Does nudity=porn? I was called a pervert!

[loco4dis]

I googled your artist. The work is a little out there, and definitely meant to be provocative. So, you've got provocative art on your walls, and it provoked. I guess it works like that. I can see how a little kid would describe them in such a way as to make one think bare naked bodies and what not, but obviously the dad overreacted.

 

[mickeysgal]

Honestly, I'm surprised that a 4 year old would really notice the pictures on a wall and actually be able to figure out what the subject matter was.

Interesting pictures...although I wouldn't consider them porn at all. OP, hope you've heard the last of this from your neighbor.

Rest assured, they won't be asking you to watch the child anymore.

 

[The_Horned_King]

In my opinon unless a sexual act is taking place it isn't porn!

How Did I also know this thread was going to be about nude artwork...I fight this battle everyday as an Artist/Art Teacher...things like this make we weary even to show my students somethign as trivial and the Vitruvian Man, or the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. THINGS THEY SHOULD SEE!!!

 

[lvanleer]

I had to google them and I thought they were very creative and I would think if you just glanced at them you wouldn't have known that they were naked bodies....I'm also kind of surprised that a 4 year old was able to determine they were naked body parts because at first glance some of them just look like interesting terrain shots with stick figures on them.

 

[missj1975]

I don't think the pictures are porn but I can see why a parent would object to their kid seeing those pictures. But it is your house so you have a right to hang whatever art you want.

My only concern is that your neighbors would ask you to watch their kids when apparently they didn't even know you well enough to have been inside your house. Perhaps if they are so intent on censoring their kids lives they should have gotten to know you better. The neighbor had no right to yell out you.

 

[GoofieRuthie]

Some of those need a good waxin'. YIKES!

I wouldn't consider them porn at all. How many times do the youngin's visiting you have to go to the bathroom? I can totally see kids making several trips just to enjoy the artwork.

I so want the Big turtle one now! I was at work when I first took a peek and had to close it quickly because I was having to stifle the giggles (the crane especially) . So, no, OP you are not the only one that finds humor in the nude male. I still turn my head and get embarassed at the sight if caught off guard.

 

[shortbun]

I like the pics. I too am suprised the little one even noticed. Some of them are pretty provocative. My mother would not be comfortable with them but I don't think this is the same as sitting a child down and showing them pictures of naked people doing sexual things. THAT would have gotten you arrested.

 

[phragmipedium]

Oh heaven's no, that's not porn. I wouldn't even call it erotic art - just clever nude art. I am impressed with the 4 year old's eye for art and attention to detail.

It's not my taste and I probably wouldn't put it in my home, though I do appreciate it's cleverness and am fine with nude art. I guess I can see how people might be uncomfortable - not everyone's cool with nudity, and I don't necessarily think that makes them a prude. I wouldn't mind if my kids saw them in someone else's house; it's not a sex act or sexual and they're just body parts. I would be okay with answering questions about them to my child.

That said, the neighbor was way out of line for the way he treated you. If something like that is a big concern and nudity is absolutely inappropriate for his children to see, he should check his neighbors out in advance and ask to be invited into their homes before considering leaving his children with them. I understand this is an emergency situation they had, but he should then have kept son with them or left him with family if he has such great concerns about what his child might see. I'm surprised he even did leave the child with you - seems like a parent who would be very thorough about knowing everything about the person he left a child with, and it doesn't sound like they'd been in your home for any great length of time before.

Even if he was that uncomfortable with it after seeing it, the way he treated you was beyond rude and he should have just thanked you for helping his family out in an emergency situation and noted to himself that he wouldn't leave his children in your care anymore. Being uncomfortable with those pictures is okay, but it's not something he should have unloaded on you, and the way he treated you was not okay.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Wow, since there are now so many responses, I will add my little .02 worth..

I agree with the post right above!

Neighbor... out of line!!!

Artwork... Not really porn.. (provocative, yes...)

My thoughts... I know that art is in the eye of the beholder, but why anyone would want to pay good money for some of those prints, and actually want to look at, and enjoy looking at, for example... a very close up shot of that area of a woman's body, with a little mower mowing pubic hair...

Ohhh, everybody is jumping on the 'it is wonderful art' bandwagon.. we are all supposed to be 'enlightened'... And, I know that many of you are already thinking 'prude..."

Sorry, but I am not a prude... Give me something natural and beautiful any day... If I were doing a dream bath, I could really see a nice marble tile roman bath, with designs or photos of that beautiful statuary.

But, mowing pubic hair... scaling a very close up shot of a breast... Sorry, doesn't float my boat... Not porn.. but definitely provocative... I really get sick of seeing how people do try to pass off the most disgusting and degrading things as 'art'... (remember the allegeed abortion blood/tissue...) Give me a break!

PS: It does not have to be an image of two people in action together to be pornography...

 

[Planogirl]

I think that these are kind of cute and I think I'd laugh if I saw them. I wouldn't have them myself but see nothing wrong with them.

Your neighbor is a jerk.

 

[RitaE]

wouldn't bother me at all and I would have no problem with my kids seeing them.


Now my Mother -- probably no. She'd make sure to whisper to me later about the "naughty pictures" in your bathroom. Mom always whispers when she's gossiping. I have a print of Picasso's blue nude lady in my bedroom and she chides me everytime she visits about our "naked lady." um Ma, it is just her BACK.

 

[babytrees]

the only one I had a bit of a problem with it the turtle one....because that has become an inside joke with a group of us....and always elicits an

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!

out of me But that is one person's experience and I still don't find it to be porn just EEEEEWWWW and giggle inducing.

 

[Michelle67]

Sorry that happened to you. I agree with all the others that it is not porn, and that the neighbor should have had the manners and grace to be grateful that you watched his child in a minor emergency instead of screaming at you about your choice of artwork. I can see maybe politely asking to see the art if he had concerns about exactly what kind of pictures his son had seen, but from the second you opened the door it sounds like he was on a rampage and that was absolutely uncalled for IMO.

Personally, I would have handed him the phone and invited him to call the police. The pictures on your wall are not pornography, but SHOVING his way into your house while screaming at you is potentially assault.

 

[gate_pourri]

Looking at some of Allen Teger's photos online, I am surprised that the child was able to distinguish that they were nude pictures and tell his parents (I am assuming that his how the father found out you have this pictures?). I find them anything but inappropriate. If you just take a quick glance, you can almost miss the fact that they are climbing up a breast, or swimming in a belly button.

I think your neighbor was rude.

 

[cccm]

Definitely not porn. It is art and an interesting take on art.

I like the bridge and cruise ship ones.

This is conversation for the adults tomorrow night, while the girls watch Hanna Montana movie.

 

[rayelias]

Here is an interesting point to consider...

Are those pictures appropriate to post here, a family-friendly website?

If so, why has no one done so?

Would that post go "poof"?

That's a pretty good indication of whether or not the neighbor had a legitimate complaint or not.

(I haven't seen them, but I think the above is a good "test")

Who's gonna risk getting points by posting the pic here? Any of the posters here that think it's "art" willing to take the chance? If not, then it's probably beyond "art" then, isn't it?

 

[java]

Here is an interesting point to consider...

Are those pictures appropriate to post here, a family-friendly website?

If so, why has no one done so?

Would that post go "poof"?

That's a pretty good indication of whether or not the neighbor had a legitimate complaint or not.

(I haven't seen them, but I think the above is a good "test")

Since when does everyone's house have to be family friendly. And I wouldn't be relying on a website filter to determine appropriateness. There is a difference between family friendly and PORN.

 

[chirurgeon]

My dad had my portrait painted when I was 5 yo. He also purchased another painting by the artist that was a belly dancer wearing only the skirt of the costume. I have been looking at that painting for the past 45 years. My sister's 3 girls have been seen the painting since they were babies. I guess my whole family are pornographers.

Kim

 

[PrincessKsMom]

That's a pretty good indication of whether or not the neighbor had a legitimate complaint or not.

I have to disagree. The neighbor doesn't have a legitimate complaint because his wife brought their son, uninvited and unexpectedly, to OP's home during an emergency. She was trying to help out a neighbor during an emergency, then gets chastised for her choice of art in her own home? And threatened that the police would be involved because of pornography? Should OP be labeled a pedophile because of her art choice in the PRIVACY of her own home? If she was found guilty of possessing pornography and influencing a minor, this could very well happen all because this man is a NUT.

 

[HelenePA]

Even if it is Porn why can't the OP have it in her own home? Why try to get the cops involved? Last time I checked Playboy was still legal...