Part Two:
One of Eric’s favorite Book of Blue Models, 22-year-old Zoe West, has been featured in The New York Post for her plans to bring a civil lawsuit against the city of New York today. West was arrested last year for taking part in a body-painting art project in Times Square while nude, though she was not charged. “It is not illegal to be naked in New York as long as you are doing it for the purpose of a play, exhibition, performance or show,” said West’s lawyer, Ron Kuby, who also joked that she “wasn’t really naked” because “she was wearing a coat of paint.”
Eric has described West as having “an aura that focuses the light like a crystal. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. She’s also a friendly, sublime and intense Capricorn — her chart is the Aries Point shot through a laser. Put that together with her sharp wits, her talent and her beauty and…”
I’m not sure how Eric was going to finish that sentence, but one look at Zoe and it’s obvious why anyone might trail off. In fact, according to the Post, even the cops weren’t quite sure what to do with her: “West was given a wide berth when she arrived at the precinct house clad only in swirling pigments, apparently because ‘nobody wanted to take the bust.'” Said Kuby, “We had made arrangements to ensure that Ms. West would not be arrested, but apparently, one of the cops didn’t get the memo or didn’t care.”
Those commenting on the story on the Post’s website and accusing West of being a money-grubbing fame-whore would likely be disappointed to know that, “Civil rights lawsuits have little do to with money. First, they are the only official remedy when one’s rights are violated. The police need to understand that their job is to protect people from criminals, not to violate the law as they see fit, for their own purposes. If Zoe gets a payment for this, the money will go into her art and theater projects. For arresting her when she did nothing wrong, it’s the least the city can do,” according to Eric.
You can see West in the ‘criminal’ body paint here.
Message received!
🙂
Just tried again…
dear Huffy, not yet, will check again. Maybe re-send? thanks xo
Thanks dear. Just wrote to you. hope you got it…
And I LOVED your story of the family bathtub!
Thanks, Huffy! I love what I do. Me too with the Neptune in Scorpio, first house no less for moi. 🙂
If you would like a link to blog that has a little sample of my work, email me at emajyz at yahoo dot com.
Very Neptune in Pisces. Yes. Thanks for that, dear Liminali! Helps to make it more conscious (and my natal N is in Scorpio). Sounds like you do exquisite work.
“To be more precise, it’s the way the body blends in with the lace flower patterns. This blending business is a kind of obsession with me at the moment – I think I’ve become a part of the flowers, bird and insect life on my terrace.”
“This blending business” is very Neptune in Pisces, yes?
I work with flowers, love working with lace, and know exactly what you mean, Huffy.
Merging and melding…
“Were you raised in a naked household?” A question my Pluto in Scorpio generation daughter says she has been asked by her peers.
“Of course” is her answer.
In the early 70s, my family built a Japanese style brick bathtub that was large enough for the whole family. It was heated with a recirculating charcoal firebox that doubled as a grill, thanks to my ever practical Capricorn father. At the time, there was a slogan “the family that prays together, stays together”. So we said “the family that bathes together, stays together”
Of course!
🙂 <<< btw, my smiley is nekkid
This reminds me of the really odd and very hostile reaction to the young woman who disrobed when when she approached Marina Abromovich to sit with her in the atrium at MoMA on the last day of her performance. The French woman behind me was absolutely outraged and the security detail jumped on her with incredible fear. I have been curious about Abromovich’s response…she looked down and maintained her presence. We are such an odd species.
To be more precise, it’s the way the body blends in with the lace flower patterns. This blending business is a kind of obsession with me at the moment – I think I’ve become a partof the flowers, bird and insect life on my terrace. Ever read The Owl Service? (beautiful book for adolescents, from many years back).
And I admire your honesty and openness, Eric – which is the heart/courage of a real artist.
It’s funny that, because Botticell and his painting the Birth of Venus kept coming to mind, but I didn’t mention if for fear of being a bit over the top. But there is a celebration of the divine feminine here – whch no one quite got like Botticelli did.
When I first started working with her, I would have to catch my breath…and keep breathing. I would get a little fever and my mouth would water. That response is something that goes right into the photos.
Through doing bOb I’ve learned to be with my response to someone, and calmly keep appreciating them and taking pictures — without suppressing or denying anything. One of the best things I’ve learned through doing these photos is not to be intimidated.
I know Zoe well enough to know she would think it’s ridiculous that anyone would be intimidated by her, so I file this under “adapting to reality.”
The models, for their part, get an experience of being honestly appreciated. So everyone profits in the end.
Note, Fe Bongolan summed all of this up when, one day visiting my studio, she said to me, “You’re an Italian artist.” Now that was good for my self esteem — and I’ve taken it with me ever since.
My eyes fall on it every time I open up this page. That’s such a gorgeous photo of Zoe, Eric. Such a lovely, loving detail of a woman’s body.
“Nah, hon, I don’t need to trail any slime in here.”
Hmmm. You could message me via FB. I just wanted to peek.
GO Zoe!!!!!
I just cannot imagine being one of those cops. I’d feel like such a dork.
But then, I get to photograph Zoe, not drag her down to the police station in handcuffs.
Nah, hon, I don’t need to trail any slime in here. Besides, on the internets, you’re never more than two clicks away from someone somewhere getting savaged in comments for doing something that outrages somebody. That’s why I wrote of my appreciation for this site.
“who wrote in that other blog…”
Which other blog was that? Is there a link to it?
I’m looking at the comments in a mainstream blog for something I’m working on, and I have to yell it: VAGINA! No, I have to yell about how much I respect and appreciate the commenters on Planet Waves. The creativity, the acceptance of sexual difference, the intelligence, the complex arguments, the warmth, the perspectives, the RESPECT. Good gods. After reading people throwing every name in the book (and a hell of a lot of amateur armchair psychological diagnoses) at a young woman who wrote in that other blog, I am so happy you all are here. Ahhhhh.
well, at least she was arrested by a couple hot, young cops! ;P
The hobbits are rising up.
Hearing about Zoe going after NPYD this morning made my day, and it’s been a great day so far 🙂 Here are some more photos
As for finishing the sentence — you know, success is never guaranteed, no matter how talented someone is. But I see great things for Zoe, in part because she’s working her craft every day, leaving nothing to luck, and we all say YES. That’s when luck is the most effective.
Getting arrested for art by the NYPD counts for luck; it’s like getting your honorary MFA. She is now a culturally certified artist, in case anyone was wondering — and all the publicity was good for business.