Model Society

about paulryb

Male

Painter of the male nude.

I work with naked people all day long.

As a licensed massage therapist I work with the human body hands-on. My role as a health care provider obligates me to use my skills of observation and analysis, with detachment. This is a private and confidential experience shared only between me and my client. When I paint the figure, I’m exploring and relating to the figure in a different way. I use my skills of observation but this time with involvement...emotional, visceral and visual. And this time my experience is not private nor confidential; it’s not to be kept secret but instead I can present it to the world.

My subject is often the male figure because it is what I respond to the most. I search out the strength, character, emotions, longings and desires of my models. Some of my models become my massage clients and some of my massage clients become my models. I prefer to feature my models in some unguarded or relaxed moment, in a natural or home based setting, rather than having them “strike a pose.”

I believe that paintings of the male figure have been under represented in contemporary art and want people to accept them as readily as those of the female form.