunday for an installation by New York-born artist Spencer Tunick.
A mostly young crowd posed on escalators at London’s Selfridges department store as well as in various parts of the store before the shop opened to the public.
Earlier this month, 160 volunteers took part in a “nude happening” run by the same artist to launch London’s Saatchi Gallery.
Tunick has held similar naked installations at outdoor venues in Montreal, Canada, and Sao Paolo, Brazil - attracting thousands of participants.
And the clearly willing participation of several hundred Britons in his UK installations is just one example of a trend that is putting paid to the image of the famous British, erm, stiff upper lip - despite the country’s off-putting weather.
Of course, the idea of stripping naked for art is hardly new, as many an art class life model can testify.
But mass nudity has become quite the fashion.
In February, 240 volunteers aged five to 95 agreed to be wrapped in cling film to allow plaster casts to be made of their bodies for an exhibition by sculptor Antony Gormley.
Their figures will form Gormley’s latest exhibition, Domain Field, which opens at the Baltic Arts Centre in Gateshead in May.
One of the volunteers, Paul O’Neill, said he was surprised at how normal the experience felt.
He said: “I had my doubts about whether I could go through with it but there was a definite moment of no return.
“Once I had passed it I had a wonderful - if slightly surreal - afternoon.”
Fellow volunteer Davie Hay said: “I found the experience very interesting, humorous, humbling, calming and something that I’m proud to have taken part in.”
Peter Wilson said he wanted the opportunity to take part in a large art project.
“I was hooked to the idea straight away and applied instantly,” he said.
“The casting itself was unusual, but a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable experience.”
Tunick is becoming famous around the world for his series of installations photographing nude crowds in urban landscapes.
Bodies are composed into sculptural shapes and bizarre formations to feature on buildings, streets and cityscapes.
Mike Grenville, 53, who took part in the Saatchi event, said it had been a relaxed and positive experience.
He said: “It was just curiosity. I was interested to see how Tunick handled it and what people were there.
“We’re all basically the same in different shapes and sizes. Once you have taken all your clothes off, it’s a very friendly and communal feeling.”
But Ivan Massow, the former chairman of London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, said Tunick’s Selfridges installation upset him because it was “so transient, it disappears, it is pure idea“.
He posed for two naked portraits because he wanted “to prove that concept or conceptual thought could meet canvas, something tangible”, he said.
The Selfridges event was a departure for Tunick, as he swapped the open air for the interior of the store.
He told the BBC: “Usually people do it outdoors because there is an amount of tension and vulnerability in the body that comes up against the concrete world.
“That tension creates a desire to be nude in a public place outside.
“I’m just happy that people wanted to engage in indoor space.”