“At the moment yesterday morning when the flat, pink glow of dawn gave way to yellow sunlight and shadow, Spencer Tunick announced that his photo shoot was complete. One hundred fifty-two naked models, who had been lying on an empty stretch of Delancey Street, under the Williamsburg Bridge, sprang to their feet and applauded.”

Spencer Tunick, (American b. 1967) has taken an unorthodox approach to photography that has captivated the minds of anyone who who has had the privilege to lay eyes on one of his works. His devotion to his pieces is unparalleled as seen his record of being arrested five times battling 1st amendment free speech rights. Through his attempts at capturing mankind in a “pre industrial state”, nude and immobile, amongst great industrial structures, mainstream culture has attempted at holding him back.

Perhaps this is why his photographs are so controversial. Just today as I write this, I visited his website and was immediately directed to an image of his latest work titled:”Goodbye RNC” in which hundreds of nude models are bent over, exposing their behinds to the camera, with the Quicken Loans Arena in the background during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

One must expect Spencer to continue his courageous battle to “…stage scenes in which the battle of nature against culture is played out against various backdrops, from civic center to desert sandstorm, man and woman are returned to a preindustrial, pre-everything state of existence. ” (2)

We are pleased to present a c-print on diasec by Spencer Tunik titled: “Barriers 1”. The aforementioned quoted newspaper article from the New York Times titled: “Live! Nude! Legal! Artist Get His Naked Photograph” by Shaila K. Dewan in June 5th, 2000, captures the moments following the photograph being taken. After a Supreme court officially affirmed Spencer Tunik’s first amendment right to to perform his artwork without fear of being arrested or detained. Traffic was halted on this day, and 152 nude models laid down underneath the Williamsburg Bridge on Delancey Street, one could only imagine the chaos.

Marked: “Spencer Tunik 1998, 2005 6/6” on Verso as well as a card from I-20 Galleries describing the piece. Mounted on plexiglass.

This piece was acquired from a prominent fine art collector in South Florida, originally purchased by the consignor from I-20 Gallery in New York in 2004, original invoice included, and is now available for bids on liveauctioneers.com, invaluable.com, thesaleroom.com, and akibaantiques.com for our August 16th, 2016 sale at 3:00pm E.T.

Sources:

(1) Dewan Shaila K. “”Live! Nude! Legal! Artist Get His Naked Photograph” New York Times, New York, June 5th, 2000.

(2) http://www.spencertunick.com/biography

-First paragraph, author and date not mentioned.