Shane Wolf, founder of The Figure Society, is one of the rare masters of figurative art who upholds the tradition of working uniquely from life as long as it takes to create his works (no photographic references are ever used). He says the lively exchanges between the models and the artist are essential to his art, allowing him to constantly evolve and invent new ways of exploring the power and beauty of the human form, and always Nude.
Here, Shane shares his love for—and the importance of—working with live models for the integrity of figurative art.
On Drawing and Working With Live Models
by Shane Wolf
“Working from Life is priority number one. Everything else flows from there.”
This is a line anyone will hear me say when I am lecturing, giving a public demo, or teaching a workshop. It is a “fil conducteur” as we would say in French—the “common thread”—that has laced all the years of my career together, and one that has also woven my works into the rich fabric of the millennia-long artist-model tradition.
Those artists in the world who only work from the live model are increasingly rare, and as a result, so are the true art models who have so undeniably contributed to countless cultures via innumerous works of art. Our careers and creativity are codependent. Thus, when artists turn to substitutes for the art model via the likes of photo, video, digital media, etc, that in turn robs an art model from his / her means of expression and making a living. It would be the same if our collectors—those whose financial support allows us artists to continue to make art, pay our bills, and support our families—decided to stop buying art and content themselves with a few photos of paintings, drawings, sculpture, etc.
Every artist makes their decisions for whatever suits them, and I fully support that. Mine has been to always work with live models, no matter what. Fresh out of the academy nearly 20 years ago I heard all of my fellow newbie artists say, “Oh I can’t afford to work from life. It’s too expensive.” My opinion was always the polar opposite, “I cannot afford to NOT work from life. My art and career depend on it!”
Some of the tremendous advantages of working from the live model include:
- The incessant variations and movements that models will naturally offer (sometimes as subtle as minor muscle contractions and breathing patterns, sometimes dramatic and obvious) thus offering the artist a “journey of choices” to be made
- The conversational exchange between artist and model, where each learns about the other (and this banter inevitably feeds the process and work at hand)
- The sharp eye of observation and visual memory the artist develops from thousands of hours of direct experience with models
- And perhaps most importantly, the human connection that keeps us alive and thriving, spending time one-on-one with another person for hours on end, free of society’s cries for attention.
I can definitively state that two decades of only working from life has forged deep ties with a tradition that dates back tens of thousands of years (the Venus of Willendorf is dated to 30,000 years ago!). It has deepened my connection with humanity and opened my senses to its limitless power and vulnerability, and has also stamped my work with an individuality that, I feel, could have only ever developed through the awesome artist-model exchange.
Coming Soon: The Figure Society Symposium
The Figure Society is an organization whose goal is to continue to celebrate the human figure, the millennia-long culture of creating works of art from the live model. Next month, you can participate in its inaugural symposium in St. Louis, Missouri, March 26-28: thefiguresociety.com.
About Shane Wolf
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Shane Wolf received his academic training at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, from 2005 – 2009. These formative years imbibed him with the powerful Humanism of the Renaissance: freedom of expression via mastery of human form. After completing his studies he moved to Paris, France, where he painted, consumed wine (mostly red, mostly côte du Rhône), then relocated back to the US after his 23 total years in Europe.
In his own words, “When we’re nude—our filters removed—our truth speaks.”
Connect with the artist at www.Shane-Wolf.com.
