John Vesty controversial nudes on show in Diss
I assume you are aware of the controversy involving our member John Vesty – it’s a lovely accident. Thank you Cromer Council.
We will be displaying the ‘offensive’ nudes at Ulric Computers and Ashton & Co Estate Agents opposite Merrick Hill from where Tom Paine’s ‘eyes’ can peer at the naked lady!
It seems Waveney Springs artist John Vesty has not only become a national talking point of controversy in several leading papers, but international too as the story has apparently hit at least Denmark, Spain and India… while Diss plans to brave ‘offensive’ paintings in September – wonderful.
John tells me:
“I have Just returned from a walking holiday with my kids in Cumbria; where I did my best to plug Waveney Springs from my mobile via Radio5 live drive-time, crouching 2000ft up on Great Borne in Ennerdale and on Anglia T.V. News which was shot in Carlisle. So much for my attempt at Diss appearing for last ten days!”
As he also said: “An ‘international’ talking point; WaveneySprings has now gone global!”
This is the quote he gave to a Danish magazine:
“My reaction to the censorship of my paintings began with astonishment but it is now one of gratitude to the council for unwittingly bringing my work to a much wider audience. Nonetheless I still remain surprised at the paucity of mind in one’s fellow human beings and sad that their vision is so pre-determined by an unquestioned past. What we ‘see’ is so often merely a reflection of our own prejudices; in the case of paintings all that is physically there are some small daubs of coloured earth stuck to a flat piece of stretched material, all the rest is an interpretation formed in the brain of the individual onlooker; regrettably most do not know this. This blinkered vision is endemic in all societies and I believe it has always been so historically and is likely to remain the case in the future. Breast-feeding for instance in the west is still frowned upon in public by many people and many institutions, yet what could be a more natural activity? Mankind always fears the unknown or the unfamiliar and although we all have bodies, many put even that into the ‘alien’ category.
Best wishes,
Ned.
Art in Shops windows in Diss – what can be seen and where, click image to enlarge:
