nudenite tampa

When I was a Fine Arts major at USF, my love of music became a love of all arts and creative endeavors. Fine Arts students were issued a “fine arts pass” that had a bunch of unpunched numbers on it, that could be used to get into a fixed list of fine art events that semester for free, each number corresponding with a specific event. The College of Fine Arts people who put this plan together knew we were college students with the interest but without the money to attend, and this was like their way of subsidizing our creative growth, which I really appreciated in retrospect. Even then I took that pass for everything it was worth. I originally went to art shows for the free food and wine, (again because I was the quintessential starving artist myself at this time) and quickly got hooked on the content. This was coincidentally how I got interested in wine, which I will discuss another time. I had a decent amount of raw drawing talent that had only been partially developed, so after attending some art shows, I wanted to try to go to the next level if only for my own personal reasons, so I took VC1. (Visual Concepts I the college of fine arts equivalent to ENC1101 Freshman English). I figured it would be a fun blow off course, where I would learn a thing or two, but instead found it to be immersive, challenging and really beneficial to my artistic eye. Developing my visual art side I realized much later only helped me in my musical creativity, because it allowed me to see the creative process from another angle, where some parts are easier to access and others more difficult, like how several different computer operating systems will have largely the same features and functions but one function will be much more apparent in one OS than in the others which helps you locate it easier in yours.

dinner is served "naked sushi" style at Nude Nite

The first culture shock for me was nude models. I was never particularly repressed or hung up on nudity, and I had no issues with it in an art museum, but I have to admit on day one in class with a live human nude model, I felt a little self conscious, and other students with less arts exposure than myself were clearly outright giggling immaturely. All of us eventually got over it though and we collectively realized that it was art, not erotica, that we were involved with which became more apparent the longer we did it. We did quick charcoal sketch exercises that only allowed us to capture the essence of the human form in 30 seconds, then 45, then one minute, and then later had more time to do 30 minutes, an hour, and an hour and a half. After going through this exercise it made sense to me why they didn’t do it the other way around, long sessions first, and short ones later, because you have to learn to see line, shadow, light and connectivity and be able to capture it with an economy of means, a concept I mentioned in my minimalism post. The long sessions would be a waste of time without developing that inner sense first. My art professor would place a human skeleton on the model platform when we didn’t have a model so we could feel and learn to draw that underlying connective power that belies movement and posture and she would place the skeleton in poses similar to our models so we could make the connection. I became so comfortable with drawing nude models objectively that over time I almost didn’t notice when the nude model of the day was a girl I had a crush on in school.

So, it was a nice surprise to get a call from DJ Teresa, who I produced a remix for the Synth DJs “Saviors of Electronica” on New Head Records UK, who was lining up all the musical talent for Nude Nite Tampa, and she asked me to spin a DJ set this Thursday night, February 26th at 1920 E. 2nd Ave in Ybor City Tampa, FL. I knew about Nude Nite from their events in Orlando where I spend a lot of time, and this was to be their debut of Nude Nite Tampa where I live, so things couldn’t have played together any more nicely. Nude Nite according the description on their official website is:

Nude Nite is a dazzling art event celebrating the beauty of the nude.Nude Nite brings together hundreds of artists for three evenings of visual art, performance and a cast of characters both in costume and out…

They also have info on the artists, a FAQ, and a blog for more background information about the show, and its intent. There has been a trend in the last few years of combining art, music and fashion under one roof, to bring more creative types together under one roof, and provide more value to people who are picking and choosing which events to attend fully, and which ones to avoid with their time and money, so this trend is a good thing for everyone involved. If this sounds interestng to you, and you want to do something different for a change and possibly expand your own personal horizons, come out to Nude Nite and if you’re there Thursday night, drop by and say hi to me.