Naked... nude... be honest now - is this a show for the dirty mac brigade?
Sorry to disappoint. If the show raises any complaints it might be because it's not nude enough. Christchurch Art Gallery's collection doesn't contain anything equivalent to Made in heaven (1989-91), Jeff Koons's photographs of himself up close and extremely personal with his then wife, Italian politician and porn star Ilona Staller. Obviously one reason people are interested in looking at nudes is that we're creatures who walk around clothed most of the time, so curiosity is natural. But this isn't just a show of art that tells you about nudity. It's also a show of nudes that tells you a lot about art-about the allure of images, the power of suggestion, and how art has changed over the last century and a half. I think that's the point

What was the starting point of this show for you? Was there a key work?

Steve Carr's A Shot in the Dark (The Bachelor) (2008). It's a portrait of a hairy and none-too-trim male belly. Very much naked, rather than nude. The owner of the belly has lifted his shirt and arranged his hands so that he resembles a moose. It's a play on the idea of the trophy nude, as seen on The Bachelor-a reality TV show in which ten girls fight for the right to win one guy. Except that Carr's Bachelor doesn't look like much of a catch. Anyway, at the time we acquired it, Leonard Booth's The awakening or Vanity (c.1927) was on show in the collection galleries. It's a body painting in the old mould. Very much nude, rather than naked. The collision made me curious enough to start looking for related things, and there turned out to be a power of them. Not surprising, given that the Robert McDougall Art Gallery's collection was largely formed during a period when drawing from the nude was considered an indispensable part of art training.

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